Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis

Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis is an expert for Design Studies as well as Cultural History and Theory. Since 2013 she has been a professor at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel, where she heads the Institute for Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM). After initial training in Graphic Design, she studied History and Theory of Design, Art and Culture in Zurich, Berlin and Linz.
Her research interests comprise design history and methodology in the 20th century, knowledge cultures in design, cultural history of creativity, experimental design and media practices, and design criticism.
Research and teaching stays have taken her to the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge/MA, the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and the University of Basel. She is also a National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and an associate member of eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image at the University of Basel.
As Co-Director Claudia Mareis leads the Cluster »Matters of Activity« together with Horst Bredekamp, Peter Fratzl, and Director Wolfgang Schäffner.
Member of the Executive Board
Cluster of Excellence
»Matters of Activity«
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Sophienstr. 22a
10178 Berlin
Monographs & Books
Mareis, C., Rottmann, M. 2020. Entwerfen mit System. Studienhefte Problemorientiertes Design, 10. Hamburg: Adocs.
Mareis, C. 2014. Theorien des Designs zur Einführung. Hamburg: Junius.
Mareis, C. 2011. Design als Wissenskultur: Interferenzen zwischen Design- und Wissensdiskursen seit 1960. Bielefeld: transcript.
Edited Volumes & Exhibition Catalogues
Blümle, C., Mareis, C., Windgätter, C. eds. 2019. Visuelle Zeitgestaltungen. Bildwelten des Wissens. Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch für Bildkritik. Berlin/Boston: Akademie Verlag.
Mareis, C., Windgätter, C. eds. 2018. Wild Thing. Unordentliche Prozesse in Design und Wissenschaft. Berlin: Kadmos.
Schmitz, T., Häußling, R., Mareis, C., Groninger, H. eds. 2016. Manifestationen im Entwurf. Design – Architektur – Ingenieurwesen. Bielefeld: transcript.
Articles in Edited Volumes
Mareis, C. 2019. »Die Zeitlichkeit des Entwerfens. Visuelle Prozessmodelle und ihre temporale Bedeutung.« In Visuelle Zeitgestaltung. In: Bildwelten des Wissens. Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch für Bildkritik., edited by Blümle, C., Mareis, C., Windgätter, C. Berlin/Boston: Akademie Verlag, 114–123.
Mareis, C. 2019. »Sensations of the Ordinary. Das Bild der Dinge zwischen Geschichte und Projektion.« In Objekte der Begierde. Surrealismus und Design 1924 – heute. Ausstellungskatalog Vitra Design Museum. Weil a. Rhein, edited by Kries, M. 283–305.
Mareis, C. 2019. »Systematisieren. Entwerfen um 1960. Methodische Objektivität zwischen Kalkül und Intuition.« In Experimentieren. Vergleich experimenteller Kulturen in Wissenschaft und Gestaltung, edited by Marguin, S., Rabe, H., Schäffner, W., Schmidgall, F. Bielefeld: transcript, 325–340.
Mareis, C., Windgätter, C. 2018. »Wilde Dinge machen. Neue Perspektiven auf Design und Wissenschaft.« In Wild Thing. Unordentliche Prozesse in Design und Wissenschaft, edited by Mareis, C., Windgätter, C. Berlin: Kadmos, 9-22.
Mareis, C. 2018. »Design.« In The Creativity Complex. A Companion to Contemporary Culture, edited by Beyes, T., Metelmann, J. Bielefeld: Transcript, 120–125.
Mareis, C. 2017. »'Designerly Ways of Knowing' The Impertinent Promise of an Epistemic Culture of Design.« Exh. cat. Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin. In +ultra. knowledge & gestaltung, edited by Doll, N., Bredekamp, H., Schäffner, W. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 71-77.
Mareis, C. 2016. »Angewandte Imagination und Kreativität um 1960.« In Designing Thinking: Angewandte Imagination und Kreativität um 1960, edited by Mareis, C. München: Fink, 9-37.
