Matters of Activity
Interdisciplinary Projects within the Excellence Cluster
The Excellence Cluster Matters of Activity. Image Space Material deals with the question of a new culture of materials, with a vision to rediscover the analog in the digital age through the activity of materials, images and spaces. The interdisciplinary constellation aims at a practice based research and the development of novel sustainable solutions concerning various aspects of today’s world. Through communication and collaboration of more than 40 disciplines the cluster goal is to systematically investigate design strategies for active materials and structures that adapt to specific requirements and environments.
The key element here is to have the interdisciplinary approach from the scratch: from the very first step of defining the research questions, to ideation, experimentation, analysis and postulation of viable solutions, researchers from diverse disciplines work together on a concrete set of questions in a flexible setting that allows the freedom of exploration across disciplinary boundaries.
The Department of Biomaterials has been engaged with the preceding cluster of excellence "Image Knowledge Gestaltung” since the beginning in 2013, with Peter Fratzl serving as one of the spokespersons of the cluster. The collaborations within the cluster amplify the disciplinary competencies of our department, as our researchers at different career levels engage with experts from a large variety of disciplines such as design, cultural history, architecture, anthropology, and surgery, in order to tackle their shared research questions from a broader perspective.