Dear friends of »Matters of Activity«,

It is with great pleasure that we return from the summer break because there is a lot to tell:
We are delighted that the Cluster's central anthology »Toward a New Culture of the Material« is now hot off the press. Moreover, MoA research has recently been the subject of various media reports. Listen to the new »Exzellent Erklärt« podcast with Karola Dierichs and Robert Stock and don't miss the great presentation of the Cluster in the arte documentary »Change by Design«. Be sure to take a look at the events planned for the coming weeks: e.g., the lecture series »Microbes and Materials« organized by our new member Anna A. Gorbushina starts this week, and in October, we are looking forward to the conference »Planetary Design. Designing Futures« organized by Claudia Mareis.

Happy reading!
Antje Nestler & Carolin Ott

Material Form Function | Weaving | Bauhaus | Biodesign | Climate | Circular Economies | Hemp | Textiles | Tangling | Wool | Yarns/Fibers On July 15th, 2024, members from Bauhaus Earth and the research group »Architectural Yarns« exchanged common ideas and current projects with mutual visits to MoA's Activarium and the Marienpark Lab of Bauhaus Earth. The goal was to foster an exchange of ideas for potential collaborations, emphasizing the shared goals and innovative approaches in sustainable architecture and material design. Key overlapping areas of interest include the reuse of materials, circular resources, economic potentials, and rethinking aesthetics in housing, and building culture. → more

Symbolic Material | Achievements At the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts public annual meeting on Wednesday, July 10th, Senior Co-Director of »Matters of Activity« Horst Bredekamp was accepted as a full member of the Fine Arts Department. We warmly congratulate Professor Bredekamp on this honor. Founded in 1948 by the Free State of Bavaria as the »highest entity for fostering art«, the Academy's mission is to contribute to the intellectual debate within the arts and between society and to advocate the dignity of art. → more

Object Space Agency | XR | Science Communication Für einen im August erschienenen Artikel im Tagesspiegel zur aktuellen VR-Forschung wurde Cluster-Mitglied und Mitgründer und Betreiber des gamelab.berlin Christian Stein interviewt. Neben den bei »Matters of Activity« entwickelten VR-Formaten für Ausstellungen wie beispielsweise die Elevator Platform in der »Stretching Materialies«-Ausstellung kam dabei auch die zunehmende Bedeutung von VR-Simulationen im OP-Saal zur Sprache. → more

Bacteria | Cellulose | Fungi/Mycelium | Yarns/Fibers | Climate | Science Communication | Biodesign | Circular Economies | Hemp | Textiles | Waste For all our German and French-speaking friends we have a special treat: ARTE TV visited us and made our Co-Director Claudia Mareis and »Matters of Activity« part of a documentation about sustainable fashion and of course design. English subtitles as well as other languages are also available, so don’t miss it! → more

Material Form Function | Weaving | Forest | Prototype / Model | More-Than-Human | Tree Bark | Yarns/Fibers | Science Communication In Folge 48 der Podcastserie »Exzellent Erklärt« erwartet die Zuhörer:innen ein inspirierender Austausch zu der Frage, wie die Materialien, die in der direkten Umgebung und ihren Kreisläufen vorkommen, das Bauen der Zukunft mitgestalten können. Journalistin Larissa Vassilian hat mit Cluster-Mitgliedern Karola Dierichs und Robert Stock über ihr Projekt »Syntopic Architectures« gesprochen, das darauf abzielt, natürliche Strukturen in die Architektur zu integrieren, die in Verbindung zu dem Ort stehen, an dem gebaut wird. Ein Beispiel dafür ist das Arbeiten mit Käferholz, also mit Holz, das vom Borkenkäfer befallen wurde. → more

