Editorial Dear friends of »Matters of Activity«,

Welcome back after the summer break! We hope you enjoyed the summertime and some relaxing days, especially after this demanding first half of the year. We're kicking off the second half with lots of exciting online events and many calls we invite you to apply for.

We are very much looking forward to the rest of 2020, especially to our first Annual Conference, which will take place in an experimental virtual format this year.

Happy reading, stay healthy and take care
Antje Nestler, Eva Schmidt and Franziska Wegener

Weaving | Material Form Function | Science Communication Entitled »Wir Gestalten. Material World«, the Cluster research is represented by two contributions in the new HU image brochure. The materials scientist Lorenzo Guiducci, the professor of textile and surface design Christiane Sauer and the literary scholar Karin Krauthausen are giving a brief and concise insight into the thematic fields and interdisciplinary cooperation of the Cluster. → more

Material Form Function | Cutting | Publications Together with their colleagues, Cluster members Johann Pratschke, Igor Sauer and Marie Weinhart published the paper »The human liver matrisome. Proteomic analysis of native and fibrotic human liver extracellular matrices for organ engineering approaches« in the international and highly ranked journal »Biomaterials«. → more

News Working with digital content is a matter of course for science and teaching today. Scientists evaluate texts to gain new insights, they use images and videos to convey content, and they share their research results with the entire world via the Internet. But what do researchers, teachers and students need to bear in mind? The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has compiled the most important questions and answers - in the detailed guideline ↗ Copyright in Academic Work, which explains the most important regulations on copyright for education and research in a practical and understandable way.

Members Former MoA Research Associate & Project Leader Petra Löffler has been accepted as Associated Member. Petra Löffler is a Media and Material Culture Theorist. She has been Professor for Theory and History of Contemporary Media at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg since May 2020. From 2019–2020 she was working in the project → Filtering at the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«. → more

Weaving | Material Form Function | Bacteria | Biofilm | Cellulose | Climate | Prototype / Model | Yarns/Fibers The workshop »Material as Environmental Device« on September 10th, 2020 gathers researchers and practitioners from the fields of architecture, ecological anthropology and the natural sciences to discuss the status of the material as an active element of environmental design on the basis of past and contemporary buildings and current research in the Cluster »Matters of Activity«. Three thematic sessions – »Materials and Environments«, »Essential Material« and »Active Skins« – focus on different aspects of material activity, addressing design and production techniques, ecological and cultural implications and the prospects of climate-responsive architectures. → more

Call Each year the Academic Committee of the Martin Buber Society of Fellows selects up to ten exceptionally gifted young scholars (up to five from Israel and five from Germany). They aim at fostering interdisciplinary academic discourse at the highest level among outstanding young scholars (post-doctoral). Candidates who have completed their PhD at an Israeli or German university, as well as citizens of Israel or Germany who have received their PhD in any country, are eligible to apply. Application is open for those specializing in all fields of the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Fellows receive a monthly stipend of approximately 9000 NIS.

Please find more details about the application and requirements ↗ here.

Weaving | Symbolic Material | Tangling Weaving, braiding and plaiting can be counted as one of the oldest cultural techniques belonging to human culture, much older than agriculture or writing. While an obvious connection between weaving and mathematics – or more precisely, computer sciences – arose during the 19th century, with the Jacquard loom and Charles Babbage’s reference to it, a comprehensive mathematical theory of braids did not appear before 1926. But does this mean that weaving techniques and practices were not considered mathematically before the 19th century, or were not considered as being able to prompt and deliver, explicitly or implicitly, any mathematical knowledge? → more

Cutting | Material Form Function | Achievements Cluster PhD Candidate and Designer Felix Rasehorn was nominated for the German Design Research Award. The young designers award was endowed with a sum of 1.000€ for the winner. His project »Digital Twin« is an applied research project on the representation and perception of brain matter in neurosurgery procedures that aim to use the operation-planning process as an opportunity to mentally rehearse actions during surgery. → more

Call Fulbright Germany supports young German researchers who are conducting a four to six-month research project at a U.S. university or academic institution that is directly related to their previously commenced academic dissertation. Funding will be provided for projects that begin between May 1st and October 31st, 2021.

The fellowship finances maintenance costs of 1.600€/month, transatlantic travel and health/accident insurance. The Fulbright J-1 visa is free of charge, and a flat rate of 300€ is paid for other incidental expenses.

If you are interested, please find more information on their ↗ website.

Material Form Function | Symbolic Material | Object Space Agency | Science Communication In Design, Cultural and Natural Sciences, an anti-Cartesian turn has manifested itself in recent years, which denies the separation into active ›res cogitans‹ and passive ›res extensa‹ and understands the material world as (co)acting. The conference from October 8th–9th deals with the aesthetic and political consequences of this turn, in design practices and thought processes. The conference will be held in German, including many Cluster members. → more