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Matters of Activity

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At the book’s core lies a quiet but radical idea: matter does not merely serve human thought; it participates in how we think, build, and understand our environments. Fibers, surfaces, and tools fr...
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  • 22 December 2026
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At the book’s core lies a quiet but radical idea: matter does not merely serve human thought; it participates in how we think, build, and understand our environments. Fibers, surfaces, and tools from tree bark, fungi, and wool to digital data and clouds become active partners in perception and design processes, co-producing knowledge across laboratories, workshops, studios, and archives, and opening new pathways for human–material interaction. Emerging from the Berlin-based Matters of Activity Cluster of Excellence, this volume assembles case studies, essays, and material experiments conducted across the natural sciences, humanities, and design. The underlying collaborative research rethinks materiality as relational, historically situated, and actively shaping the world we inhabit.

  • Final publication of the Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
  • Featuring international, interdisciplinary contributions from design, humanities, and natural sciences
  • Showcasing numerous projects bridging material research and practice
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Price: $74.99
Pages: 336
Publisher: Birkhäuser
Imprint: Birkhäuser
Publication Date: 22 December 2026
ISBN: 9783035629767
Format: Paperback
BISACs: ARCHITECTURE / Methods & Materials, Materials in architecture, DESIGN / Product, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Materials Science / General, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Chemical & Biochemical, Materials science, Building construction & materials
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Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis, Professor of Design and History of Knowledge, Department of Cultural History and Theory, HU Berlin

Dr. Carolin Ott, art historian; Science Communications Officer at Matters of Activity, HU Berlin

Babette Werner, art and visual historian, curator; research associate at Matters of Activity, HU Berlin