Filtering as an environing technique is almost omnipresent. Matter as well as data is selected, extracted, and modified by filters – how they do this, however, is often difficult to understand or even remains invisible. Moreover, these processes occur together and cannot be separated from each other. Their entanglement is a specific form of activity. The project investigates filtering processes using historical, experimental and computational approaches. How does new information emerge through massively parallel filtering processes? What kind of environments are created by filtering processes and how do they interact with both historical and current environmental knowledge? And what scaling effects need to be considered when filtering processes become technologically effective at the molecular level as well as at global levels?
Analysis of YouTube Comments. Copyright: Michael Tebbe, 2021
Methodology
An extreme variety of filters seems to form the epistemic center of many processes of our transitional age. Which leads inevitably to the question of whether there is a common concept that underlies this multitude of filtering phenomena. Within the project, we understand filtering as a scalable environing technique that differentiates and maintains symbolic and material environments alike. Because of its scalability, human as well as non-human actors can interact with filtering techniques to create environments. Filtering is an activity that matters in a twofold way: It is a material process that is fundamentally important for the actors because it involves symbolic activities at the same time. Starting from this basic concept, we analyze different properties of filtering techniques and engage in a research program that examines cultural, molecular, and digital filtering.
Exploring Fitering. Copyright: Veronika Aumann, Thomas Ness
The experimental system Filtering consists of four settings: Molecular Filtering, Digital Filtering, Cultural Filtering, and Design Filtering. What they all have in common is their shared understanding of the cultural technique of filtering, from which our common questions arise. Given this background, each group sets their own agential cut to examine our joint concept in different filtering systems with the goal to expand this concept of filtering, to implement it creatively, and thus to make it productive. Hence, the strategy and program of the experimental system Filtering is: A common concept of filtering results in fundamental insights into the properties of the filter. Based on common questions, these properties are to be empirically investigated in the individual disciplines using concrete filtering systems. The combination of results will test, modify, and extend our common concept of the cultural technique of filtering.
Research Questions
Six common research questions form the basis of our joint research in the experimental system Filtering:
Q1 Order Environments (What?) Analyzing different filter functions reveals a specific order of environments.
Q2 Cultural Techniques (When?) Historizing the coexistence of technologies and environments as cultural techniques.
Q3 Parallel Processing (How?) Understanding parallel processing in filtering (infra-) structures.
Q4 Persistent Irreversibility (How?) Explaining irreversible filtering processes in persistent environments.
Q5 Self-Structured Technologies (What for?) Creating technological matters of activity from self-structuring filtering operations.
Q6 Emergent Activities (What else?) Exploring new interdisciplinary moments of parallel filtering processes.
First, we investigate a typology and order of filtered environments. The analysis of different filters reveals a specific order of possible environments. The second step is to add historical depth to this tableau by examining the coextensiveness of cultural techniques of filtering and their respective environments through time. Questions Q3 and Q4 deal with the parallel-processing capacities and thus the structure-forming properties of the filtering process. But also, with the persistence of environmental filtering mechanisms and the fundamental asymmetry of our world. We want to understand how the filter supervenes over its interacting pores and intra-acts with its environments. The study of filters as cultural techniques of making environments cannot itself occur without an active perspective of environing, and thus extends into current debates on decolonialization. In this respect, the re-entry of the point of observation into the object of research must be understood not least as a creative act (Q5 and Q6).
