Editorial Dear friends of »Matters of Activity«,

Today we have the pleasure of drawing your attention to a film that provides an overview of our Cluster research and will be shown at the Humboldt Lab opening this summer as well as the recording from our contribution »Can Bacteria Spin a Yarn?« at the kick-off event of the new event series »WeSearch« at the Humboldt Forum.

Of the many exciting activities in June, we would especially like to invite you to take a look at the newly launched Cluster lecture series »Talking Matters«, the »On Gestaltung« lecture series at weißensee school of art and design berlin, and the remaining dates of Peter Fratzl's lecture series on biomaterials at Humboldt-Universität – all online, of course!

We would also be happy to meet you at the symposium »Times of Waste – Handling Matter« on June 17th and 18th, where numerous Cluster members will discuss the engagement with (waste) material and bridges between theoretical studies and a responsive, careful handling of materiality in science, art and collections.

Happy Reading!
Antje Nestler, Carolin Ott & Franziska Wegener

Event The notion that the things around us are passive is a grave error: substances conceal inner powers and can interact – with each other and with the environment. In our exploitation of them, however, this potential for interaction has so far been ignored or forcibly suppressed. This is one of the fundamental causes of our current ecological crisis, calling for a complete revolution in the way we think about the relationship between technology and nature.

To this end, »Matters of Activity« is using a holistic approach to pursue a new materials culture. Based on the collaboration of all the disciplines, the goal is no longer finding partial solutions, but rather exploring the question: Do we humans still have a future?

Answers to this question were discussed on April 29th, 2021 at the event »MitWissenschaft/ WeSearch« at Humboldt Forum in Berlin. The full recording with talks from → Christiane Sauer and → Peter Fratzl, → Regine Hengge and → Bastian Beyer, → Alwin Cubasch and → Léa Perraudin and → Claudia Mareis and → Wolfgang Schäffner, moderated by Volker Wieprecht, can still be viewed online. → more

Weaving | Filtering | Cutting | Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Symbolic Material | Science Communication The Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« was represented with some exciting objects in the exhibition »Nach der Natur« at the Humboldt Laboratory of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. You can watch an introduction to the Cluster right here. Follow the link to the video in German with either English subtitles or in easy German language. → more

Weaving | Yarns/Fibers | Bacteria | Biofilm | Cellulose | Publications Regine Hengge's and Karin Krauthausen's essay »The Event of Fibre« has been published in the volume accompanying the exhibition »Hella Jongerius: Woven Cosmos« which was shown in Berlin's Gropius Bau from April 29th to September 15th, 2021. Whether in DNA interactions, bacterial biofilms or city architectures, weaving can be a model for different and relational »ecologies of life«. Ranging across artistic practices, cell biology, and human forms, molecular biologist Hengge and cultural historian Krauthausen (both Project »Weaving«) examine what we can learn from nature's enmeshed processes. → more

Symbolic Material | Publications In his article »Imagining the Heavens: Adam Elsheimer’s Flight into Egypt and the Renaissance Night Sky«, the historian of science and knowledge Stefan Zieme (Project »Symbolic Material«) proposes a revisionist interpretation of Elsheimer’s most famous artwork based on an analysis of the technical and cultural practices of discerning and imagining the night sky around 1600. → more

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of scientists in many ways. Although many aspects of day-to-day life are more challenging, it has also provided the opportunity to explore new ways of positively shaping research culture. Together, the QUEST Center for Transforming Biomedical Research of the »Berlin Institute of Health at Charité Berlin« and community partners have developed guides for promoting the mental health of early career researchers (ECRs – graduate students and postdocs) written for (1) PIs and supervisors who want to support their colleagues, and for (2) ECRs themselves. The guides can be found ↗ here.

Both guides were produced as part of a virtual brainstorming event in together with ECRs, lab leaders, mental health advocates, representatives from student services, graduate programs and other community partners. The resulting guides provide practical resources and solutions for members of the academic community, and will hopefully help lead to a supportive culture of research in these challenging times. 

We hope that these resources may help support you, and promote a supportive research culture. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with ecr-event@charite.de.

Weaving | Filtering | Cutting | Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Symbolic Material | Science Communication | Biodesign | Brain | Computational Design | More-Than-Human | Yarns/Fibers On Tuesday, May 18th, 2021, »Matters of Activity« launched the online lecture series »Talking Matters«, in which external speakers from various disciplines were invited by the six cluster projects to provide insights into their research, which is related to central issues of »Matters of Activity«. In addition to researchers and students from various disciplines, the lecture series was open to anyone interested in our research. → more

Cutting | Science Communication On Tuesday, June 1st, 2021, the second talk of the online Cluster lecture series »Talking Matters« occured. Ingolf Sack, professor for Experimental Radiology and Elastography at Charité Berlin, spoke on the invitation of the project »Cutting« about »The Superviscous Body – Imaging the Mechanical Behavior of Organs and Tissues by Shear Waves«. → more

Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Symbolic Material | Teaching On Tuesday, May 11th the online lecture series »On Gestaltung« started which was initiated by Cluster members Jörg Petruschat and Patricia Ribault at weißensee school of art and design. This lecture series was conceived in two parts: »Theories«, which complements Jörg Petruschat’s seminar »Theories of Gestaltung«, and »Actions«, which was an extension of Ben Lignel’s seminar »Performing Research: Being with / Learning with / Speaking with an Object«. The following speaker on June 8th was Glenn Adamson, curator and writer, previous director of the Museum of Arts and Design (New York), head of research at the V&A (London), and Curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee. → more

Material Form Function | Teaching | Biodesign The lecture series took place every second Tuesday 4:15–5:45 pm and was addressed to a pluridisciplinary audience, including sciences, design and cultural studies. All required basics from biophysics and biochemistry to mechanics were provided. The lecture series introduced relevant structural features from molecular to macroscopic scales using examples for materials based on proteins or on polysaccharides, in particular cellulose and chitin. → more

Material Form Function | Weaving | Cutting | Symbolic Material | Object Space Agency | Science Communication | Waste The symposium took place June 17th – 18th 2021 and provided a platform to discuss the engagement with (waste) material and bridged between theoretical studies and a response/able, careful way of handling materiality in sciences, arts, and collections. The event was conceptualized and curated by the research team Times of Waste at FHNW Academy of Art and Design Basel and realized in collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« and the Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staatlichen Museen Berlin. → more

Job The project »Filtering« is currently looking for two student assistants, one for the subproject »Digital Filtering: Co-Adaptive Sensemaking Filters« in the field of Computer Science, Media Informatics, Data Science, Mathematics or similar and the other one for the subproject »Molecular Filtering« in the field of Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Chemistry or similar. Both vacancies are for 40h per month and supposed to start July 2021. We're looking forward to your applications! → more

job The Excellence Cluster »Matters of Activity« (MoA) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) are looking for a freelance / scientific assistant in computational design. → more