SELECTED MATERIAL NARRATIVES
MICROBIAL CLOUDS [COMING SOON]
CLOUD APPARATUS 2.0 [2023]
MATERIAL TRAJECTORIES [2023]
AIRBOUND SCF [2023]
WHALE FALLS CARBON SINKS [2023]
EMPIRES OF DUST [2023]
EMISSION PLAYGROUND [2023]
DEEP MATERIAL FUTURES [2022]
METABOLIC ARCHIVING [2022]
STRETCHING PRACTICES [2022]
PLANETARY EMERGENCIES [2022]
SUSPENDED CARE-IERS [2021]
NUTRITION CLOUDS II [2020]
TAT OUR [2020]
EXTRATERRESTRIAL MATERIALS [2019]
NUTRITION CLOUDS I [2019]
TRANSIENT TECHNOLOGIES [2015]
CLOUD FACTORY [2019]
FICTIONAL MATERIALS II [2019]
PCLOUDS – METAPHOR APPARATUS [2018]
MUTABLE PROCESSES [2013-19]
FICTIONAL MATERIALS [2013]
METASOLID [2012]
BLINGCRETE —PATTERN CONDITION [2012]
About:
Clemens Winkler is a designer, scientist and artist based in Germany. In his vision, he opens an experimental stage for thinking, playing and learning on current socio-ecological scenario by investigating and experimenting with new forms of aesthetic experience in mixed-media. Designing playful utopia aims to provide a hands-on aesthetic impetus also to scientific and artistic research methods, especially in multidisciplinary gatherings.
In addition to his studio practice as a designer and artist, this impetus is currently leading him to work as a researcher at the Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity. Image Space Material” at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where his work relates the analysis and control of material systems on granular levels in aerial, meteorological and climatic terms.
As a result, materials are transformed from functional placeholders into performative protagonists, re-narrating and mediating the real and fiction. In a resulting alchemical theatre for playing, learning and sharing, Clemens brings clouds, code, machines and environments as protagonists to his three-year visiting professorship for Digital Media in the MA Studio "Spiel & Objekt" at University for Theatre Arts Ernst Busch Berlin, also in collaboration with various institutes, such as the Earth System Analysis Research at PIK Potsdam.
From here, he asks: What new aesthetics, agency and testimonies do we create in the contemporary world, making it habitable and tangible for us? What does it mean to give rights to nonhuman agents? What points of reference are there for social discourse by designing tools that are accessible to people? And how do we think analogue to analogue couplings anew in highly technologically mediated contexts and consequences in socio-material textures?
Between his current involvements, he was a lecturer at ZHdK University of the Arts Zurich in the Interaction Design department between 2013/19, as well as a research associate mainly on responsive materials in the Enactive Environments Research Group with the ETH Zurich, materialarchiv.ch, and EMPA. Clemens also taught as a visiting lecturer in computational materials since 2009 amongst Fine Arts&Architecture programme at UniKassel, the MA programme «University of the Underground», Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam and the MA´ «Material Futures», Central Saint Martins London. Prior, he studied Design Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art, London (graduated 2013), Fluid Interfaces at MIT Media Labs, Boston (felllow 2012), graduating New Media at UdK Berlin and Multisensorial Design with a focus on physics&chemistry at the HKD Burg Halle.