Molecular Filtering – Digital Filtering – Cultural Filtering – Design Filtering
For the experimental system Filtering, the development of active materials and innovative cultural techniques from self-structuring filter processes plays a central role. For Molecular Filtering, this is a task of rescaling self-structuring topological filters. How can molecular asymmetry be translated into technical materials? Within Digital Filtering, on the other hand, the parallel and self-structuring interaction of humans and computers in shared environments takes center stage in the data processes under investigation. Meanwhile, Cultural Filtering is tasked with identifying and interconnecting other cultural techniques of environment-making beyond filtering. Finally, in Design Filtering, the attention rests on the question of the design power of filtering processes. Filters, we believe, are material-shaping tools; they are design tools whose »activity that matters« creates environments. At the same time, the filter-tools themselves are part of a design process in which their effect is critically questioned, and their respective design is reflected upon. This concerns especially the potential of the filter to segregate and destroy: the unintended consequences of modern filtering technologies, be they algorithmic, physical, cultural, or social. The goal of design filtering is thus to design filtering processes as an intra-action in such a way that they simultaneously allow for a critical reflection on their own agency – they can self-filter.
Exploring Filtering
During the short project Exploring Filtering interaction designer Thomas Ness and textile designer Veronika Aumann created several playful experiments around filtering processes. The goal of this exploration of filtering was to gauge and express them in a practical and tangible way, respectively. They focused on the filter itself – as an object and active matter. In the »Design Lab«, different kinds and methods of filtering processes were tested hands-on with familiar prototyping materials and techniques and transformed into six narratively and visually impressive representations.
Molecular Filtering
Filters environ. Within the Molecular Filtering experimental setup, new environments are explored, emerging from mathematical descriptors of the organised assembly of molecules at interfaces. José D. Cojal González, Carlos-Andres Palma und Jürgen P. Rabe aim to find symmetry-protected channels to transport sound, heat and matter. We aim at topological dynamic matter.
- Can Bacteria Spin a Yarn? We Need a New Culture of Materials Event 29.4.2021
- Exploring Filtering Event 10.8.2020–14.8.2020
- Cultural Heritage - Documentation, Conservation & Information Event 24.1.2020
- Mini Retreat »Filtering« Event 16.1.2020–18.1.2020
- Membranes as Molecular Machines Event 10.1.2020
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Benjamin, J. J., Müller-Birn, C. 2019. »Zwischen Mensch und Technik. Das Experiment in der Informatik.« In Experimentieren. Einblicke in Praktiken und Versuchsaufbauten zwischen Wissenschaft und Gestaltung, edited by Marguin, S., Rabe, H., Schäffner, W., Schmidgall, F. Bielefeld: transcript, 215. https://www.transcript-verlag.de/media/pdf/2e/c8/71/oa9783839446386.pdf
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Cubasch, A. J., Engelmann, V., Kassung, C. 2021. »Theorie des Filterns. Zur Programmatik eines Experimentalsystems.« preprint. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4731045
Müller-Birn, C., Glinka, K., Sörries, P., Tebbe, M., Michl, S. 2021. »Situated Case Studies for a Human-Centered Design of Explanation User Interfaces.« arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.15462, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2103.15462.pdf
Benjamin, J. J., Kinkeldey, C., Müller-Birn, C. 2020. »Participatory Design of a Machine Learning Driven Visualization System for Non-Technical Stakeholders.« Mensch und Computer 2020-Workshopband, https://dl.gi.de/bitstream/handle/20.500.12116/33538/muc2020-ws-287.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Faghani, A., Gholami, M. F., Trunk, M., Müller, J., Pachfule, P., Vogl, S., Donskyi, I., Li, M., Nickl, P., Shao, J., Huang, M. R. S., Unger, W. E. S., Arenal, R., Koch, C. T., Paulus, B., Rabe, J. P., Thomas, A., Haag, R., Adeli, M. 2020. »Metal-Assisted and Solvent-Mediated Synthesis of Two-Dimensional Triazine Structures on Gram Scale.« Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142, (30): 12976-12986. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c02399
