Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Tracing paraffin accumulations. Fieldwork on the coastline of the Curonian Spit in the Neringa Nature Reserve, Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar. 2024. Copyright: Léa Perraudin, edited by »Matters of Activity«

Tracing paraffin accumulations. Fieldwork on the coastline of the Curonian Spit in the Neringa Nature Reserve, Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar. 2024. Copyright: Léa Perraudin, edited by »Matters of Activity«

Dear Friends of »Matters of Activity«,

In this last issue before the summer break, we would like to share with you some impressions of our members' field trips abroad: Emma Sicher was recently in Thailand as part of her doctoral thesis and Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar have just returned from a field study in Lithuania.
We are pleased to announce that the new Cluster publication series »Raue Reihe/Raw Studies«, edited by Horst Bredekamp, has been published with a first issue by Regine Hengge on »The Essential Role of Microbes in Planetary Metabolism«. It is explicitly aimed at non-biologists who work in interdisciplinary contexts.
Furthermore, we would be delighted to meet as many of you as possible on July 12th at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, where the exhibition »Matter of South. Biomaterial Cultures from Latin America« opens, which Heidi Jalkh is curating as part of the platform »More than Human. Design after the Anthropocene« initiated by Claudia Banz. Also the results of a workshop series on 3D sketching organized by Maxime Le Calvé in collaboration with Elaine Bonavia, Paulina Greta Stefanovic, Nayeli Vega, and the »Speculative Realities Lab« will be exhibited on this occasion.

We wish you a relaxing summer break and look forward to seeing you again in September!
Antje Nestler, Carolin Ott, and Franziska Wegener

Liebe Freund:innen von »Matters of Activity«,

in dieser letzten Ausgabe vor der Sommerpause möchten wir einige Eindrücke von den Auslandsreisen unserer Mitglieder teilen: Emma Sicher war kürzlich im Rahmen ihrer Doktorarbeit in Thailand und Léa Perraudin und Iva Rešetar sind gerade von einer Feldstudie in Litauen zurückgekehrt.
Wir freuen uns, dass die neue Cluster-Publikationsreihe »Raue Reihe/Raw Studies«, herausgegeben von Horst Bredekamp, mit einer ersten Ausgabe von Regine Hengge zum Thema »The Essential Role of Microbes in Planetary Metabolism« erschienen ist. Sie richtet sich ausdrücklich an Nicht-Biolog:innen, die in interdisziplinären Zusammenhängen arbeiten.
Außerdem freuen wir uns, möglichst viele von Ihnen am 12. Juli im Kunstgewerbemuseum zu treffen, wo die Ausstellung »Matter of South. Biomaterial Cultures from Latin America« eröffnet wird, die Heidi Jalkh im Rahmen der von Claudia Banz initiierten Plattform »More than Human. Design nach dem Anthropozän« kuratiert. Auch die Ergebnisse einer Workshopreihe zum Thema 3D-Zeichnen, die Maxime Le Calvé in Zusammenarbeit mit Elaine Bonavia, Paulina Greta Stefanovic, Nayeli Vega und dem »Speculative Realities Lab« durchgeführt hat, werden bei dieser Gelegenheit ausgestellt.

Wir wünschen eine erholsame Sommerpause und freuen uns auf ein Wiedersehen im September!
Antje Nestler, Carolin Ott und Franziska Wegener

Carbon Present
Virtual Exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal
Ernest Cormier, Thermometer. ARCH252051 Ernest Cormier fonds, CCA. Copyright: Fonds Ernest Cormier, CCA

Ernest Cormier, Thermometer. ARCH252051 Ernest Cormier fonds, CCA. Copyright: Fonds Ernest Cormier, CCA

29.1.2024

Material Form Function | Air | Climate What does climate accountability look like for architecture? In an online exhibition curated by Arièle Dionne-Krosnick at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), the participants in the »2022 Toolkit for Today: Carbon Present« seminar and the »2022 Doctoral Research Residency Program«, such as Cluster member Iva Rešetar, were invited to collaboratively re-read objects from the CCA collections in ways that highlight how carbon shapes our present built environment. »Researchers generated dynamic terms to frame how we have historically engaged with and continue to manage carbon: to regulate design expertise, to shape social and lived experience, to be comfortable, and to relate to (and profit from) built and natural environments« (CCA). → more

Visiting Material Futures
Pop-up Exhibition at Futurium
Ausstellung »Visiting Material Futures«, Futurium 2024. Copyright: David von Becker

Ausstellung »Visiting Material Futures«, Futurium 2024. Copyright: David von Becker