Research Studio address:
Sophienstrasse 22a, D-10178 Berlin at EXC MoA, HU Berlin
MA Studio address:
Zinnowitzerstrasse 11, D-10115 Berlin
mail[at]clemenswinkler.com
Digital Workspace on Instagram Flickr
Selected cooperation partners:
Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material«, Humboldt University Berlin
University for Theatre Arts Ernst Busch Berlin – MA Spiel und Objekt,
University of the Arts ZHdK Zürich
Interaction Design IAD, Zurich
ETH Zurich
EMPA Zurich
Materialarchiv CH
Royal College of Art, London
MIT Media Labs, Cambridge, MA
Sandberg Institute Amsterdam
Central Saint Martins London (Material Futures)
ENSAD Paris
HfG/ ZKM Karslruhe
HKD Burg Halle
Bauhaus Foundation Dessau
Bauhaus University Weimar
Science Gallery Dublin and Bengalore
titv greiz
Transmediale Festival
CTM Festival
Tieranatomisches Theater (TA T) Berlin
Biodesignchallenge NYC
Hacketaria Zurich, CH
BUA Experimentallabor "CollActive Materials"
DGTF Society
Design Research Labs UdK Berlin
PIK Potsdam
TROPOS Leipzig
University Kassel
Umea Institute of Design
Kunstuniversität Linz
IFK Wien
AEDES Berlin
Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology Munich
Max Planck Institute for History of Sciences
Fraunhofer UMSICHT
Design Museum Zurich
Science Museum London
V&A Museum London
Imperial College London
Designmuseum Copenhagen
Weserburg Bremen
Transmediale Festival
Ars Electronica Festival
Amaze Festival
Selected Exhibitions/ Publications/ Talks/ Awards:
Dec 2023
New publication "Material Trajectories. Designing with Care?", in "Future Ecologies" track, edited with Léa Perraudin, Claudia Mareis, Matthias Held at Meson Press. Press release coming soon.
Nov 2023
New installation "Whale Falls, Carbon Sinks" with Carbon Aesthetics Collective (HKW, MPIWG) at CARBON exhibition, Science Gallery, Bengaluru.
Nov 2023
New installation "Nebelschwelle" and "Cloud Apparatus 2.0" at the new showroom of MoA Cluster, Humboldt University Berlin
Oct 2023
Co-facilitation, mediation, air expertise, and new performative-investigativee installations "Luftsäule" and "Gutes Wetter" at "Airbound –Sensing Collective Futures" exhibition, funded by BUA Experimentallabor together with Humboldt University Berlin/ HfS Ernst Busch Berlin
Sep 2023
Podium discussion at Matters of Activity Cluster of Excellence Berlin on "Human Desertification" with Prof. Dr. Anna Gorbushina (Environmental Sciences, Aerobiology FU Berlin/ BAM Berlin)
Jul 2023
"Future of Life" Summerschool Co-Lead "Aerial Witnessing" at BioLab HfG/ ZKM Karlsruhe, together with "Matters of Activity. Image, Space, Material"
Jun 2023
Talk on "Investigating Sky Rivers and cloud experimentaton in design and art" at workshop "Intercultural Views on Matter" with Tongji University Shanghai / Humboldt University Berlin
Jun 2023
Stage Performance with MA Spiel und Objekt: "Hybride Formen – Emission Playgrounds" at BAT Theatre Berlin with CollActive Materials, Klasse Klima UdK and PIK Potsdam
Jan 2023
Premiere "Cloud Factory" BAT, MA Spiel und Objekt, HfS Ernst Busch Berlin
Nov 2022
MoA's Annual Conference "Deep Material Futures" co-organization and podium lead "Matters Across Scales" at Silent Green
Oct 2022
Juror at Marianne Brandt Design Award
Oct 2022
Talk on Aerial Life in Arts+Sciences at Swiss Design Research Network
Feb 2022
Podium "Clouds, Robots and the Sea" with Babette Werner (Curator, Art Historian HU Berlin and Anne Duk Hee Jordan (artist), Tieranatomisches Theater
Sep 2021
