smart materials satellites
What are smart materials? What makes a material smart? How can complex scientific topics be translated using methods from art and design? How can technological knowledge be made tangible and visible to a broad audience?
The R&D project smart materials satellites – Transdisciplinary Technology Communication using Methods of Design, Artistic Research and Interactive Dialogue Formats dealt with these questions and explored new ways of technology communication using smart materials over a period of two years.
Research area weißensee: Development of design methods as mediation strategies for complex scientific topics. The central building block of the research project was the Mobile Laboratory, which was tested in various scenarios. In addition, exhibitions, conferences and workshops were conceived and carried out.
Lead: Prof. Dr. Zane Berzina
DXM Researchers: Julia Wolf (10/2016 – 01/2019), Veronika Aumann (10/2016 – 11/2017)
Duration: 10/2016 – 01/2019
Partners:
Technical Collections Dresden
Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
SYN Foundation | Art Design Science Halle (Saale)
Fraunhofer IWU Dresden
Research project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the smart³ project
Timeline
| 01.10.2016 | Start | |
| 13.07.2017 – 22.10.2017 | exhibition project | smart materials satellites. Material als Experiment, Conception, implementation and realisation in cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (link) |
| 21.10.2017 | conference | Material als Experiment, Conception and implementation in cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Speakers: Clemens Winkler, Luke Franzke, Prof. Mareike Gast, Marit Wolters, Junshen Wu, Reinhard Ose |
| 26./27.02.2018 | conference and lecture | Einstein’s Spürnase, Leopoldina Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften, Lecture Designerly Ways of Doing, L. Viehweg (Bauhaus Dessau Foundation), J. Wolf (DXM) |
| 02.05.2018 – 01.10.2018 | exhibition and lecture | sensing materials lab – the Mobile Laboratory guest at the Werkbundarchiv – Museum of Things in Berlin, in cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (link) |
| 05.05.2018 – 18.08.2019 | exhibition | forschungswerkstatt smart materials at the Technical Collections in Dresden, co-curation and further development of the Mobile Laboratory for the exhibition (link) |
| 07. – 09.06.2018 | conference participation and fair appearance | The Mobile Laboratory at der ecsite – European Conference for Science Communication 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland; in cooperation with the Technical Collections Dresden and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (link) |
| 25.08.2018 | workshops | sensing materials lab – Hear, See, Feel, Smell Materials at the Long Night of Museums, Werkbundarchiv – Museum of Things in Berlin, Lead: J Wolf (DXM), L. Viehweg (Bauhaus Dessau Foundation) |
| 28.08.2018 – 30.09.2018 | workshop and exhibition | Material as Experiment | Past, Present, Future – the Mobile Laboratory as guest at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK); conception and implementation in cooperation with the Department of Interaction Design of the Zurich University of the Arts, the Material Archive at the ZHdK, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (link) |
| 20.10.2018 | lecture | Exploring and Creating new Materials through Design, J. Wolf (DXM) at conference Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing, China |
| 22./23.10.2018 | workshops | Living Surfaces at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing, China, Lead: J. Wolf und E. Glomb (Textile Prototyping Lab), (link) |
| 17.11.2018 | lecture und paper | Material als Experiment – Transdisciplinary Science Communication with Design Methods, J. Wolf (DXM), L. Viehweg (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau) at Matters of Communication, DGTF Conference, Karlsruhe (link) |
Exhibition Projects, Workshops and Conferences 2017/18
Exhibition smart materials satellites. Material als Experiment
As part of the research project, an exhibition was conceived, curated and carried out in cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in order to test with the public the communication strategies developed on the subject of smart materials. The Stahlhaus in Dessau became a research laboratory, maker lab and discussion platform. The visitors were actively involved and were able to explore Material Phenomena by means of experimental set-ups, to approach further positions in materials research, in artistic and design contexts, and Material Stories, in order to work hands-on with the materials in the Material Workshop.
The exhibition was accompanied by an extensive supporting programme for experts and amateurs.
Exhibition period: 13.07. – 21.10.2017
The exhibition was the start for the development of the Mobile Laboratory, which went on travelling from then on.
Documentation to download at the bottom of the page
Conference Material als Experiment
How do people deal with materials? Why is material the focus of Science and Design? What can the Natural Sciences and Design disciplines learn from the mutual transfer of knowledge in materials research? At the end of the exhibition project smart materials satellites. Material as an experiment, material experts from Science, Art and Design once again entered into an open dialogue. The work and research with material was the starting point for the lectures and discussion rounds, in which speakers present their individual approaches and working methods from the perspective of their discipline. The symposium was aimed at interested people with little previous knowledge as well as at a specialist audience.
