Anna Schäffner
Anna Schäffner is Pre-Doctoral Candidate at Matters of Activity within the project Filtering, and a practice-based PhD Candidate in the SACRe doctoral program at École nationale superieure des Arts Décoratifs.
She studied Product Design in France and in Berlin at the weissensee school of art and design berlin, where she graduated with a Master in 2021.
Her research focuses on soft robotics, and the design of deformation as a vector of movement, as a capacity for dynamic material adaptation and expressiveness. Through the practice of design, she explores hybrid forms of interacting advancing the relation between robotic objects and their environments.
Cluster of Excellence
»Matters of Activity«
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Sophienstr. 22a
10178 Berlin
Exhibitions
Léa Perraudin (project lead), Martin Müller (project lead), Eva Bullermann (exhibition design), Antje Nestler, Kristin Werner (concept) Julia Blumenthal, Richard Ley (support), Dimitra Almpani-Lekka, Bastian Bayer, Eva Bullermann, Michaela Eder, Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten, Natalija Miodragović, Anna Schäffner, Maxie Schneider (contributors) Visiting Material Futures. Pop-up Exhibition at Futurium. Exhibition. Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Futurium. 4 May 2024 - 31 August 2024.
Talks & Presentations
Schäffner, Anna. Embrace collision rather then avoid it. Keynote at the S+T+ARTS RESIDENCIES – ARTISTIC EXPERIMENTATION WITH ROBOTIC PLATFORMS, VOJEXT S+T+ARTS Residencies. ERF at Odense. Hybrid. 15 March 2023.
https://erf2023.sdu.dk/timetable/tag/15-march-2023/
Schäffner, Anna. For a design of deformation. Keynote at the ISEA International 2023, Artistic talk. Paris. École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD). 18 May 2023.
https://www.isea-archives.org/isea2023_presentation_schaeffner
Schäffner, Anna. For a Design of Deformation. Keynote at the MATTERSCAPES. A Studio Visit, Adapt, Transform, Revaluate. Berlin. Moderated by Bastian Beyer, PhD. Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 27 June 2023.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/11320/matterscapes-a-studio-visit
Weber, R., Schäffner, A. »A Sympoietic Ocean. Design research with/in the marine holobiont«. Talk at the ISEA Conference, Ecosystems – Climate Change. Symbiotic Organizations. Les Halles, Paris. 17 May 2023.
https://www.isea-archives.org/isea2023_presentation_weber
Schäffner, Anna, Dominigos, Dominic Eger, Miyazaki, Shintaro. Scenario-based Design of Socio- Material Practices in Robotic-Assisted Surgery. Keynote at the Automation: Control, and Incompetence – Socio-Technical Ecologies of Responsible, Filtering in the 20th and 21st Century, MoA Digital Filtering: Human-Robotic Interaction in Surgery. Berlin. Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 4 October 2022.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/7904/automation-control-and-incompetence-socio-technical-ecologies-of-responsible-filtering-in-the-20th-and-21st-century
Schäffner, Anna, Dominigos, Dominic Eger. Rethinking Human-AI Collaboration: Scenario-based Design of Socio-Material Practices in Robotic-Assisted Surgery. Keynote at the PhD progress presentation, Scaling Matters: From the Lab to the Field,. Landgut Stober. Moderated by Moderator Emile de Visscher, PhD. Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 13 September 2022.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/9125/scaling-matters-from-the-lab-to-the-field
Schäffner, Anna, Dominigos, Dominic Eger. Scenario-based Design of Socio-Material Practices in Robotic-Assisted Surgery. Keynote at the Retreat of the Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence, Rethinking Human-AI Collaboratio: Scenario-based Design of Socio- Material Practices in Robotic-Assisted Surgery. Templin, Germany. 4 October 2022.
Invited Moderation/ Comment
Hehemeyer-Cürten, J., Schäffner, A., Werner, B. MATTERSCAPES. A Studio Visit. Doctoral Presentations, adapt, transform, revaluate, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Matters of Activity, Berlin. Moderation by Beyer, Bastian. Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 27 June 2023.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/11320/matterscapes-a-studio-visit
Events & Workshops
Schäffner, Anna. MATERIA : laboratoire public de création de savoirs numériques. ELEKTRA in collaboration Hexagram, Montréal, Canada. 8 September 2022 - 10 September 2022.
https://hexagram.ca/fr/hexagram-x-elektra-materia-laboratoire-public-de-creation-de-savoirs-numeriques-2/
Schäffner, Anna. Workshop franco-canadien de recherche « SPIRATION » en art et en design sur les membranes et l’activité de l’air. EnsadLab – le laboratoire de l’École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD, Université PSL), Paris. École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD), Concordia University. 17 May 2022 - 22 May 2022.
https://www.ensadlab.fr/fr/francais-workshop-franco-canadien-de-recherche-spiration-en-art-et-en-design-sur-les-membranes-et-lactivite-de-lair-17-20-mai-a-paris/
Teaching & Courses
Thomas Ness. Elastic Time. Practical course, Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin. 1 April 2023 - 31 July 2023.
https://et.designing-interactions.de/
External Grants, Fellowships, Scholarships & Residencies
Schäffner, Anna. 2023. VOJEXT S+T+ARTS Residency on Robotics. European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme Residency.
https://waag.org/en/article/vojext-starts-selected-artist-residences/