Staying Alive – materials of becoming

The exhibition presents a selection of student works demonstrating how everyday objects can play a different role in the story of production. Instead of taking on a final form, they humbly anticipate conditions where their usefulness will have eroded. We have explored two techniques that allow transitory stable forms to emerge, before gracefully re-entering different cycles. In the first one, we have invented the material “reverse wood” out of  paperpclay and compostable glue and fibers.
After use,  it can be turned again into shape-able matter, ready to be shaped into new objects. In the second one, we synthesized matter out of natural fiber, using mycelium growth as glue. After use, these objects can be composted and fed back into the organic cycle of composition and decomposition. By acknowledging their transient material properties – with that their own death – the objects stay alive, always in the process of becoming.

Students: Emma Alraun Arian Bayati Alex Boulger Aarzoo Burhani Caspar Cerulli Emily Edwards Caine Förster Seohee Hong Daria Ishutina Aaron Liese Charlotte Neidel Paniz Nikkhah Maily Nguyen Ilona Nouvellon Nele Paas Stefanie Schneider Marie Staack

based on my seminar “Materials that grow” at HFBK Hamburg in 2024/25