Dear friends of Matters of Activity,

The ＿matter Festival 2025 has got off to a furious start and can currently be visited at four locations in Berlin. This issue of CZ# is, therefore, primarily dedicated to looking back at the start of the first contributions and looking ahead to the next openings. We are delighted to celebrate the results of Matters of Activity's research with you in this context and to engage in an exchange about our research. In total, the Cluster is currently part of seven exhibitions across Germany – what a year!

In addition, we look forward to reporting on our members' latest publications, interviews, and research visits abroad as well as introducing the newest Cluster members.

We hope to see you soon at one of the many exhibitions and events.

Happy reading!
Antje Nestler & Carolin Ott

On April 10th, 2025, the Cluster celebrated the inauguration of the ＿matter Festival 2025 at Schering Stiftung Berlin. The first exhibition in the festival program, »Johtingeaidnu – The Path Within«, premieres the results of a long-term collaboration between artist-researcher Emilia Tikka, reindeer herder Oula A. Valkeapää, and artist-researcher Leena Valkeapää. It engages with the concept of shared embodied memories carried within humans, reindeer, and in Johtingeaidnu – the ancestral migratory paths. The exhibition was covered by Tagesspiegel, der Freitag, and Berlin Art Link and is still on view until July 13th. → more

Collactive Materials | Science Communication | Speculative Design How can public engagement foster creative exchange between science and society? Cluster member Antje Nestler and former CollActive Materials Coordinator Kristin Werner explore science communication through collaborative speculation. From foundational concepts to practical workshop tools and worksheets, this guide for public engagement practitioners and curious researchers offers tested methods for bringing together academic research, design, and society in co-creating pathways into a sustainable future. 

Weaving | MAKING_ | Cellulose | Biodesign | More-Than-Human | Bacteria | Biofilm | Science Communication Remember that cup of tea you left forgotten on your table for weeks? Don’t worry – you might have created something amazing without even realizing it! Meet the SCOBY – a symbiotic structure made of bacteria and yeast, a true powerhouse of bio-design! Find out more and watch the newest episode of »MAKING_«! → more

Material Form Function | Toxics | Waste | Wax | Temporality | More-Than-Human | Sand | Water The project »Latent Accumulations« examines paraffin, an elusive material, from its accumulations on the Baltic coast of the Curonian Spit in Lithuania to its pressing environmental and geopolitical concerns. This article presents the project by Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar in detail. → more

Filtering | Achievements Alwin Cubasch was honored for his book »Zu Gast im Automaten. Gastrotechnik im Berlin der Jahrhundertwende«, in which he describes the rise and fall of vending machine restaurants, starting in Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. The Conrad Matschoß Prize is awarded every two years. By awarding the prize, the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (English: Association of German Engineers) aims to increase interest in the history of technology, promote contributions to a better understanding of the history of technology, and support research into the history of technology. It is endowed with 2.000 €. → more

Graphic Anthropology | Artificial Intelligence Cluster member Maxime Le Calvé went for a two-week research stay in California, invited by the Center for AI and Experimental Futures at UC Davis. His talk, titled »AI Anthropology: Staging Retrieval-Augmented Generative Conversations Beyond the Illusions of Scientific Understanding«, addressed the challenges of engaging AI in ethnographic experiments and analyzed the potential of co-creative knowledge production with Large Language Models. He also led a hands-on workshop introducing participants to Retrieval-Augmented Generative (RAG) methods for curating ethnographic conversations, and co-facilitated an advanced workshop with anthropologist Joe Dumit, focusing on the AI analysis of a large ethnographic corpus. → more

Parallel to the Berlin Gallery Weekend in May 2025 and as part of the ＿matter Festival and BUA event series »ON WATER | PARCOURS«, design researcher and diver Rasa Weber took on the challenge of creating an artificial reef in the river Spree, a project she calls »Syntopolis«. Created in collaboration with local artisans, the reef will slowly become a new ecological habitat for various life forms over the next months. Streamed into the Internet, »Syntopolis« invites encounters, experiences and reflections on shared ecological futures. On the day of the opening of the underwater installation and exhibition at re:future lab, an interview with Rasa Weber was aired on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. → more