Sa, 21 . 10 . 2017, 12 – 16 h
Exhibition research workshop smart materials
In cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, the Mobile Laboratory was adapted for the Dresden Technical Collections and expanded for children and families. In addition to exhibits by students and researchers of textile and surface design from weißensee kunsthochschule berlin, the interactive experimental setups used in the exhibition Material as Experiment were used to investigate material phenomena.
Exhibition period: 05.05.2018 – 18.08.2019
Exhibition sensing materials lab
Sensual perception and materiality are directly linked. But what does sensuality mean in times of technologization? What role do materials play when they are developed in scientific research institutions in order to achieve technical excellence, but their sensual dimension is becoming less and less important? Do materials which are based on technical codes and which react to interaction and stimulation in the same way as we do, experience sensual moments?
The sensing materials lab was a temporary, interactive mediation tool with which the sensitive properties of the smart materials in focus could be examined in direct relation to other materials. With the help of twelve installation experiments and exhibits, visitors were able to see, feel, hear and smell material qualities and pursue individual questions on sensual material perception. In the two workshops accompanying the exhibition, Jour Fixe and Long Night of Museums, 60 different materials were examined discursively with various protagonists.
The interactive mediation tool sensing materials lab was a variant of the Mobile Laboratory and was jointly developed and implemented by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the weißensee kunsthochschule berlin (DXM). It was exhibited as part of the exhibition Eroticism of Things in the Werkbundarchiv – Museum of Things in Berlin.
Exhibition period: 02.05. – 01.10.2018
Documentation to download at the bottom of the page
Exhibition Material as Experiment | Past, Present, Future
The exhibition Material as Experiment | Past, Present, Future and with it the addressed questions were to be seen as further developments of the prototypical exhibition Material as Experiment, which took place in 2017 in the Stahlhaus Dessau-Törten. At the invitation of the Material Archive at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the Interaction Design Department (IAD) of the ZHdK, it was jointly developed and carried out by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the weißensee kunsthochschule berlin (DXM).
The exhibition was preceded by a one-week workshop with students of Art and Interaction Design in which, together with Luke Franzke and Clemens Winkler (IAD, ZHdK), questions on new materials were explored in a practical, experimental and theoretical-reflective manner. The workshop was accompanied by Franziska Müller-Reißmann from the Material Archive at the ZHdK with profound knowledge and a guided tour through the archive.
The subsequent exhibition within the framework of the ZHdK Highlights presented the results of the workshop as well as a curated selection of materials that were used, developed, discarded, rediscovered, imagined, etc. in the context of human history and that could hypothetically play a role in the future. Selected student projects from the fields of Textile and Surface Design from weißensee kunsthochschule berlin were also exhibited.
Exhibition period: 01 – 30.09.2018
Documentation to download at the bottom of the page.
Publications
The research project developed a comprehensive compendium of the concepts and research results.
Documentations to download:
– smart materials satellites – the Research Project (authors: Dr. Claudia Perren, L. Viehweg, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation; Prof. Dr. W.-G. Drossel, H. Kunze, M. Brähmig, Fraunhofer IWU Dresden; R. Schwarz, A. Johannes, H. Seiffert, Technical Collections Dresden; D. Varady-Prinich, SYN Foundation | Art Design Science Halle (Saale); Prof. Dr. Z. Berzina, J. Wolf DXM, weißensee Kunsthochschule berlin)
– Designing with the 4th Dimension (authors: J. Wolf, Prof. Dr. Zane Berzina, DXM, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin)
– Material as Experiment. Concept of a prototypical, participative exhibition (authors: J. Wolf, DXM, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin; L. Viehweg, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation)
– Material as Experiment. Documentation of the exhibition and its communication formats in the Stahlhaus Dessau-Törten (authors: J. Wolf, DXM, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin; L. Viehweg, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation)
– Material as Experiment – Past / Present / Future. Documentation of the exhibition and its communication formats at the Zurich University of the Arts (authors: J. Wolf, DXM, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin; L. Viehweg, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation)
– sensing materials lab. Documentation of the interactive Materials Laboratory in the Werkbundarchiv – Museum of Things Berlin (authors: J. Wolf, DXM; L. Viehweg, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation)
Documents coming soon:
– Practice-based Design Research in the Context of New Material Technologies (author: J. Wolf, DXM, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin)
– Material Phenomena and Functional Materials (authors: J. Wolf, DXM, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin)
– Mobile Laboratory. Concept of a wandering, participatory knowledge collection (authors: J. Wolf, DXM, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin; L. Viehweg, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation)
Information on print and online publications originating from the research project can be found here.