Mareis, C. 2016. »Designerly Ways of Knowing. Potentiale und Zumutungen einer Wissenskultur des Designs.« Exh. Cat. Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin. In +ultra. gestaltung schafft wissen, edited by Doll, N., Bredekamp, H., Schäffner, W. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 75-82.
Mareis, C. 2016. »Design the Future – Mind the Past.« In Manifestationen im Entwurf: Design – Architektur – Ingenieurwesen, edited by Schmitz, T., Häußling, R., Mareis, C., Groninger, H. Bielefeld: transcript, 95-112.
Mareis, C. 2016. »Doing Research: Design Research in the Context of the 'Practice Turn'.« In Design as Research: Positions, Arguments, Perspectives, edited by Joost, G., Bredies, K., Christensen, M., Conradi, F., Unteidig, A. Basel: Birkhäuser, 35-41. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035607383-006
Mareis, C. 2013. »Eine multidisziplinäre Geschichte. Designforschung, Kreativitätstechniken und Methodenfragen.« In Long Lost Friends. Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Design-, Medien- und Wissenschaftsforschung, edited by Mareis, C., Windgätter, C. Zürich: Diaphanes, 205-222.
Articles
Mareis, C., Barrett, B. 2020. »Brainstorming Revisited.« Cultural Politics, 16, (1): 50-69. https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-8017256
Mareis, C. 2015. »TRIZ in the aftermath of a transnational post-war history.« Procedia Engineering, 131, 500–508.
Mareis, C. 2012. »The epistemology of the unspoken: On the concept of tacit knowledge in contemporary design research.« Design Issues, 28, (2): 61–71.
Conference Proceedings
Mareis, C., Bruder, J. 2016. »Demystifying the ›Creative‹. A Sketch for Creativity Research in the Context of Creative Industries and Design Research since the 1960s.« In Valentine, Louise et al. (ed.) The Value of Design Research: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the European Academy of Design, Paris Descartes University, 22-24 April 2015. Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University/European Academy of Design, https://ead.yasar.edu.tr/conferences/ead-11-france-2015/11th-ead-proceedings/
Talks & Presentations
Mareis, C. Design als dritte Wissenskultur. Keynote at Vorlesungsreihe ›Schnittstellen‹, Kunstuniversität Linz. 19 May 2020.
Mareis, C. The Design Turn – Historical experiments into an epistemology of practice. Keynote at COOP-Design Research Programm, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. 9 June 2020.
Mareis, C. Truth to Materials: Entangled Histories of Design and Material Politics. Talk at the Annual Conference of the Cluster »Matters of Activity« 2020, 11 November 2020. https://www.virtualspace.matters-of-activity.de/annualconference/?id=1
Mareis, C. Vom ›richtigen‹ Gebrauch des Materials. Materialdebatten Mitte des 19. Jh. revisited. Talk at Coworking Materials. Für einen aktiven Materialismus, Gemeinsame Tagung des IFK und des Exzellenzclusters »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material«, HU Berlin, und der Kunstuniversität Linz. 8 October 2020.
Mareis, C. The design turn: Bridging the humanities and sciences divide. Keynote at the International AGYA Conference: The Place Of Humanities In Research, Education and Society: An Arab-German Dialogue, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. 9 November 2019.
Mareis, C. Vom Patent zur Methode: Zur Systematisierung kreativer Arbeit am Beispiel der TRIZ (Theorie zur Lösung erfinderischer Probleme). Panel Presentation at GfM-Jahrestagung ›Medien-Materialitäten‹, Universität Köln. 26 September 2019.
Events & Workshops
Mareis, C., Miyazaki, S., Bruder, J., Himmelsbach, S., Magrin, B. RE-IMAGINING AI. Scholars, Artists and Designers in Dialogue. Workshop. Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel, FHNW. 20 June 2019 - 21 June 2019.
External Grants, Fellowships, Sholarships & Residencies
Perraudin, L., Brock, O., Coelho Mollo, D., Mareis, C., Müller, M., Nestler, A., Puhlmann, S., Schäffner, W., Steinhardt, S. 2021. »Wenn Materie lebendig wird" Experimentallabore für Wissenschaftskommunikation. Berlin University Alliance, Project funding. Principal Investigator.