Lin, H., Cojal González, J. D., Severin, N., Sokolov, I. M., Rabe, J. P. 2020. »Reversible Switching of Charge Transfer at the Graphene–Mica Interface with Intercalating Molecules.« Support. Info at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c04144. ACS Nano, 14, (9): 11594-11604. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c04144
Palma, C.-A. 2020. »Topological Dynamic Matter.« The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 12, (1): 454-462. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c03114
Bonnici, A., Akman, A., Calleja, G., Camilleri, K. P., Fehling, P., Ferreira, A., Hermuth, F., Israel, J. H., Landwehr, T., Liu, J., Padfield, N. M. J., Sezgin, T. M., Rosin, P. L. 2019. »Sketch-based interaction and modeling: where do we stand?« Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 33, (4): 370-388. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0890060419000349
Cojal González, J. D., Li, J., Stöhr, M., Kivala, M., Palma, C.-A., Rabe, J. P. 2019. »Edge Phonon Excitations in a Chiral Self-Assembled Supramolecular Nanoribbon.« The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 10, (19): 5830-5835. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b02001
Farda-Sarbas, M., Müller-Birn, C. 2019. »Wikidata from a Research Perspective – A Systematic Mapping Study of Wikidata.« 11. https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.11153
Mackeprang, M., Khiat, A., Müller-Birn, C. 2019. »Leveraging General Knowledge Graphs in Crowd-powered Innovation.« https://dc2s2.github.io/2019/papers/dc2s2-mackeprang.pdf
Mackeprang, M., Müller-Birn, C., Stauss, M. T. 2019. »Discovering the Sweet Spot of Human-Computer Configurations: A Case Study in Information Extraction.« Article 195, Issue ed. by Nichols, J. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3, (CSCW): 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359297
Reiter-Scherer, V., Cuellar-Camacho, J. L., Bhatia, S., Haag, R., Herrmann, A., Lauster, D., Rabe, J. P. 2019. »Force Spectroscopy Shows Dynamic Binding of Influenza Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase to Sialic Acid.« Biophysical Journal, 116, (6): 1037-1048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2019.01.041
Vaseva, L., Müller-Birn, C. 2020. »You Shall Not Publish: Edit Filters on English Wikipedia.« OpenSym 2020: Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Open Collaboration. ACM, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1145/3412569.3412580
Benjamin, J. J., Müller-Birn, C. 2019. »Materializing Interpretability: Exploring Meaning in Algorithmic Systems.« In Companion Publication of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2019 Companion (DIS '19 Companion). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. New York: ACM, 123-127. https://doi.org/10.1145/3301019.3323900
Farda-Sarbas, M., Zhu, H., Nest, M. F., Müller-Birn, C. 2019. »Approving automation: Analyzing Requests for Permissions of Bots in Wikidata.« In The 15th International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym ’19), August 20–22, 2019, Skövde, Sweden. New York: ACM, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1145/3306446.3340833
Zwick, C. (supervisor), Ness, T. (supervisor), Groll, F. (supervisor), Wiesener, H. (exhibition) 2020. Smart Organic Light Objects. Design Project. weißensee academy of art and design berlin, 1 April 2020 - 27 July 2020, Virtual. https://kh-berlin.de/projekt-detail/Project/detail/smart-organic-light-objects-auf-messe-greenhouse-3309.html
Bauer, F., Kim, Y., Letellier, J. Three Attempts at Human and Non-Human Agencies. Talk at the Brown Bag Brunch, Cluster »Matters of Activity«. Virtual. 15 June 2021.
Beyer, B., Cubasch, A., Fratzl, P., Hengge, R., Mareis, C., Perraudin, L., Sauer, C., Schäffner, W., for the Cluster »Matters of Activity«. Can Bacteria Spin a Yarn? We Need a New Culture of Materials. Panel Presentation at MitWissenschaft - Spinnen die, die Bakterien?. »Can Bacteria Spin a Yarn? We Need a New Culture of Materials«, Humboldt Forum, Berlin. Hybrid. 29 April 2021. https://www.humboldtforum.org/en/programm/termin/science-humanities/do-bacteria-spin-a-yarn-20472/
Cojal Gonzalez, J. D. Topological transport in asymmetric molecular architectures. Talk at Internal Colloquium. Brown Bag Brunch, Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Virtual. 2 March 2021.
