Editorial Dear Friends of »Matters of Activity«,

We're happy to hereby share with you the newest and extra-long issue of our CZ# with lots of exciting news and interesting events, such as a the Design Impact Conference, the launch of ».able Journal«, the start of Claudia Mareis' lecture series »Designing in Times of the Anthropocene« and many more!

We are also delighted to welcome some new members to the Cluster!

Happy reading,
Antje Nestler, Carolin Ott & Franziska Wegener

Weaving | Filtering | Cutting | Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Teaching | Doctoral Program For the Cluster's newly formed doctoral cohort the year started with an intensive workshop on interdisciplinary collaboration hosted by »Matter of Activity« under the supervision of Karola Dierichs and Franziska Wegener. The workshop »MATTER. Research Modules for the Creation, Cognition and Perception of Matter through Design, Materials Science and Cultural Science« that was held February, 5th–10th, 2023, invited Pre-Doctoral Candidates to engage in an interdisciplinary discourse and practice diving deeply into the challenge of how to learn and appropriate each other’s scientific language for more productive research collaborations. → more

Object Space Agency | Stretching Materialities | XR | Science Communication Together with the Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sivorí we invite you to the opening of »Materials in Expansión«, on Wednesday, March 15th at 6:00 pm, where a conversation between Daniela Castillo Cortez and Christian Stein will take place, entitled »El Entramado - Nuevas Formas de Exposición Entre Tecnología, Ciencia y Arte (The Interweaving - New Forms of Exhibition Between Technology, Science and Art)«. It is an interactive experience of Virtual Reality and textile art by Daniela Castillo, participant of the 27th Textile Art Salon, currently exhibited at the museum. This performative installation could be visited every Wednesday until May 9th (extended), 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. → more

Material Form Function | Publications The current special issue of Chemical Reviews entitled »Sustainable Materials« was coordinated by the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) in Potsdam-Golm, a crucial partner institution of Matters of Activity. The editorial by Cluster Co-Director Peter Fratzl, also heading the Department of Biomaterials at the (MPICI), covers quite a few aspects that are also discussed in the MoA Cluster. → more

Material Form Function | Publications On March 23rd, 2023, Emile de Visscher's contribution about petrification was published with the launch of .able, an innovative image-based journal at the intersection of art, design, and sciences responding to the complexities of today’s society. To explore the new format of scientific publishing offered by the .able Journal, Emile de Visscher invited Ophélie Maurus, independent art director and photographer for the Petrification research project. The main focus was to take advantage of the different layers of content in the platform to present the different dimensions of the project: speculative, symbolic, technical, etc. One of the most intriguing and difficult steps concerned the referencing systems as every scientific article is structured and built upon one. But how to create references with images rather than words? → more

Material Form Function | Cutting | Publications On March 23rd, 2023, .able Journal, an innovative image-based multiplatform journal for publishing research at the intersection of art, design, and sciences was launched. .able reinvents the publication form by making research accessible through images. Free of charge and distributed on numerous platforms, media, and devices, Created at the initiative of La Chaire Arts & Sciences of the École Polytechnique, the École des Arts Décoratifs – PSL, and the Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso, the journal is published by Actar Publishers and supported by some thirty international academic partners. »Matters of Activity« is proud to tell you that the Cluster is connected to this great project by several members: Editor-in-chief of .able is Samuel Bianchini, Associated Member to MoA, part of the board are MoA Co-Director Claudia Mareis and Cluster Professor Patricia Ribault. Among the first researchers to use the new publication format to present their research is MoA member Emile de Visscher. → more

News | Exzellent erklärt The German science podcast ↗ Exzellent erklärt (»Excellence Explained«) on current scientific topics reflects the research diversity of Germany’s leading research institutions and Clusters of Excellence, from Africa Studies to Quantum Physics. In each episode, listeners can expect insights into the interdisciplinary work of one research network. The researchers of the Clusters of Excellence, funded by ↗ DFG, talk to podcaster Larissa Vassilian about how they want to find scientifically sound answers to relevant topics of our time – for the society of tomorrow. In Episode 27 you can learn from the Cluster of Excellence ↗ Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation in Schleswig-Holstein, what we already know (and don't know) about chronic inflammatory diseases - such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, or Crohn's disease - why research on them is so important, and whether these modern diseases could be stopped in the near future.

