__matter Festival 2025
The ＿matter Festival 2025 opens up a new perspective on the significance of materials in our everyday lives. From 10 April to 12 October 2025, exhibitions, workshops and discussions at twelve locations in Berlin will radically question our understanding of materials as passive, ahistorical substances. The festival starts on 10 April at 6 pm with the opening of the exhibition ‘Johtingeaidnu - The Path Within’.
A new look at materials
The festival shows that materials are a living part of our world, connecting human and non-human actors, times and places. They are dynamic, political and have their own memory. By focussing on the impact of materials, sustainable alternatives to energy-intensive and resource-exploiting technologies are presented. ?It also opens up new perspectives on the challenges of the man-made climate crisis.
At a glance
Curation: Sophia Gr?fe, Claudia Mareis and Peter Fratzl
When: 10 April to 12 October 2025, with separate vernissage dates at twelve locations in Berlin
Internal opening event: 10 April 2025, 4 to 6 pm, Schering Stiftung, Unter den Linden 32-24, 10117 Berlin
Public vernissage from 6 pm for the public
Programme: The events will be held in English or German. The programme of the _matter Festival 2025?
Information for journalists
Press representatives who would like to attend the internal kick-off event of the ＿matter Festival 2025 and the preview of the exhibition ‘Johtingeaidnu - The Path Within’ on 10 April 2025 at 4 p.m., please register at: moa.public.relations@hu-berlin.de.
A selection of the programme items
10 April to 13 July 2025
‘Johtingeaidnu - The Path Within’
Exhibition, talk, guided tours and further programme
Schering Stiftung, Unter den Linden 32-34, 10117 Berlin
‘Johtingeaidnu - The Path Within’ explores the traditional way of life of nomadic reindeer herders in Northern Europe and their traditions. How can memories of past lifestyles of humans and animals be revived? What role do bioscientific methods of epigenetics play in this and how can they be harmonised with the traditional knowledge of the Sami herders?
2 May to 16 May 2025
"What if the Ocean Were a City?"
Exhibition, workshop, guided tours, boat trip, lectures and further programme
re:future lab, Reinbeckstra?e 32, 12459 Berlin
In the re:future lab's ‘What if the Ocean Were a City?’ exhibition, designer Rasa Weber presents new approaches to symbiotic co-design between humans, corals and other aquatic animals - in the exhibition space and in the water of the adjacent Spree.
4 June to 12 October 2025
"Gef??e. Infrastrukturen des Lebens"
Exhibition, guided tours and further programme
Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité, Charitéplatz 1,
10117 Berlin
Vessels are indispensable - for plants, animals, humans and even cities. They transport oxygen, nutrients, hormones and signals, while removing waste products. The exhibition links current vascular research between humans, plants and animals with the history of Berlin's sewerage system, which began with Virchow.
27 June to 21 September 2025
"Symbiotic Wood"
Exhibition, symposium, talk and further programme
Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Matth?ikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin
Climate change and monoculture have led to an increased beetle infestation of trees. The wood that is subsequently colonised by fungi is not traditionally used as a building material. The exhibition ‘Symbiotic Wood’ shows the cultural and practical value that beetle wood, which is normally degraded as waste, can have.
7 July to 20 July 2025
"Swamp Things!"
Exhibition
BHROX bauhaus reuse, Ernst-Reuter-Platz, 10587 Berlin
As an intervention in the BHROX bauhaus reuse pavilion, the exhibition ‘Swamp Things!’ explores new approaches to recultivating swamps that once had to give way to the city of Berlin and reintegrating them into our everyday lives.
Further information
Logo of the Matter Festival for download
Photo Download of the Exhibition Johtingeaidnu – The Path Within, Schering Stiftung
Image Credits: Film Still taken from a film by Oula A. Valkeap??. Still: Oula A. Valkeap??, 2021
Photo Download of the Exhibition What if the Ocean Were a City?, re:future lab
Image Credits: Prototyp von ?Syntopolis? in Stareso, Rasa Weber & Atelier Marie Drouet. Photo: Till Timmermann, 2024
Photo Download of the Exhibition Gef??e – Infrastrukturen des Lebens, Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité
Image Credits: Korrosionspr?parat der menschlichen Lebergef??e, Dietrich Polenz 2023, Bild: Igor Sauer, 2025
Photo Download Exhibition Swamp Things! The Liveliness of Peatland Plants, BHROX bauhaus reuse
Image Credits: Swamp Things, Charlett Wenig 2024, Bild: Janne Ebel, 2024
Photo Download of the Exhibition Symbiotic Wood, Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin (KGM)
Image Credits: K?ferg?nge in Fichtenholz, Bild: Pelin Asa, MPIKG & MOA, 2024
About the organiser
The DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence ‘Matters of Activity’ at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin has established itself as a leading international centre for integrative materials research, linking local scientific and cultural institutions with a diverse global network. "Matters of Activity brings together diverse expertise from the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and medical sciences and incorporates design and art into its basic research. The joint focus on design opens up new potential for collaborative research and enables responsible innovations in the socio-cultural, technological and medical fields.
Contact
Antje Nestler
Matters of Activity. Image Space Material
Cluster of Excellence Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin
Public Relations & Science Communication
Tel. : 030 2093 66258
moa.public.relations@hu-berlin.de
?