Cubasch, A. J., Perraudin, L. Filtering. Talk at Outreach. »MitWissenschaft - Spinnen die, die Bakterien?«, Humboldt Forum, Berlin. Virtual. 29 April 2021. https://www.humboldtforum.org/de/programm/termin/wissenschaft/spinnen-die-bakterien-14206/
Cubasch, A. J. Freeze Dried Futures: NASA's Quest for Edible Spin Offs in Rural Texas. Panel Presentation at Conference. 6th International Conference on Food History and Food Studies, Univesité de Tours & Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation, Tours. Virtual. 2 June 2021. https://iehca-internationalconference.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/26.pdf
Cubasch, A. J. From Space to Home: NASA's spin-off projects to establish space food on American dining tables in the 1970s. Talk at Conference. Dissertant/innen-Tagung für Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Umweltgeschichte 2021, Universität Salzburg & ASEH Environmental History Week 2021. Virtual. 20 April 2021. https://www.hsozkult.de/event/id/event-96233
Cubasch, A. Of Bacon Squares and Spoon-Bowl-Packs – Or How to Dine in Zero-g. Talk at Internal Colloquium. Brown Bag Brunch, Cluster »Matters of Activity«. Virtual. 1 December 2020.
Fratzl, P. Natural Active Materials. Talk at Conference. Annual Conference of the Cluster »Matters of Activity« 2020, Virtual. 11 November 2020. https://www.virtualspace.matters-of-activity.de/annualconference/?id=2
Grote, M, Rabe, J. Membranes as Molecular Machines. A workshop on Active Matter and the Remaking of Life. Talk at Workshop. Cluster »Matters of Activity«, Berlin. 10 January 2020. https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/1152/membranes-as-molecular-machines
Kassung, C. Gleich(zeitig)e Bilder. Über die Anfänge und Störungen der Bildtelegraphie. Talk at Conference. Return to Sender: Utopien und Grenzen zirkulierender Bilder, Virtual. 1 September 2020. https://www.kunstgeschichte.hu-berlin.de/veranstaltungen/symposium-im-live-stream-return-to-sender-utopien-und-grenzen-zirkulierender-bilder/
Le Calvé, M., Beyer, B., Hathroubi, S.; Kombucha Lab - through the looking glass. Talk at Workshop. the Workshop »Shelf Life. Ferment-Activity and Nurturing Materials«, Cluster »Matters of Activity«. Virtual. 10 December 2020.
Le Calvé, M., Cubasch, A. J., Heitger, A. Space Food: Dreams of Eternal Shelf Life in Artificial Environments. Talk at Workshop. Workhsop: Shelf Life. Ferment Activity and Nurturing Materials, ExC MOA. Virtual. 10 December 2020. https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/2915/shelf-life-ferment-activity-and-nurturing-materials
Letellier, J. Virtual Reality with High Resolution 3D Models for Research and Education. Talk at Cluster »Matters of Activity«. 24 January 2020. https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/1276/cultural-heritage-documentation-conservation-information
Rabe, J. Matters of Free Energy and a Tesseract. Talk at Conference. the Annual Conference of the Cluster »Matters of Activity« 2020, Virtual. 11 November 2020. https://www.virtualspace.matters-of-activity.de/annualconference/?id=4
Rabe, J. P. Stretching the boundaries of physics, one molecule at a time. Talk at Conference. Nano-Bio-Physics Symposium 2019, LMU, München. 7 September 2019. https://cast.itunes.uni-muenchen.de/clips/OR552yNNgi/vod/online.html
Cojal Gonzalez, J. D., Rondomanski, J., Polthier, K. and Palma, C.-A. Can you hear the border of a nanoscopic drum? Workshop. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Virtual. 4 March 2021.
Meißner, K., Farina, S. (Presentation), Cojal González, J. D. (Organization and moderation). Dance Floor as a Matter-phorical Social and Political Space. Internal Colloquium. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Virtual. 11 May 2021.
