Editorial Dear Friends of »Matters of Activity«,

We hope you enjoyed this well-deserved holiday and we are looking forward to kicking off this 2nd half of the Cluster year with many exciting news and events. For an overview of all events happening during Berlin Science Week in November, you will have to wait for next month's newsletter, but we're happy to share a glimpse of what is going on, especially during our open house days »Open Space – Active Matter on Stage« November 8th and 9th.

We're also excited to share some new publications and other great lectures and workshops our members are working on.

Happy reading,
Antje Nestler, Carolin Ott & Franziska Wegener

Material Form Function | Weaving | Teaching | Yarns/Fibers | Daoula Sheen | Bauhaus The Architectural Yarns research group at »Matters of Activity« has been hosting a hands-on workshop on tactile knowledge in performative research at the Bauhaus Study Rooms 2023. During the one-day workshop, a group of 45 international students from Bauhaus Foundation Dessau, Coop Design Research of the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences explored, verbalized and mapped tactile practices and textile gestures with large-scale yarns made of natural fibers. By investigating reconfigurable textile techniques with yarn samples, insights into collective design and construction processes of fiber-based materials such as ›Architectural Yarns‹ were gained. → more

Weaving | Material Form Function | Publications | XR Elaine Bonavia, Jessica Farmer, Alexandre Mballa-Ekobena, Nikolai Rosenthal, Laurence Douny and Karola Dierichs have published a paper on an augmented reality (AR) framework that uses hand-based motion tracking and data capture. The main contribution lies in the use of haptic data flows rather than visual ones. The AR framework was tested in a one-to-one scale architectural application emulating the spinning behavior of silkworms. → more

Material Form Function We are pleased to announce the publication of the book »Théories du Design« by Cluster Director Claudia Mareis at the prestigious Presses du Réel. Translated from German into French by anthropologist Maxime Le Calvé, this text is an updated edition of »Theorien des Designs zur Einführung« (Junius Verlag, 2014). The book includes a foreword by Claire Brunet and Emanuele Quinz and an afterword by Guy Julier. The Design/Théories series, co-edited by Associate Member Emanuele Quinz, presents in French fundamental works, both historical and contemporary, in the field of design theory. → more

Weaving | Symbolic Material | Publications | Bacteria | More-Than-Human »Spontaneous Generations«, the Journal of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto launched a special issue on ›agency‹. The volume »From Bacteria to Gaia: Levels of Biological Agency« includes an article of the Cluster members Karin Krauthausen and Michael Friedman on the agency and activities of materials in the 21st century. → more

Symbolic Material | Material Form Function | Publications After the release of the anthology edited by Patricia Ribault, including contributions by Cluster members Samuel Bianchini, Cecile Bidan, Horst Bredekamp, Mason Dean, Emile De Visscher, Peter Fratzl, Lorenzo Guiducci, Leonie Häsler, Claudia Mareis, Martin Müller, Jörg Petruschat, Emanuele Quinz, Khashayar Razghandi, Patricia Ribault, Wolfgang Schäffer and Charlett Wenig, we're happy to announce that the publication is now available open access. Through the concepts of »Design, Gestaltung and Formatività«, this book sheds new light on the processes of formation and transformation of the material world we live in. In the first part— »Giving Form« —philosophers, historians, psychologists and cultural studies scholars question our modes of giving form, while in the second— »Form Given« — artists, designers, engineers and scientists unfold their creative processes. These »philosophies of making« invite us to reflect on what we do, what we can do, and how to do it, but they also spur us into action. → more

Material Form Function | Waste | Toxics | Achievements Leila Wallisser has been awarded the First Prize of the German Design Graduate (GDG) Committee 2023 in the category »Sustainability and Circularity« for her Master’s Thesis »Toxic Legacies« conducted at weißensee school of art and design berlin, supervised by »Matters of Activity« members Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karola Dierichs and Prof. Dr. Lucy Norris. »Toxic Legacies« is an innovative design project that delves into the world of recycling, shedding light on how the concept of recycling can tend to justify the production of waste in a consumer-based system. → more