»Exzellent Erklärt« is now on LinkedIn. Follow and share for all news related to the podcast: ↗ https://www.linkedin.com/company/exzellent-erklaert/
Listen to the new episode ↗ here.

Cutting | More-Than-Human | Graphic Anthropology Cluster Member Maxime Le Calvé convened a special topic panel titled »Epistemic dizziness. Coping with the side effects of the fast-paced circulation of metaphors and figures in STS« with his colleagues Britta Acksel and Jonna Josties of the laboratory for Human Environment Relations (HU Berlin) at the Science & Technology Studies-Hub from March 15-17th, 2023, in Aachen.
Together, they introduced the notion of epistemic dizziness in a collective paper, followed by hands-on dizziness-inducing exercises. The contribution featured an AI-generated artwork created collaboratively by the Cluster members Lucius Fekonja and Maxime Le Calvé. → more

Filtering | Robotics | Doctoral Program | Achievements We congratulate Pre-Doctoral Candidate Anna Schäffner on her successful application to one of the three VOJEXT S+T+ARTS residencies. The selected artists were announced during the S+T+ARTS presentations at European Robotic Forum 2023 in Odense (Denmark). Each artist will receive 30.000 Euros of funding, mentoring and access to robotics labs from March until December 2023. The goals of the VOJEXT S+T+ARTS residencies are twofold: to push for art-driven innovation and societal understanding of human-robot interactions, and to integrate them in industrial manufacturing robotics that work on construction, arts and crafts. Anna Schäffner is taking part in the Social Robots residency, supported by industrial partner and tech-provider  IIT (Fondazion Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia). Her project »Soft Collision« focuses on the design of a new robotic membrane that will demonstrate a form of interaction between human and robot through body language. → more

Object Space Agency | Teaching | Performance Research Associate Clemens Winkler has been appointed visiting professor »digital media« at Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch. In an interview, the design researcher introduces himself and presents possible synergetic interfaces between the Cluster and the theater academy. In the course »Spiel und Objekt«, he creates playful stage spaces with students to negotiate human perspectives on current socio-technological ecologies and post-fossil futures. → more

Object Space Agency | Teaching | XR | Speculative Design Cluster members Yoonha Kim and Maxime Le Calvé represented the Cluster at the online conference of the Film Festival at the Royal Anthropological Institute (London, UK), an event bringing together the global scene of visual anthropology. Together, they presented the paper »The patchy paths of the stretching senses school: the coming-of-age of an emerging learning community and immersive media collective between speculative ethnography and creative coding in Berlin« on March 8th, 2023.  → more

Object Space Agency | Publications | Graphic Anthropology Posting graphic fieldnotes can be brewed into a method to broker some attention from busy professionals. But what are the benefits of the practice? And for a potential publisher? What are the drawbacks and inconveniences? What’s the best practice in this domain? A paper, presented by Maxime Le Calvé at the Film Festival of the Royal Anthropological Institute (London, UK), on March 7th, 2023, focuses on the collaborative ethnographic process conducted within a neurosurgery department as a »radical open-access« pre-publication. → more

Filtering | Science Communication | Circular Economies Tuesday, March 28th, 2023, from 3:30-8:00 pm, DesignFarm Berlin invites you to the Design Impact Conference at Stadtwerkstatt near Alexanderplatz. Current startups will present their latest digital, material-based, and textile innovations and discuss their results with various practitioners and stakeholders. The conference is supported by scholars of weißensee school of art and design berlin and the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material« of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The conference is part of the talk series about new qualities of entrepreneurship and circular economy within the Cluster.  → more