Filtering | Object Space Agency | Achievements | Haptics | Performance | Robotics | Teaching This year's Ars Electronica Festival in Linz featured projects by Cluster Members. Anna Schäffner's project »Soft Collision« (2024) was shown as part of the S+T+ARTs Prize. Meet the Artist sessions provided inspiring moments of exchange and debate with a diverse audience. Clemens Winkler's students of the MA Studio »Spiel&Objekt« at the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin were nominated for this year's Ars Electronica Campus Award. Congratulations on this honor! → more

Cutting | Publications | Brain How can digital twins illustrate the complex relationships between the plastic dynamics and function of brain networks? Based on the clinical scenario of brain tumor patients, the authors, including Cluster members Lucius Fekonja, Rosario Tomasello, Samo Tomšič, and Thomas Picht, provide answers to this question. Discussing methods of technical modeling with philosophical concepts, the article, published in Frontiers Neuroscience in September 2024, presents a theoretical framework that bridges philosophical theorizing, neuroscience, and clinical practice. → more

Filtering | Publications The academic series Raue Reihe is a new publication organ of »Matters of Activity« edited by Horst Bredekamp. Modeled on so-called »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 appear at irregular intervals and support the publishing of Cluster literature by focusing on rapidity, spontaneity, and process character. Its title emphasizes the resistance of matter that continues to be the decisive determination for existence in all its varieties in our digital age. The Raue Reihe’s second issue by Christian Kassung and Alwin Cubasch is titled Filtern. Zur Theorie einer Kulturtechnik des 21. Jahrhunderts and explores filtering as a cultural technique, a concept currently undergoing a significant shift from apparatus to environment. → more

Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Symbolic Material | Publications What happens when we begin treating multi-stable, ambivalent, and adaptive behaviors of active matter as a formative principle? The contributions of this volume edited by Frank Bauer, Yoonha Kim, Sabine Marienberg, and Wolfgang Schäffner, investigate the potential of the processual and untamable — ranging from microbial co-designing, morphogenetic experimentation and atmospheric creation to plasticity and liveliness in architecture, history of art and scientific concepts. Walking the line between analog and digital forms, the 19 Cluster perspectives not only cross disciplinary and methodological boundaries but also aim at installing a new material paradigm between the epistemic cultures of sciences, humanities, and design.  → more

Material Form Function | Biodesign | Prototype / Model | Science Communication | Tree Bark Fasern, Samenkapseln, Pflanzenstängel oder Seidengespinste – in der Natur gibt es jede Menge unterschiedlicher Materialien, die außergewöhnlichen mechanische Eigenschaften haben und sich an wechselnde Umweltbedingungen anpassen können. Wie funktionieren diese biogenen Materialien und könnten sie möglicherweise Inspirations- und Rohstoffquelle für Architektur, Design oder Produktentwicklung sein? In einem Interview, das Teil der neuen Kampagne der Berlin University Alliana »Das offene Wissenslabor« ist, geben Cluster-Mitglieder Charlett Wenig und Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten Einblicke in die Arbeit der Forschungsgruppe »Adaptive Fibrous Materials« und insbesondere über ihre Forschung zu Baumrinde. → more

Cutting | Performance | More-Than-Human | Science Communication The two »Dissect« events held as part of Berlin Science Week 2022 on November 2nd and 4th were a great success and unique experience. In the sold-out Tieranatomisches Theater (TA T) at Humboldt-Universität Berlin, researchers from different disciplines discussed contemporary artworks, including Marco Donnarumma's »Amygdala« and Tomas Saraceno's »Spiders«. Konstantin Mitrokhov’s three films allow you to re-experience these fascinating events. → more

In an increasingly diverse academic landscape, the challenge of a gender- and diversity-sensitive leadership culture is more relevant than ever. Beginning in November 2023, MoA launched its ongoing workshop series Building Skills for Research Leadership with the goal of offering its members key competencies for diversity-sensitive leadership qualification, particularly to researchers in team or project leadership roles. The program was designed to address frequent questions about equity and inclusion at the Cluster. Participation was certified. → more

