Wavematters. Attending to the Spectral. Bodies, Cities, Devices

And yet there is no language to describe how they affect people, 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 their toll on human and non-human health.

At the same time, people 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, it plays with the thresholds of perceptibility through works created in collaboration with participating artists. Narratively, it revisits controversial scientific theories that challenge established notions of the human body and the boundaries between the senses. Ethnographically, it presents 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 installation showcasing wave-like objects collected by the WAVEMATTERS team during their field research. Within the exhibition space, each of these objects is placed in relation to its own context. They illustrate how waves are materialised and problematised in cities.

These stories range from prickly plants that regulate leisure noise in Barcelona, to court cases in the UK that become sites of protest against 5G, to fashion trends in Japan designed to help people adapt to the heat, and to insects that are shielded from light.

Five artistic approaches invite visitors to focus their attention and senses on the ubiquitous yet often unnoticed waves:

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

Sound artist Mathias Klenner transmits the ambient noise of a square in Barcelona into the main exhibition space. In a second work, he allows visitors to experience the elusive boundaries between the perception of sound and vibration within a walk-in display case.

Merche Blasco invites visitors to walk through the TA-T building with specially crafted 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 concerning 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 10 November 2026 at 8 pm as part of Berlin Science Week 2026.

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

CONTRIBUTORS

• 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

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 of Berlin.

GERMAN/ENGLISH