Material Form Function | Forest | More-Than-Human Following Mia Couto’s quote, places of ›nature‹ require us to think more than we would expect. While highlighting that those ›natural‹ places were fabricated through stories (and histories), Couto also contends that they are indeed ›fazedores‹ – makers – of so many other stories. Taking up these thoughts that resonate with Haraway’s claim to create novel stories and »stay with the trouble«, Robert Stock approaches the coastal line of Mozambique to learn about the ways in which mangrove forests intersect with the contemporary postcolonial condition of this country as part of the first panel starting Thursday, March 30th. → more

Cutting | XR | Graphic Anthropology During this workshop on 13th April 2023, organized and led by Paulina Greta Stefanovic (HTW) and Cluster Members Maxime Le Calvé and Thomas Picht (MoA) within the Speculative Realities Lab (Charité), we will initiate a group of students and researchers to one of the latest VR sketching tools. Together, we will experiment and discuss the hands-on practice of thinking in space with lines and volumes in VR. We will then further challenge the group to translate the ideas generated during the workshop into a virtual installation sketched into 3D space. → more

Cutting Mit der Verbreitung von Smartphone-Apps, Drohnen, GPS-Daten und Navigationsgeräten für Automobile wird Navigation in unserem Alltag immer wichtiger. Auch in der wissenschaftlichen Forschung nimmt die Bedeutung von Navigation als einer Technik und Praxis des Durchquerens digitaler und analoger Räume zu. Beim Navigieren geht es darum, aufgrund einer Vielfalt von heterogenen Daten einen situativ optimalen Weg zu finden, wobei Visualisierungen und Kartierungen eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Die von den Clustermitgliedern Maxime Le Calvé und Regula Burri organisierte interdisziplinäre Ringvorlesung setzt sich mit Navigation als kultureller und wissenschaftlicher Praxis aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven auseinander. Am 5. Juni hilft uns Maxime Le Calvé bei der Navigation durchs Gehirn – nicht verpassen! → more

Material Form Function The online lecture series, a joint event between the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material« and the Department of Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, will kick-off on April 19th, 2023. Together with international design scholars and practitioners, it aims to navigate the tensions between technotopianism, critique, and transition in the context of designing in the so-called Anthropocene. We will not only look at the potential, problems, and limitations of calls for ever more design and construction, but also look at alternative ways and narratives of world-making, transformation, and futurity.  → more

Event | Berlin University Alliance This one-day workshop organized by the advisory service of Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP) addresses researchers and provides you with basic knowledge about Open Access and scientific publishing (in German). The agenda includes topics such as practical Open Access implementations, funding and financing, publication processes, publication types, quality assurance, copyright and licenses, as well as visibility and reputation. Using a variety of methods, you will also learn and be inspired to skillfully pass on your knowledge to your colleagues. ↗ more

Filtering | Material Form Function Biological filters, which separate particles from fluids, are hugely important to animal and ocean health, involved in capturing food for myriad species, filtering sediment and cleaning water, and even concentrating microplastics. Filter architectures, by definition, must interact with and exert control over their physical environment: filters can be as simple as sieves or have complex designs; be made of soft cartilage or stiff keratin materials; can filter particles either actively or passively; and are present in organisms at a wide range of scales —from millimeter-sized plankton to enormous basking sharks. The »Filters in Biology and Biomimetics (FiBB 2023)« conference, on May 15th and 16th, aims to synthesize different aspects of biological filtration, look for unifying themes across the Tree of Life, and integrate disparate research groups pushing this research forward. The meeting will unite diverse early-career and experienced researchers working on fundamental aspects of particle filtration in manifold natural systems, as well as designers, engineers and industrial specialists experienced in particle filters and biomimetic applications. By bringing together multidisciplinary experts, we will build new connections, benefitting biologists interested in structure-function and ecology, and experimental and industrial experts interested in the design and scaling of bioinspired and/or industrial filters.  → more