On May 7th, the opening of »Blooms«, an art-science installation by Wendy Chua and Christian Stein et al., was celebrated at Tieranatomisches Theater with a musical performance, which illuminated the hidden soundscapes of the climate precarity of algal blooms that plague water bodies flowing through and around cities. The exhibition and the VR experience focus on the rising temperatures, marine heatwaves, and anthropogenic pollutants, increasing the frequency of toxic algal blooms. These anthropogenic waste streams exit our urban, agricultural, and industrial environments to ›nourish‹ rivers and seas, creating the eutrophic condition for toxic algal blooms that disrupt metabolic cycles of water ecosystems. In the Citizen Science Workshop »Identifying Cosmopolitan Plankton Community« held on May 10th, water samples from the Großer Müggelsee were analyzed - at the moment, it is toxin-free. The exhibition can be seen until June 28th. → more

Material Form Function | Circular Economies | Biodesign | Ocean | Prototype / Model | Climate Cluster member Heidi Jalkh and Angie Dub have been invited to contribute to the Biennale Architettura 2025, curated by Carlo Ratti. The theme of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition is »Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.« Their project »CONQ – Marine biobased building materials«, is part of the Arsenale Exhibition »Matter Makes Sense.« The Venice Biennale will be open to the public until November 23th, 2025.
Within CONQ, environmental architect Angie Dub and experimental designer Heidi Jalkh, based in Buenos Aires, are finding ways to turn this so-called waste into a sustainable material for the built environment. By combining crushed seashells with algae-based biopolymers, they create a heat-free bioceramic* made entirely from marine biomass. In the current phase, material samples are undergoing testing to determine their physical properties and characteristics. These evaluations will inform and guide the exploration of possible implementation scenarios for the material in various applications. → more

Weaving | Bacteria | More-Than-Human | Publications | Textiles | Yarns/Fibers Coloration using soil-based dyes is a fast-growing subject of enquiry in fibres and textile surface design, with pigments and microbes involved in their production being extensively researched. Using this rich natural resource, dyeing techniques have also been integral to long-standing textile traditions worldwide. Grounded in an anthropological study of the dyeing practice of Marka-Dafing hunters in Burkina Faso, West Africa, this paper analyzes the coloration processes in vouwo, or mud dye, used for hunting and ceremonial garments. It highlights complex chemical and microbiological reactions occurring in a dyeing experiment curated by dyers throughout an 18-month-long fermentation process. The authors, Cluster members Laurence Douny, José Ignacio Hernández Lobato, Salif Sawadogo, Peter Fratzl, and Regine Hengge, together with Adama Séré and Shahrouz Amini (MPICI), propose an interdisciplinary approach to the study of vouwo. → more

Weaving | ＿matter Festival 2025 | Bacteria | Biofilm | More-Than-Human | Science Communication | Yarns/Fibers | Textiles Im Interview spricht die Mikrobiologin Regine Hengge über die besondere Sichtweise des Exzellenzclusters »Matters of Activity« auf Materialien und was ihre Expertise auf dem Gebiet von Bakterien und Biofilmen damit zu tun hat. Die am 16. Mai 2025 eröffnete Ausstellung »Fermenting Textiles« im Art Laboratory Berlin, die die Ergebnisse ihrer Forschung zu traditionellen Färbetechniken in Afrika zeigt, ist der Anlass mit ihr über das Konzept aktiver Materialien und ihrem Nutzen zu sprechen sowie darüber, was naturwissenschaftliche Forschung von künstlerischen Herangehensweisen lernen kann. → more

Weaving | Writing Womit Schrift beginnt oder aufhört, wie ihr Aktivitätspotential funktionalisiert wird und welche Rolle der Aufzeichnungs-Code – also ob Alphabetschrift (wie in vielen westlichen Schriften), ob Logographie, Silbenschrift oder ob Konzeptschrift (wie bei den japanischen und chinesischen Schriften) – hierfür spielt, war Gegenstand der Konferenz Die Schreibszene zwischen Schrift und Graphismus, die am 8. und 9. April 2025 an der Universität von Osaka stattfand und von Johannes Waßmer in Zusammenarbeit mit Kotaro Yoshida (beide Osaka University) und Tobias Schickhaus (Meiji University, Tokyo) organisiert wurde. Cluster-Mitglied Karin Krauthausen berichtet von ihren Eindrücken. → more

