Wavematters: Attending to the Spectral—Bodies, Cities, Devices

Exhibition Opening: October 1, 2026, 6:00–9:00 p.m.

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  Cabinet of Waves, Heike Zappe, 2025

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  Wave-Matters

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  Wave Matters

Waves matter. They light up our streets at night, carry our voices, help our food grow, and transmit our text messages. Sound and electromagnetic waves: these are ubiquitous, invisible forces that shape social life by connecting people, landscapes, and artifacts. And yet we lack a language to describe how they affect us, even as they become matters of concern: as radiating heat that makes life unbearable, as wireless signals that enable dystopian futures, or as environmental noise and artificial light that take a toll on human and nonhuman health.

At the same time, we are surrounded by “wave matters”: speed bumps that dampen traffic noise; antennas on rooftops that transmit 5G signals; curtains, clothing, trees, and innovative surfaces that block, reflect, or refract radiant heat. Yet the connection between waves and things is neither simple nor stable. Waves disrupt bodies, cities, and devices—their effects are vague, difficult to put into words, and hard to trace. Situated between physics and politics, they are not merely part of the spectrum; they are also spectral.

This exhibition explores how waves become things. It invites visitors to experience the spectral in three ways. Sensory-wise, we play with the thresholds of perceptibility through works created in collaboration with participating artists. Narratively, we revisit controversial scientific theories that challenge established notions of the human body and the boundaries between the senses. Ethnographically, we present objects that relate to waves in different ways and tell stories of how people and cities deal with waves in everyday life.

 

WHAT TO EXPECT

At the heart of the exhibition is the Wave Cabinet, a multimodal device that displays wave-like objects collected by the WAVEMATTERS team during field research. In the exhibition space, these objects are each placed in relation to their own context. They tell stories of how waves are materialized and problematized in cities. These stories revolve around prickly plants that regulate recreational noise in Barcelona, court cases in the United Kingdom that become sites of protest against 5G, fashion trends in Japan designed to help people adapt to the heat, and insects that are protected from light.

Five artistic perspectives invite us to focus our attention and senses on the ubiquitous yet often unnoticed waves:

In a video installation, Amor Schumacher and Summer Banks present fragments of conversations in which heat disrupts our everyday lives in various ways.

Sound artist Mathias Klenner transmits the background noise of a square in Barcelona into the main exhibition space. In a second work, he makes the elusive thresholds between the perception of sound and vibration tangible within a walk-in display case.

Merche Blasco invites visitors to walk through the TA-T building with custom-made electromagnetic instruments to hear its electromagnetic hum.

Jeremy Knowles transports us to the perspective of a pond in Görlitzer Park at night, when it is disturbed by artificial light.

ooooo, a techno-feminist, transuniversal constellation, challenges conventional notions of bodies and how they relate to electric fields through various types of antennas.

Two interactive wall installations reconstruct controversial scientific theories surrounding the sense of vibration and the body’s bioelectricity. They document the search for a sixth sense—vibration—and the idea of a body shaped by electric currents.

 

EVENTS

Sound artist Merche Blasco will perform on November 10, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. as part of Berlin Science Week 2026.

Guided tours led by members of the Wavematters team will take place on November 10, 2026, December 8, 2026, and January 12, 2027.

 

PARTICIPANTS

Curators: Jorge Martín Sainz de los Terreros & Ignacio Farías (IfEE, HU Berlin)
Curatorial support: Felix Sattler & Paz Ponce (TA T)
Ethnographers: Brett Mommersteeg, Nona-Schulte-Römer, Jorge Martín Sainz de los Terreros, Ignacio Farías/Albert Arias, Elisabeth Luggauer & Margherita Tess (IfEE, HU Berlin)
Historical Research: Brett Mommersteeg (IfEE, HU Berlin)
Artists: Summer Banks/Amor Schumacher, Merche Blasco, Mathias Klenner, Jeremy Knowles & ooooo
Graphic Design: Studio Gretzinger

Funded by the European Research Council (ERC)

 

Wavematters. Attending to the Spectral. Bodies, Cities, Devices is the result of a five-year ERC Consolidator Grant led by Ignacio Farías at the Institute for European Ethnology at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Follow us: @wavematters .erc

Translated with DeepL

Booking: No registration required.

Free admission

Accessible entrance

Accessible restroom

Elevator available

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 01/October/2026 18:00 bis 21:00
• Venue Tieranatomisches Theater - Haus 3 (Campus Nord)
• Address Philippstraße 12/13, 10115 Berlin-Mitte