Object Space Agency | Fungi/Mycelium | Prototype / Model From September 25-29th, the Kyiv Chamber of Architects will host an interdisciplinary event focusing on sustainable reconstruction and renewable materials in Ukraine. The central part of this event will be a Material Show, showcasing innovative renewable, hybrid, and recycled building materials that could reshape the future of construction. Experts from art, science, business, and architecture will come together in workshops, discussions, and live demonstrations, exploring the potential of these materials to rebuild communities. Prototypes and samples from several Cluster members will be part of the exhibition. → more

Object Space Agency | Bacteria | Fungi/Mycelium The public lecture series, organized by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und —prüfung (BAM) and the Freie Universität Berlin (FU), will focus on the interactions of living organisms with materials. The five lectures by internationally renowned experts will be in English and take place on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. starting on September 26th. They will be moderated by MoA member Anna A. Gorbushina (BAM&FU), Liane G. Benning (GFZ&FU), and Matthias Rillig (FU Berlin). The lecture series takes place at BAM headquarters and Branch Adlershof. All lectures can be attended in person or followed digitally. → more

The reading group »Thinking Through Trees,» organized by Rahel Kesselring, will meet again on October 1st, 2-3.30 pm in ↗ Zoom. For this session they are reading »Why look at Plants« by Giovanni Aloi, ed. by ibid.: The Botanical Emergence in Contemporary Art, Brill, Leiden 2019, p. 1-35, see link below:
↗ https://bwgcloud.hu-berlin.de/f/10e731fad0064fb4936a/

Material Form Function | Weaving | Object Space Agency | Publications | Teaching On October 11th-13th, photobooks created during the seminar »Das Fotobuch. Theorie und Praxis«, led by Mareike Stoll and Andreas Rost at weißensee school of art and design berlin, will be exhibited at the »Miss Read. Berlin Art Book Fair & Festival« at HKW Berlin. The students explored memories of the perfect summer, images of forests and trees, as well as residues of violence and oppression, to name only a few, but they all celebrate the photobook as an art form. Please save the date! → more

Filtering | Ocean | Temporality The workshop aims to foster research into the historical interplay between mobility, cultural techniques, and material culture within maritime and coastal contexts. By examining how cultures, cultural techniques, and nature have historically shaped life, work, and travel at sea, we seek to develop new research questions that can lead to future grant applications. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, participants will explore themes such as maritime technologies, littoral knowledge production, and the material manifestations of aquatic and coastal communities. → more

Material Form Function | Science Communication | Climate | More-Than-Human | Biodesign | Circular Economies | Speculative Design | Temporality The conference »Planetary Design: Reclaiming Futures« brings together critical thinking and doing around the role of design in making, unmaking and remaking worlds. Starting from the intersection of design, infrastructure, and the planetary environment, it offers a generative platform open to artists, academics, and activists for rethinking design’s role in producing the present and for developing alternative planetary futures. The gathering is open for artists, academics and activists for rethinking design's role in producing our present and developing alternative planetary futures. The full program is now online! → more

Material Form Function | Weaving | Publications | Artificial Intelligence | Robotics | Computational Design | Prototype / Model Minimal machines are understood as experimental approaches to kinetic processes in an age of robotics, where both hardware and software are reduced to their essential minimum. Cluster members Karola Dierichs and Karin Krauthausen together with Glenda Caldwell (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and Dagmar Reinhardt (University of Sydney, Australia) aim to edit a Topical Collection reflecting on the rapidly emerging field of Mixed Reality (MR) in architecture, considering not only its technological aspects but also its cultural and human-centered implications. They invite contributions from the fields of Computational Design and Construction as well as the Humanities. → more

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

job The project »Weaving« is currently looking for a student assistant in the field of History. The main tasks are the collaboration in the research project »Weaving«, literature research and procurement, content support in the preparation of scientific events, support in proofreading texts for scientific publications and assistance with the completion of scientific presentations and publications. We are looking forward to your applications! → more