High-tech crafting with “smart materials”
The Technische Sammlungen Dresden and Smart3 unveil research workshop open to everyone
Heiko Weckbrodt
More and more museums are experimenting with modern, interesting exhibition forms that transcend classic exhibition concepts, allowing curious people to discover knowledge for themselves. The Research Workshop for Smart Materials at the Technische Sammlungen (TSD), Dresden’s Museum of Science and Technonolgy, is one such place. Scientists, artists, engineers and curators have transformed the Goldmannsaal of the museum into a puzzle workshop where children and adults alike can tinker with shape memory alloys, Piezo ceramics and other new, exciting materials over the next five months.
“Even though it appears that way, nothing here is by accident. Everything is according to a plan,” explains the museum’s director, Roland Schwarz. He spent a year and a half refining that plan, together with the “Smart3” research consortium, the Dresden-based Fraunhofer engineers, designers from the Art Academy Berlin-Weißensee, Bauhaus experts from Dessau and many others, before the new format was launched. “This is also an experiment for us,” admits Roland Schwarz. “We are looking for new forms of technical and scientific communication.”
The workshop is planned as a showcase for the Dresden’s unique landscape of around 20 universities and external material research institutes. The TSD leadership also want to experiment with how the museum of the future might work. “And this workshop is meant to grow,” adds the Project Leader Anja Johannes. “We hope to get lots of new ideas from outside.” These ideas are to come from visitors, but also from industrial designers like Ulrike Mäder from Halle, who has taken over a temporary studio in the TSD, as well as from researchers who want to participate in the project.
“We are working closely with TU Dresden and HTW Dresden (Dresden University of Applied Sciences),” explains Matthes Brähmig from the “Smart3” research consortium, which played a central role in organizing the workshop. “For example, we have set up a joint “Smart3” academy in the SLUB library’s maker space”. There, students can spend a semester trying out smart materials and developing cross-disciplinary ideas about potential applications for the new materials. Researchers from TUD would also like to participate in the “Research Workshop for Smart Materials” with exhibits and their expertise, including the TUD hydrogel expert, Prof. Gerald Gerlach, and the magnetic flux specialist, Prof. Stefan Odenbach.
Even though the participatory workshop closes its doors in five months, that won’t be the end: “Our plan is to set up a permanent lab at the Technische Sammlungen on the topic of smart materials, where we would also like to incorporate elements of the research workshop,” says TSD Director Schwarz.
Die Organisatoren der »Forschungswerkstatt Smart Materials« suchen noch Smart-Material-Experten, die ihre wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse in sonnabendlichen »Tea Time«-Diskussionsrunden oder in Form von Exponaten mit den Besuchern der Technischen Sammlungen teilen wollen. Wer sich einbringen will, kann sich an Projektleiterin Anja Johannes, E-Mail-Adresse anja.johannes@museen-dresden.de wenden.
This article was published in the Dresdner Universitätsjournal 09/2018 on May 15, 2018. You can download the whole newspaper as a PDF file for free here. Please contact doreen.liesch@tu-dresden.de to order the Universitätsjournal as a printed newpaper or as a PDF file. For more information, please visit: universitaetsjournal.de.