3.5.2024–25.8.2024

Material Form Function | Weaving | Object Space Agency | Speculative Design | Collactive Materials | Science Communication What material futures can we envision if we engage in collaborative speculation? The pop-up exhibition »Visiting Material Futures« explores this question through contributions from Cluster researchers and Futurium workshop participants. The collaboration between »Matters of Activity«, »Futurium«, and the experimental laboratory for Science Communication »CollActive Materials« employs the concept of co-speculation. This method invites knowledge from research, experience, and everyday life into a co-creative exchange about what material futures seem possible to us today. Don't miss your chance to visit the exhibition until the end of August! → more

Exhibition »Visiting Material Futures« at Futurium. Copyright: Matters of Activity | Michelle Mantel
Exhibition »Visiting Material Futures« at Futurium. Copyright: Matters of Activity | Michelle Mantel
Exhibition »Visiting Material Futures« at Futurium. Copyright: Matters of Activity | Michelle Mantel
Exhibition »Visiting Material Futures« at Futurium. Copyright: Matters of Activity | Michelle Mantel
Exhibition »Visiting Material Futures« at Futurium. Copyright: Matters of Activity | Michelle Mantel
Sharon Macdonald Member of »Academia Europaea« and Vice-Chair of the Academic Committee of the House of European History
6.6.2024

Object Space Agency | Achievements We warmly congratulate our Cluster Member Sharon Macdonald who has been nominated for membership of the Academia Europaea for her »outstanding achievements as a researcher«. She also has been elected as Vice-Chair of the Academic Committee of the House of European History. Macdonald is Professor of Social Anthropology with a focus on museums and cultural heritage at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Director of the Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik. → more

Floating Food / Creating Knowledge
Alwin J. Cubasch's Article About NASA Food Testing Online Now
Skylab Food Tray, December 30, 1971. Copyright: NASA S72-15409

Skylab Food Tray, December 30, 1971. Copyright: NASA S72-15409

26.6.2024

Filtering | Prototype / Model To survive in space, people also have to eat in space. In preparation for the first American space station Skylab, NASA food experts tested food systems on parabolic flights. Cluster member Alwin Cubasch has delved into the NASA archive material from the early 1970's and applied concepts from the history of science to the fields of historical food science and the history of nutritional science. His findings can now be read in an article on the »History of Knowledge« blog of the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC. → more

Wege zur Professur
Vera Meyer zu Gast in neuester Folge des BUA-Podcast »Spot ON«
26.6.2024

Science Communication Im neuen Podcast »Spot ON - Wege zur Professur«, sprechen Mitglieder der Postdoc-Academy der Berlin University Alliance mit Professor*innen aus den vier Berliner Universitäten über ihren Weg zur Professur. Hier geht es nicht um Karriere-Blaupausen, sondern wir wollen wissen: Was waren die entscheidenden Abzweigungen auf dem Karriereweg? Was war im Rückblick besonders wichtig? Was hätten sie gern früher gewusst und was würden sie Postdocs heute empfehlen, die eine akademische Karriere anstreben? Wer oder was hat sie besonders beeinflusst? Und ist es jetzt so, wie sie es sich vorgestellt hatten? In der neuesten Folge gibt Clustermitglied Vera Meyer, Professorin für Mikrobiologie an der TU Berlin, Antworten auf diese Fragen und Einblicke in ihre Forschung. → more

Latent Accumulations. Coastal Phase Change, Paraffin Pollution and Maintenance
Fieldwork of Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar on the Coastline of the Curonian Spit in the Neringa Nature Reserve
Tracing paraffin accumulations. Fieldwork on the coastline of the Curonian Spit in the Neringa Nature Reserve, Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar. 2024. Copyright: Iva Rešetar

Tracing paraffin accumulations. Fieldwork on the coastline of the Curonian Spit in the Neringa Nature Reserve, Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar. 2024. Copyright: Iva Rešetar

1.7.2024

Material Form Function | More-Than-Human | Sand | Temporality | Water | Waste | Wax In their ongoing fieldwork in Nida, Lithuania, Iva Rešetar and Léa Perraudin are concerned with the scales and phases of paraffin (re-)distribution in this seemingly pristine natural environment. Latent Accumulations focuses on the ecopolitics of paraffin pollution, engaging the material as unsettled in its movement and energy exchange. They argue that it is precisely the process of phase transition that gives rise to this uncertain ontological status – between solid and liquid, slow and sudden, and between events of pollution, their materialization and maintenance. → more