Object Space Agency | Bauhaus Alles beginnt mit einem unerwarteten Anruf und einem Testament: Das Bauhaus-Archiv erbt den Nachlass des Künstlers Jak R. Maier. Doch wer war Jak R. Maier? Wieso kommt sein Nachlass zu uns? Was bedeutet es, über die Objekte eines anderen Menschen zu verfügen und zu entscheiden? Die Ausstellung »Unpacking Jak R. Maier« setzt sich erstmalig mit dem künstlerischen und privaten Archiv des Berliner Künstlers und unseren Umgang damit auseinander. Die »unpackings« bringen an sechs Themen-Abenden Dynamik in die Ausstellung. In Gesprächen mit Gäst:innen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis und Live-Aktionen erkundet das Museumsteam gemeinsam mit dem Publikum den Nachlass des Künstlers. → more

job The position is assigned to the junior professorship »Interdisciplinary Technology Transfer and Digitalization in Surgery« (Prof. Dr. Moritz Queisner) and is part of Experimental Surgery at the Department of Surgery, CCM|CVK (Prof. Dr. Igor Sauer) as well as linked to the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«. You will work withing a newly founded, interdisciplinary team working on new concepts for Surgery 4.0, for example, with regard to the topics of AI, robotics or extended reality and establishing the research area »Digital Surgery« at Charité. → more

job The project »Weaving« is currently looking for a student assistant from the fields of Philosophy, Library, Cultural, Media or Literary Studies, Ethnology or similar. Apply now! → more

Early Career Support | Berlin University Alliance In spring 2023, the Berlin University Alliance launches the ↗ Postdoc Academy, a new academy to promote researchers at the postdoctoral level. BUA announced some first attractive ↗ workshops especially on career support and a kick-off event on April 26th. You can register ↗ here. More information on the kick-off event can be found ↗ here.

The goal of the program which is part of the objective »Promoting Talent« is to improve postdoc careers and enable young researchers to make individually good choices about their next steps – especially, if they are in the first years of their postdoc. »Innovative approaches & best practices in your career development are at the core of this new BUA project«.

Event | SCRIPTS Die Zukunft der Demokratie ist umkämpft. Gewaltbereite Autokratien, das Erstarken populistischer, illiberaler Kräfte innerhalb Europas, extreme kulturelle und gesellschaftliche Polarisierungen verdichten sich zur akuten Krise. Wie reagieren liberale Gesellschaften darauf? Muss die Demokratie verteidigt werden?

An drei Abenden stellen sich SCRIPTS Forscher:innen im Kurzgespräch den Fragen des Tagesspiegel-Journalisten Christoph D. Piorkowski zur aktuellen Krise der Demokratie. 

Kommende Termine:

Mittwoch, 19. April 2023, 18:30 Uhr: #2 Freiheit als Problem
Welche systemischen Ungerechtigkeiten und historischen Erblasten sind der liberalen Ordnung eingeschrieben? Hält der Liberalismus, was er verspricht? 

Ein Kurzgespräch zu Selbstwidersprüchen und nicht eingelösten Versprechen des Liberalismus mit dem Philosophen und SCRIPTS Forscher Stefan Gosepath. ↗ Weitere Informationen

Montag, 22. Mai 2023, 18:30 Uhr: #3 Anfechtungen 
Die aktuellen Anfechtungen liberaler politischer Ordnungen von innen wie von außen sind zahlreich. Markieren sie auch einen besonderen historischen Moment? Welchen Beitrag kann die Wissenschaft leisten, um Gefahrenpotenziale zu bestimmen? 

Ein Kurzgespräch mit der Politikwissenschaftlerin und SCRIPTS Co-Sprecherin Tanja A. Börzel zur Lage und Bedrohung liberaler Gegenwarts-Demokratien. ↗ Weitere Informationen