Opening »Stretching Materialities – Hidden Activities in Objects and Spaces« exhibition at Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin (Curatorial Lead)
Jun 2021
Studio Visit at Times of Waste symposium, FHNW Basel/ MoA Cluster, Humboldt University Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin
Mar 2021
Studio Talk at Morphing Matter Lab, CMU, Pittsburgh
Oct 2020
Studio Talk at «Coworking Materials» symposium at IFK Vienna
2020
External Juror/Mentoring at Ginkgo Creative Residency Program, Boston, MA, US
Aug 2020
Installation »Nutrition Clouds« at «MACHT NATUR» show with Aerology Workshop »Luftstoff«, STATE Studio Berlin
Nov 2019
Panel discussion on the «Ivory Tower and Reality» at Hurra Hurra festival at University of the Arts – Burg Halle (Saale)
Jun 2019- Oct 2021
New prints »Fictional Materials« with Offshore Studio Zurich at »Open Laboratory: Material and Technology« exhibition, Design Museum Zurich
Nov 2018
Talk »Per-Forming Clouds: Metaphor Automata« at DGTF conference «Matters of Communication» HfG Karlsruhe
Nov 2018
Talk about the »Laboratory of Narrative Materials« at Design & Future Making, FH Pforzheim, Germany
Jul 2018
»Fictional Materals« & Materials as Experiments – participatory exhibition format with weissensee school of art and design berlin, Bauhaus, and materialarchiv.ch, Zurich, CH
Jun 2018
»Per-Forming Clouds: Metaphor Automata« at Digitaltag Switzerland, Zurich, CH
Jun 2018
Co-Facilitating »Farming the Uncanny Valley« BMBF research project with UdK Berlin at State Festival Studio Opening, Berlin
Jun 2018
"Laboratory of Narrative Materials" at KISDTalks lecture series, Cologne, Germany
May 2018
"Per-Forming Clouds – In Search for the Perfect Cloud" at Design Museum Denmark
Oct 2017
"Materials as Mediators" article in "Exploring Transitions" publication
Oct 2017
"Normal Accidents" exhibition at ZHdK, Zurich
Oct 2017
Talk and exhibiting "Mutable Drugs" at Smart Materials Satellites, Bauhaus Dessau
Jun 2017
"Terranautic Instruments – Seminar at volcano Stromboli" with Roman Kirschner and Karmen Franinovic at Black Mountain College Show, Zurich
Jun 2016
"Per-Forming Clouds – Nebula" at Strauhof Museum of Literature, Zurich
Jul 2015
Research Grant BMBF on "Re:Connect" with MPI Neurobiology Munich in collaboration with J Hülsen/ S. Schwabe
Jan 2015
"State of Matter Workshop" at Transmediale, Designtransfer, Berlin
Nov 2013
"Enactive Environments Research Projects" at OCT Loft, Hong Kong
Oct 2013
"Material Aktiv Denken" Symposium with ZHDK Zürich, die Angewandte Wien
Aug 2013
Material Design for "Disaster Playground" with Nelly Ben Hayoun, V&A London
Aug 2013
"Fictional Materials" Show at DAAD Exhibition, London
Jun 2013
‘MetaSolid’ Paper Showcase, CHI 13 conference, Paris
Feb 2012
"Fictional Materials" Talk at UCLA Los Angeles
Jul 2012
Winner with Karen Winzer, Florian Gwinner and Heike Klussman with teaching plattform for BauKunst"Exzelleinden at UniKassel, "Exzellenzpreis in der Lehre", Land Hessen (Nomination at Schloss Wiesbaden)
Jan 2012
‘Unter Strom’ in Interactions magazine, ACM Press, New York
Nov 2011
"Unter Strom" paper presentation and exhibit at Ambience´11 (ACM), Boras, Sweden
Nov 2011
"Unter Strom" exhibition at Shedhalle, Zurich
Nov 2010
Talk on Artistic Research with BMBF project "BlingCrete – BauKunstErfinden" UniKassel at Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (also at publication Tröndle/Warmers "Kunstforschung als ästhetische Wissenschaft" transcript 2011)
