Two exbhitions reimagine beetle-infested wood and peatlands for bio-based materials

 

Beetle-infested wood is usually considered of lower value, while swamps are often drained to make space for agriculture. That is, until you visit two new temporary exhibitions by »Matters of Activity«, which challenge these long-held assumptions and invite visitors to see both as versatile, living resources for a more sustainable future.

Symbiotic Wood

28 June – 21 September 2025
Vernissage: 27 June 2025, 6:00–10:00 pm
Venue

: Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin

What if beetle-infested timber wasn’t damaged, but transformed? In Symbiotic Wood, material researchers, architects, designers, artists, and cultural historians invite visitors to rethink wood affected by insects or fungi as a more-than-human material—shaped and used by many species, not just our own.

“Humanity has worked with—and depended on—wood since its earliest days. Yet we continue to treat this limited resource as something we own and control,” says curator Karola Dierichs. “This exhibition presents wood as a resource we co-own with other entities, such as beetles or fungi.”

The first part of the exhibition provides a scientific backdrop, showing how monocultures, forestry practices, and climate change have intensified beetle outbreaks and fungal infestations. The second part shifts perspective: infestation is no longer seen as destruction, and beetles and fungi emerge as co-designers of unique textures and forms.

A large open-air installation invites visitors to touch and explore infested wood firsthand. Using a modular system inspired by crate storage, the installation shows how beetle-affected timber can be repurposed. At the closing event, visitors are also invited to take pieces home, becoming active participants in reimagining this underappreciated material.

 

 

Contributors
Pelin Asa, Karola Dierichs, Judith M. Dobler, Tarik Goetzke, Başak Günak, Florent Jouy, Nuri Kang, Rahel Kesselring, Karin Krauthausen, Anna Kubelík, Julia Rhein, Siegfried Saerberg, Robert Stock, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity), Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Department of Biomaterials), Technische Universität Berlin (Robot-Assisted Manufacturing of the Built Environment, Structural Design and Construction), Weißensee School of Art and Design Berlin (Material and Code)

Credits
»Symbiotic Wood« is the 4^th and final chapter of the »More than Human« exhibition series of Kunstgewerbemuseum and was developed in collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin as part of the ＿matter Festival 2025.

Press Images can be found here
More information,:
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/16077/symbiotic-wood
https://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/symbiotic-wood/
https://more-than-human.eu

 

 

Swamp Things!

7 July – 20 July 2025 (admission is free)
Vernissage: 

7 July 2025, 6:00–8:00 pm
Venue

: BHROX bauhaus reuse, Berlin
 

Peatlands—fens, bogs, swamps, and marshes—are often drained as useless land. In Berlin, pink water pipes winding through construction sites still echo ancient wetlands removed to allow urban expansion. But peatlands, when left intact, are twice as effective as all the world’s forests combined at storing carbon.
 Swamp Things, curated by Charlett Wenig and Lucy Norris, urges us not only to preserve these ecosystems—but to revive and work with them.

“Rewetting these neglected landscapes is a crucial climate strategy,” says Wenig. “And that’s not all. The exhibition also explores the untapped potential of the plants that thrive in these wet environments.”

Working with local grasses harvested from the fenlands in Brandenburg, the exhibition explores the lively potential of peatland plants as sensuous materials through basketry techniques, open-source coiling machines, and multimodal workshops. They are not just biomass: they are living materials—rich in texture, strength, and story—revealed through a range of artefacts and architectural installations.
Visitors are encouraged to rethink swamps as sites of resilience and regenerative creativity—and to imagine a future shaped with peatlands, not in spite of them.

 

 

Contributors
Charlett Wenig, Lucy Norris, Janne Ebel, Swantje Furtak, Daniel Hengst, Cholena de Koningh, Evey Kwong, Jasmin Martinez and Wulf Hein

Credits
»Swamp Things!« is a collaboration of BHROX bauhaus reuse with the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, the Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik und Bioökonomie, and weißensee kunsthochschule berlin, as part of the ＿matter Festival 2025.

More information:
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/16081/swamp-things-the-liveliness-of-peatland-plants
https://www.bauhaus-reuse.de/index.php/content/matters-of-activity-image-space-material-_-matter-festival-2025/

Press Images can be found here