Podacst | Exzellent Erklärt The Clusters of Excellence are not only dedicated to research questions in the natural sciences, but of course also to the humanities. Therefore, this time the focus of the podcast series »Exzellent Erklärt« is on literary studies and theater studies. Anna Luhn deals with the concept of literary translations. Torsten Jost, on the other hand, has devoted himself to theater and is researching how we receive performances and which international concepts can be connected to the stage. Listen in (in German)! ↗ more

Material Form Function The two-day virtual workshop »Frontiers of Biological Materials-Principles and Applications« focused on biomaterials, bioinspiration and how biological materials research can address urgent challenges, such as sustainability and lead to technological advances, including for biomedical applications. Join Peter Fratzl on September 19th for his talk about »Mechanical Adaptation of Biological Materials«. → more

Material Form Function Climate Care Festival is a site-symbiotic public program under the title »Critterkratia«. The festival invites Floating University association members, artists, thinkers, scientists, activists, designers and the general public to acknowledge that we are situated in relation and in cohabitation with an infrastructural site – a partially contaminated rainwater retention basin serving Tempelhofer Feld – and its many living forms. Cluster Member Rasa Weber is part of the festival with a lecture and the workshop »How to Zoöp?« on September 24th. → more

Filtering | Prototype / Model Do we move, interact and design in precisely three spatial dimensions and time? And are these sufficient for describing our interactions within the world? In this workshop, we will explore and prototype research from the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, which proposes that anholonomy of spatial and temporal geometries imbue complex systems with activity.  In other words, complex systems may exist with or without complex anholonomies from their complex temporal geometry. Designing prototypes and use-case demonstrators of such complex temporal geometries which provoke anholonomies, is key towards their communication and understanding. → more

Object Space Agency | More-Than-Human In an era fraught with dizzying socio-political events and burgeoning ecological catastrophes, this workshop for a special issue will delve into the concept of epistemic dizziness as a disordered state of whirling vertigo, applying it to the contemporary state of STS. As we navigate the tumultuous landscape of an open-ended pandemic, war, and socio-ecological devastation (Stengers 2021), the research practices of STS itself risk inducing ›epistemic dizziness‹. This workshop, inspired by Donna Haraway (2016), draws on ›serious fun‹ as a means of staving off paralysis and fainting, urging that knowledge production can serve as both a coping mechanism and a source of resilience. Repurposing the concept of ›ilinx‹, as delineated by Roger Caillois (1961), the series of lecture performances will critically examine playful dizzying practices in Western, indigenous, and other worlds as a pathway towards comprehending our vertiginously speedy world. → more

Material Form Function | Collactive Materials | Air | Science Communication Invisible, and yet everywhere. Air is always already on its way to becoming something else. From molecule to atmosphere: the global climate crisis and thus the possible futures of our coexistence will be decided by means of air. How could a new sensorium emerge for the coming? What will connect us in the future? »Airbound« runs until November 9th and provides space for discussing geopolitical urgencies of the present through climate fictions and speculative everyday scenarios. As part of Berlin Science Week »CollActive Materials« also organizes the workshop »Introducing: The Breathless Choir« November 4th at Naturkundemuseum. → more

Weaving | Filtering | Material Form Function | Cutting | Object Space Agency | Symbolic Material | Science Communication We are surrounded by matter that is vibrant and active. Yet we often treat matter as if it were passive. Instead of using active material properties and structures, industrial and digital manufacturing, as well as conventional approaches to engineering, design, and architecture, still heavily rely on the passivation of materials, and external energy is added. On November 8th and 9th, Matters of Activity opened its doors to the general public for the first time as part of Berlin Science Week. More than 140 guests on both days were given an insight into the Cluster of Excellence's research. → more

Job Are you interested in the field of digital health and are you studying a subject related to science communication (e.g. journalism, design, communication, social media, public relations)? Then apply as a student employee (40 hours per month, TV Stud, starting immediately). We're looking forward to your application!

You will be part of a newly founded, interdisciplinary team that develops new concepts for digital surgery and digital biomedicine, for example, with regard to the topics of AI, robotics or extended reality and builds up the research area »Digital Surgery« at the Charité.

Find out more here:
↗ https://karriere.charite.de/stellenangebote/detail/2076