New Cluster Publication Series »Raue Reihe«
Edited by Horst Bredekamp with a First Issue by Regine Hengge on »The Essential Role of Microbes in Planetary Metabolism«
Publication »Raue Reihe«, edited by Horst Bredekamp with a first issue by Regine Hengge on »The Essential Role of Microbes in Planetary Metabolism«. Copyright: Matters of Activity

Publication »Raue Reihe«, edited by Horst Bredekamp with a first issue by Regine Hengge on »The Essential Role of Microbes in Planetary Metabolism«. Copyright: Matters of Activity

1.7.2024

Weaving | Symbolic Material | Filtering | Publications | Bacteria | Biofilm The academic series »Raue Reihe / Raw Studies« is a new publication organ of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« edited by Horst Bredekamp. Modeled on »grey literature« formats, such as the preprints of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin or the legendary Merve volumes, its issues will appear at irregular intervals and aim to support the publishing of Cluster literature in terms of processes, and rapidity, spontaneity, and process character. Its title, »Raue Reihe«, emphasizes the resistance of matter that continues to be the decisive determination of existence in all its varieties in our digital age.  → more

Generating Biomaterials By Acetic Fermentation
Emma Sicher Exchanged Knowledge with Researchers and Practitioners in Thailand
Fermentation preparation with Tanyaporn Tantasathien. Thailand 2024. Copyright: Emma Sicher

Fermentation preparation with Tanyaporn Tantasathien. Thailand 2024. Copyright: Emma Sicher

2.7.2024

Weaving | Bacteria | Biodesign | Biofilm | Cellulose | Doctoral Program Between May and June, doctoral researcher Emma Sicher spent three weeks in Thailand as part of her PhD in Design Studies. Invited by Professor Aracha Krasae-in, she presented the work of the Cluster and her current research at the Faculty of Architecture of Kasetsart University in Bangkok. There, she also exchanged ideas with Professor Prakit Sukyai, an expert in Biotechnology and Biopolymers. Additionally, she presented at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts of Thammasat University, invited by Professor Wuthigrai Siriphon.
The heart of the experience consisted of visits to two sites associated with acetic fermentation techniques that can generate biomaterials. These techniques range from ancient practices to more recent methods, employed in various ways from fertilizers to health-promoting substances. The visits took place in small artisanal production realities in Nakhon Ratchasima province, including Stefano and Somporn Abbruzzese, and Micro Friends, an initiative run by Tanyaporn Tantasathien and Waratchanat Thongthiangtham at the Baan Ama farm stay. → more

Matter of South. Biomaterial Cultures from Latin America
Exhibition Opening at Kunstgewerbemuseum on 12 July
TRAZOS Edición Biomateriales, 2024, Gisela Pozzetti, Heidi Jalkh, Sistemas Materiales. Photo: Maia Croizet

TRAZOS Edición Biomateriales, 2024, Gisela Pozzetti, Heidi Jalkh, Sistemas Materiales. Photo: Maia Croizet

12.7.2024–26.8.2024

Material Form Function | Biodesign | More-Than-Human Under the new discursive platform »More Than Human: Design after the Anthropocene« at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, created by Claudia Banz, Heidi Jalkh has been invited to curate a project in collaboration with co-curators Gisela Pozzetti and Valentina Aliaga. The »Matter of South - Biomaterial Cultures from Latin America« project explores how biomaterial initiatives in this region harness local culture and biodiversity to create new material cultures. This endeavor also aims to reframe our relationship with the immediate environment while questioning and providing alternatives to the established extractivist model. The exhibition will open on July 12th, 7 pm, and runs through August 26th. A two-day international symposium on this topic is scheduled for the project, tentatively set for July 17th-18th. → more

Wunderkammer Set #2 at Kunstgewerbemuseum
Results of »More-Than-Human Sketching« Workshop Exhibited
Maxime Le Calvé, Sketching at Kunstgewerbemuseum, More-Than-Human Sketching 2.0 Workshop, 2024. Copyright: Maxime Le Calvé

Maxime Le Calvé, Sketching at Kunstgewerbemuseum, More-Than-Human Sketching 2.0 Workshop, 2024. Copyright: Maxime Le Calvé

12.7.2024–26.8.2024

Cutting | Graphic Anthropology | XR The results of the »More-than-Human Sketching« project, a participative design anthropology research process by Elaine Bonavia, Paulina Greta Stefanovic, Maxime Le Calvé, and Nayeli Vega, will be on display from July 12th as part of the second set of the »Intervention Wunderkammer« at Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin. Based on the findings of this work, guided tours of the Kunstgewerbemuseum are now being offered for the first time using augmented reality headsets. Visitors are invited to sketch in 3D (in augmented reality and on paper), following a score inspired by design research, graphic anthropology, and experimental anatomical pedagogy. → more

