Editorial Dear friends of »Matters of Activity«,

We are happy to present you an CZ# issue that is mainly about new designs. In addition to impressive student works at the weißensee school of art and design berlin and a recognition at the Raumprobe Material Award, the website of our project »Material Form Function« can be discovered with new graphics. Also new: further research projects and members.

Enjoy this beautiful winter week and happy reading,
Antje Nestler, Eva Schmidt and Franziska Wegener

Event | MoA Design Research Studio The MoA Design Research Studio »Designing Matter 1« investigated designed filaments and fabrics as architectural material systems.

»Designing Matter« denotes the definition of the form and the materiality for the component elements of a material in order to achieve a specific functionality. This process allows to utilize and enhance the inherent properties of a given material and ultimately to generate novel ones. Codes – either analog or digital – are used to implement the design of the material by means of a systematization of this form-function interrelationship. In this context the MoA Design Research Studio made contributions with respect to the development of designed filaments and the close adherence of the architectural designed fabrics to the production sequences and patterns observed in silk-cocoons. Take a look at the projects! → more

Material Form Function From a historical-genealogical perspective, modern culture and technology have been extensively built on passivated materials, like concrete, steel, plywood and glass. The modern techniques of material passivation account for the exhausting consumption of resources and energy – heavily contributing to the anthropogenic ecological crises of today. Against this paradigm, the interdisciplinary exploration of the inherent self-activity of (bio-)materials can be understood as a critical intervention towards novel modes of technicity and making: for the imagination of more sustainable futures and for a new culture of material.

The project just launched a new website including an interactive diagram. → more

News | Award »Hydroweave« by Stefanie Eichler and Juni Neyenhuys was awarded a recognition in the field of »Study« at the Raumprobe Material Award 2020. The project, which centers on a research-based design approach, was created in 2019 at weißensee school of art and design berlin as part of the MoA Design Studio »Scaling Nature (1): Wrinkles« under the direction of Prof. Christiane Sauer. Since 2005, Raumprobe has been a constantly growing online material database and physical material exhibition in Stuttgart. Raumprobe has been awarding the prestigious Material Prize annually since 2013, recognizing special materials. → more

Adaptive Fibrous Materials »Adaptive Fibrous Materials« is a new interdisciplinary collaboration funded by »Matters of Activity« and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG). The research group is interested in interactions between fibrous biological material and its environment. The fact that plants are sessile makes them particularly relevant regarding their adaptability and optimization strategies.

In plants, remodeling processes such as those found in the animal kingdom are absent. Instead, adaptation takes place by growth. Interestingly, a large proportion of the newly grown cells dies after a short period of time in order to take over the function of water transportation or mechanical support. Over time, the properties and functions of these dead cells may alter. In addition, they are subject to change through temperature and humidity of the environment. This ability requires an intrinsic activity of the material. Prominent examples are wood swelling and shrinkage, and seed capsule opening or seed dispersal, which becomes active upon an environmental trigger. This research is not restricted to plants: other fibrous materials such as site-bound nests of African wild silk moths are also studied.

Find more information on the new research group and its members → here.

News | Research How is it that humans effortlessly learn a vocabulary of tens of thousands of words and symbols, whereas their closest relatives, the great apes, only manage about 100 characters? How can young children associate so many symbols with meanings without special instruction, and then, after only brief learning, use them to express their desires, feelings, opinions, and fears?

Clearly, these abilities must somehow be related to our brains - or, more specifically, to the differences that exist between our brains and the brains of other species. The »MatCo« project, funded by the European Research Council, is looking at precisely these material bases and mechanisms. → more

News | SOLO The studio project »SOLO - Smart Organic Light Objects« explores the potential of new technologies for interacting with light beyond existing archetypes and traditional interfaces. New qualities of light as well as novel dynamic, responsive interactions were created catering to human behavior differently. Through an iterative design process, students from both the BA and the MA track of the Product Design program at weißensee school of art and design berlin developed concepts and prototypes demonstrating these new interactions with light in private or public settings. The works were on digital display at the Stockholm Furniture Fair »Greenhouse« February 10th–11th. → more

Event In the production of knowledge, design processes are fundamental, although the experimental settings in the sciences, in the arts, in design differ in assumptions, execution and conclusions. But the richness of the material, its property of being able to change itself, its active effect on the surrounding space as well as its reactive shaping to forces and energies allow other domains of knowledge immediate points of contact and give them stimuli for their own or joint knowledge production. The symposium »Magic Circle« was organized by the »Forschungskreis« of the weißensee school of art and design berlin (khb) in cooperation with »Matters of Activity«, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jörg Petruschat with contributions from various Cluster members. → more