Zwick, C. (supervision), Ness, T. (supervision), Groll, F. (supervision), Wiesener, H. (curation). SOLO – Smart Organic Light Objects Digital Exhibition at »Greenhouse 2021«. Exhibition. the Stockholm Furniture Fair, Greenhouse, Stockholm. Virtual. 10 February 2021 - 11 February 2021. https://www.greenhousedesign.se/design-school/weissensee-school-of-art-and-design-berlin
Cubasch, A. J., Perraudin, L., Cojal Gonzalez, J., Razghandi, K. How to environ? Epistemic & design perspectives on environments, cultural techniques, and structures. Internal Colloquium. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Virtual. 13 November 2020.
Krauthausen, K., Löffler, P. Membranes as Matters of Activity: Mathias Grote & Jürgen Rabe. Workshop. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin. 10 January 2020.
Le Calvé, M., Cubasch, A. J., Heitger, A. Shelf Life. Ferment-Activity and Nurturing Materials. Workshop. ExC MOA. Virtual. 10 December 2020. https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/2915/shelf-life-ferment-activity-and-nurturing-materials
Müller-Birn, C. (supervision), Ness, T. (supervision), Glaser, J. (supervision), Meier, S. (guest lecture, City Lab Berlin), Wiesener, H (curation) Entity: City Exhibition at CityLAB. Exhibition. City LAB, Berlin. 12 February 2020 - 14 February 2020. https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/1271/entity-city-exhibition-at-citylab
Löffler, P., Ribault, P, Müller, M. im/Perfection, Im/ perfect Figurations in Nature. Lecture series. Department of Cultural History and Theory, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. With contributions by Löffler, P., Ribault, P, Müller, M., Bublitz, H., Tikka, E., Kassung, C., De Visscher, E., Quinz, E., Schäffner, W., Bruns, C., Wehrli, P., Allen, J., Lang, C. 18 April 2019 - 11 July 2019.
Ness, T., Aumann, V. Exploring Filtering. Short Project. Cluster »Matters of Activity«, Berlin. 10 August 2019 - 14 August 2019. https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/2491/exploring-filtering/
Bauer, F., with guests Kim, Y., Rasehorn, F., Schneider, M., Tebbe, M., Wenig, C., Yang, B., Situated Digital Agencies. Seminar, B.A./M.A. Architecture. Universität der Künste Berlin. 16 April 2021 - 16 July 2021. https://www.udk-berlin.de/studium/architektur/fachgebiete/digitales-und-experimentelles-entwerfen/seminar-situated-digital-agencies/
Cubasch, A. J. Archeologies of the Future. Workshop, Kunsthochschule Weißensee, Berlin. 26 April 2021. https://kh-berlin.incom.org/workspace/1467/about
Müller-Birn, C. (supervisor), Ness, T. (supervisor), Glaser, J. (supervisor), Meier, S. (guest lecture, City Lab Berlin), Wiesener, H (exhibition) Entity:City. Practical course, weißensee academy of art and design berlin, HCC Research Group at Freie Universität Berlin, cityLAB Berlin. 1 October 2019 - 14 February 2020. https://entitycity.designing-interactions.de/ https://entitycity.designing-interactions.de/ https://www.codingixd.org/entitycity
Ness, T., Müller-Birn, C., Wiesener, H. 2019. City LAB Berlin. Entity:City Project cooperation + exhibtion with weißensee academy of art and design berlin, HCC Research Group at Freie Universität Berlin, cityLAB Berlin. https://entitycity.designing-interactions.de/ https://entitycity.designing-interactions.de/ https://www.codingixd.org/entitycity
Cubasch, A. 2021 - 2024. DFG-Network: Modern Expeditions: Politics, actors and epistemologies of scientific travel since the nineteenth century. Member. https://expeditions.hypotheses.org/
Ness, T., Aumann, V. »Exploring Filtering.« 19, Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, 5 October 2020. https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/2491/exploring-filtering