Before the Object. Material Histories, Infrastructures and Ecologies
Workshop Organized by Cluster Member Kaja Ninnis Together with Ursula Ströbele
Edward Burtinsky, Iberia Quarries #2, Marmorose EFA Co., Bencatel, Portugal, 2006

Edward Burtinsky, Iberia Quarries #2, Marmorose EFA Co., Bencatel, Portugal, 2006

21.11.2024–23.11.2024

Material Form Function | Material Legacies | More-Than-Human | Temporality What happens before matter becomes art – what happens before the object? This workshop at Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, November 21st-23rd, 2024, is dedicated to exploring not artworks but the »stuff« artworks are made of and the ecological implications of their procurement, processing, and transport, aiming at uncovering what Laura Turner Igoe has called »the ecological unconscious of art matter.« The workshop is organized by Kaja Ninnis (HU Berlin / Matters of Activity) and Ursula Ströbele (HBK Braunschweig). → more

Open House 2024 at Weißensee School of Art and Design
Student Projects On View in Collaboration with »Matters of Activity«
Bi-Leaf - Morphology of a Movement, Antonia Dönitz, Master Thesis Textile and Material Design, 2024. Image Copyright: Antonia Dönitz / weißensee school of art and design

Bi-Leaf - Morphology of a Movement, Antonia Dönitz, Master Thesis Textile and Material Design, 2024. Image Copyright: Antonia Dönitz / weißensee school of art and design

20.7.2024–21.7.2024

Weaving | Filtering | Achievements | MoA Design Research Studio | Prototype / Model | Sand | Teaching | Textiles | Yarns/Fibers | Water On July 20th and 21st, 2024, 12.00–8.00 pm, weißensee school of art and design berlin will open its studios for the traditional Open House. Also this year, there will be the opportunity to learn more about the design research projects and students’ works developed during the previous year, some of them in cooperation with or in classes led by researchers of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«. → more

Super Contemporary Arts Fest
Dragoner.02 Curated by Babette Werner
ADLERhalle, Berlin-Kreuzberg, Copyright: Babette Werner

ADLERhalle, Berlin-Kreuzberg, Copyright: Babette Werner

3.8.2024–7.8.2024

Object Space Agency On August 2nd, the »Dragoner.02 – Super Contemporary Arts Fest« on the grounds of the Dragonerareal in Berlin-Kreuzberg will open its doors. The festival was initiated in 2023 by the artists and curators Yasmin Alt, Luis Bortt, Jan Herdlicka and MoA member Babette Werner to provide an inclusive platform to connect in creative speculation and to activate the public space with many for many. One of the 40 positions shown from diverse disciplines such as painting, photography, sculpture, and performance will be by Cluster member Clemens Winkler. → more

Science and Technologies Studies (STS) Hub 2025 at the Humboldt–Universität zu Berlin
Call for Open Panels and Individual Papers
Screenshot: https://sts-hub.de/25/ 

Screenshot: https://sts-hub.de/25/ 

16.8.2024–31.10.2024

Call Cluster member Ignacio Farías invites you to the second STS-Hub 2025 at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, which will occur from March 11th to 14th, 2025. Please save the date! STS Hub is a conference series that brings together German organizations, labs and research groups that are more or less closely related to STS. The STS Hub 2025 is organized by STS scholars from different institutions of the HU, supported by six German professional associations dedicated to STS, and assisted by a scientific advisory board.

The theme of the Hub 2025, »Diffracting the Critical«, calls for a collective exploration of how the critical is entangled in the complex interplay of ecologies, infrastructures, scales, temporalities, collaborations and solidarities that shape not only the present but also our practice as STS scholars.

Please note that the deadline for Open Panels is August 16th, 2024 and that the Call for Individual Papers in Open Panels will run from September 1st to October 31st, 2024.

An overview of all other calls (for posters and multimodal contributions), as well as key dates, contact information, etc. can be found on the website: ↗ https://sts-hub.de/25/ 

Journalist in Residence at »inherit«
Call for Applications 31 July 2024
Call for journalists »inherit«. Copyright: inherit

Call for journalists »inherit«. Copyright: inherit

8.7.2024–31.7.2024

Job Opportunities Outside of MoA Käte Hamburger Kolleg »inherit. heritage in transformation« is looking for freelance journalists who are interested in »inherit« and its research themes and want to report on them for the period from October to December 2024. Journalists might report on topics or issues addressed by »inherit« and its fellows, specific individuals (team and/or fellows) of interest, or specific research projects. ↗ more