Material Form Function | Tree Bark This article focuses on the material properties of tree bark, its cultural history, and its potential for future applications. It discusses the use of bark ash in ceramic glazing with the aim of promoting sustainable material utilization and revaluing what is commonly regarded as waste. Historically, craftsmanship without wasting resources was a symbol of superior quality and economic viability. With industrialization, tree bark became an industrial by-product. Through experimental investigations, this study explores the chemical composition of selected bark ashes and their potential as an additive for ceramic glazing. Combining craftsmanship, design, and scientific methods, this study showcases the possibilities of bark ash as a glazing ingredient, producing a range of colors and surfaces. In conclusion, this study shows the integration of interdisciplinary knowledge—from sciences, humanities, history, and crafts—to foster a holistic approach toward sustainable material utilization and redefine the significance of what is currently deemed waste. → more

On May 9th, Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar opened their exhibition »Latent Accumulations«, a guest exhibition of »muddy measures. when wetlands and heritage converse« by the Centre for Advanced Studies »inherit. heritage in transformation« as part of the ＿matter Festival 2025. »Latent Accumulations« traces the elusive activity of paraffin in the context of spillage and debris accumulation on the Baltic coast of the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. It gathers different voices and knowledges from actors who witness these changes and maintain this environment in ways that tell us more about the present and future politics of material mixtures. The exhibition can be visited until May 31st. → more

Symbolic Material Under the German title of »Bild – Natur – Sprache: Vom Bildakt zu einem neuen Kulturbegriff,« the Humboldt Kolleg 2025, organized by the image scientist Yasuhiro Sakamoto with the support of the Humboldt Foundation at Keio University in Tokyo, brought together an impressive community of Japanese researchers. The Humboldt Kolleg 2025 focused on image acts, cultural techniques, material humanities, and empirical aesthetics as challenging new German perspectives for the Humanities and for a move toward a new concept of culture. Within this context, »Matters of Activity« was represented by Horst Bredekamp, Sabine Marienberg, and Wolfgang Schäffner, accompanied amongst others by Katja Müller-Helle, representing the Zentrum für Kulturtechnik of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Winfried Menninghaus, the founder of the MPI for Empirical Aesthetics (Frankfurt). → more

Weaving | Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Robotics | Sand | Prototype / Model On May 23rd, Cluster Professor Karola Dierichs will give an online keynote on »designing multi-agent matter« as part of the workshop »Block by Block: Collaborative Strategies for Multi-agent Robotic Construction« at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The talk will show how granular materials such as sand can become multi-agent matter. Moving from self-interlocking particles for architecture-scale construction to autonomously entangling ones—we will pose the question how matter itself can become a robotic system. → more

Material Form Function | Cutting | ＿matter Festival 2025 | Science Communication Vessels are indispensable – for plants, animals, humans, and even our cities. As part of the ＿matter Festival 2025, this special exhibition at the Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité, curated by Igor M. Sauer and Navena Widulin, offers exciting insights into these often-hidden structures. It shows how these vessels function and how they can be visualized, used and reproduced. A particular focus lies on the connections between natural vessels and human-made networks, such as the regulation of temperature in buildings or the water and wastewater supply in cities. → more

Weaving | Prototype / Model | Textiles | Willow | Yarns/Fibers We are delighted that two of the Cluster's research projects contribute to the exhibition »WEtransFORM. On the Future of Building« at Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, opening on June 5th, 2025. Fundamental design principles for a climate-friendly renewal of our building culture are on display with around 80 projects that deal with the challenges in an exemplary manner. Large-scale prototypes of the interdisciplinary research projects »Architectural Yarns« and »Structural Textiles« illustrate the potential of textile binding techniques such as knitting or weaving for flexible and reconfigurable architectural elements. Plant fibers from flax and willow, or biological materials such as fungal mycelium and wool, are processed into reconfigurable walls and components.  → more

Material Form Function | Prototype / Model | Teaching | Biodesign The symposium »Material Morphogenesis« explores the intersection of digital fabrication and biomaterials in shaping new approaches to architectural design. It focuses on form-finding and form-giving processes enabled by computational tools, robotic techniques, and sustainable material innovation. The symposium highlights their potential to generate expressive, resource-efficient architectural elements by foregrounding biomaterials as both design drivers and construction resources. → more

Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Weaving | ＿matter Festival 2025 | Biodesign | Textiles | Tangling | Science Communication »Entangled« brings together experts from materials research, architecture, textiles, and the humanities to discuss textile material practices in architecture. The workshop at Deutsches Architektur Zentrum invites the public to engage in conversations about the future of our built, grown, and woven environments. It builds on a network of academic and industry partners with expertise in textile technology and material flows. Registration is now open! → more