Oct 2010
Presenting "Tensed up/Unter Strom" at ISEA conference Seoul, South Korea
Oct 2010
"Membranes, Surfaces, Boundaries", co-curation with Aedes, Berlin and MPIWG History of Sciences (Stadler, Rheinberger), Berlin
Jul 2009
Presenting Epi-Ano at Biodesign Workshop with Dr. Jonas Ranft, ENSAD/Marie Curie Institute Paris
Mar 2009
"Hear the grass growing" at Pixelache, Helsinki
2006
"Haptic Explorer" presentation at Braun Frankfurt & P&G Tokyo
2005
Grant (Procter/Gamble) – Research Residency in Tokyo/ Kyoto (Haptic Interfacing in Japanese culture)
Selected Seminars/ Symposia/ Workshops:
Nov 2023
Empires of Dust – Speculative Objects Seminar Series, MA Spiel und Objekt, HfS Ernst Busch Berlin together with TROPOS Leipzig
Jun 2023
Hybride Formen – Emission Playground, Premiere at BAT Berlin, MA Spiel und Objekt, HfS Ernst Busch, Berlin
Jan 2023
Erzählende Dramaturgien "Welcome to the Cloud Factory" at BAT Berlin, MA Spiel und Objekt, HfS Ernst Busch, Berlin
Jan 2022
Guest Lectureship UdK Produkt- und Prozessgestaltung IDK, »Hypermutanten«
Nov 2021
Imagining Suspended Care-iers at Tieranaomisches Theater – Climate Pre-Enactments, MA Spiel und Objekt, HfS Ernst Busch Berlin together with MoA Humboldt University Berlin
Oct 2021
Micro-Climate Fictions Seminar at Open Design Master, Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo Universidad de Buenos Aires (via Zoom)
Oct 2021
Workshop on Suspended Infrastructures at Bauhaus Festival Study Rooms: Infrastructure, Dessau, (via Zoom)
Apr 2021
Guest Lecturer Royal College of Art London (DP Unit 1)
Feb 2021
Guest Lecturer on Biodesign, Umea Institute of Design (Interaction Design)
2013-2020
Dozent for Digital Co-Fabrication Methods, ZHdK Zurich, CH
2015-2019
Dozent in Pre-College Class Experimental Media, ZHdK University of the Arts Zurich, CH
2019
Biodesign Challenge nominated Seminar ZHdK + Parsons College at presentations at MoMA, NYC, US
2019
»Welcome to the Cloud Factory« at Bauhaus100 - School FUNDAMENTAL at Bauhaus Dessau
2019
»Extraterrestrial Materials« Workshop with Joseph Popper at Academy of Arts Dresden, Planetenfestival Dresden
2019
»Vague Space« Workshop with Jannis Huelsen and Stefan Schwabe at Bauhaus Universitaet Weimar
2018
"Per-Forming Clouds" Workshop at weissensee school of art and design, Berlin
2017
"Techno Catastrophes" Workshop at University of the Underground, Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam
2017
"Vague Space" at Jung von Matt, Hamburg and Weserburg, Bremen
2017
"State of Matter Workshop" at Alchemist Kitchen, Kulturforum Berlin
2017
"It´s all just air" Micro Symposium on Air Phenomena with ZHdK/ ZHAW/ ETH, Zurich (Research grant – Gerbert Rüf Foundation)
2017
"Political Clouds" Design Theory Seminar at Angewandte Vienna
2017
"Per-Forming Clouds" interdisciplinary Workshop at Master Design Class, Zurich
2016
"Wunderkammer of Arising Matter" Research Workshop at ZHdK, Zurich
2016
"Exotic Matter" artistic research workshop for practice based PhD at Design Research Labs, Berlin
2016
"Exotic Matter" artistic research workshop and Micro Symposium at Takram London with Lukas Franciszkiewicz
2013 - 2019
"Interdisciplinary Studies and Design Theory" at ZHdK Zurich (Dozentur)
2011
Semester project "Konstruktion des Fremden" at Architecture Deparmtment, UniKassel
2010- 2011
Seminar on material computing (with Arduino) at Architecture Department, UniKassel
2008-09
workshops for school kids on electronics and electric fields, Halle (Saale)