What happens when we begin treating multi-stable, ambivalent and adaptive behaviors of active matter as a formative principle? The contributions of this volume investigate the potential of the processual and untamable — ranging from microbial co-designing, morphogenetic experimentation and atmospheric creation to plasticity and liveliness in architecture, history of art and scientific concepts. Walking the line between analog and digital forms, the 19 perspectives from the Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity" not only cross disciplinary and methodological boundaries, but also aim at installing a new material paradigm between the epistemic cultures of sciences, humanities and design.

• Investigating a new culture of the material
• Interdisciplinary views on active structures, adaptive materials and sustainability