Annette Maechtel lives and works as an independent curator, art and cultural scholar, and lecturer in Berlin. Her research focuses explicitly on Berlin as a political and discursive space. Her curatorial approach is research-based, mostly collective, and utilizes a wide variety of media and formats—including temporary spaces, publications, walks, radio programs, and institutional exhibitions. In 2018, she completed her dissertation at the HGB Leipzig. Since 2017, she has been a research associate in the Einstein Research Project “Autonomy and Functionalization” at the UdK Berlin, Institute for the History and Theory of Design.
 

Claudia Mareis is a designer as well as a scholar of design and cultural studies. Since April 2021, she has been a professor of design and history of knowledge at the Institute for Cultural Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin. Since 2019, she has been co-spokesperson for the interdisciplinary Cluster of Excellence “Matters of Activity. Image Space Material” at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research focuses on 20th-century design history and methodology, knowledge cultures in design, experimental design and media practices, the cultural history of creativity and creative practices, as well as design and material politics.

Aurelia Markwalder works with Luise Bartels under the name “Ernst und Mund” as a freelance graphic designer and type designer. In 2017, they founded the multi-award-winning studio “More Impression” in Leipzig. Since 2024, she has been an artistic collaborator for typography, typesetting, and printing at the HGB Leipzig

• ernstundmund.de

Felix Marlow studied architecture and European ethnology in Hamburg and Berlin and is interested in urban planning as part of solidarity-building initiatives. From 2022 to 2024, he conducted research as a visiting scholar at the Chair of Urban Anthropology at Humboldt University in Berlin on model projects for cooperative, public-good-oriented urban development. He is currently working on the team of the Working and Coordination Structure for Public-Good-Oriented Urban Development (AKS Gemeinwohl), an interface between administration, civil society, and politics for public-good-oriented urban development.
 

Ralo Mayer explores the forms and temporalities of social change, as well as concepts of ecology beyond the crumbling dichotomy of nature and society. His multidisciplinary projects often revolve around objects of space exploration, outer space, and the science fiction of everyday life, weaving their stories together through the multifaceted notion of the plot. Mayer presents his work at international exhibitions, film festivals, and conferences, and has proudly identified as a meteorite licker since 2021. In 2024, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences for his project Plots of Un·Earthing, which investigates human engagements with extraterrestrial resources.

• multiplex.info

Ramia Mazé worked as a trained designer and architect in design consulting firms and in corporate research in the U.S. and Europe. She has led, published, and exhibited within the framework of interdisciplinary and international research projects in the fields of politically engaged design, feminist design studies, sustainable development, smart materials, and interactive spaces. She is a professor of Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (UAL). From 2016 to 2024, she served as editor of the leading academic journal "Design Issues".

• ramiamaze.com

Johanna Mehl works as a cultural studies scholar at the Chair of Digital Cultures at TU Dresden. As a scholar, designer, and educator, she is interested in design as a culture of knowledge and its intersections with environmental history, cybernetics, systems theory, and media theory. She is a member of the editorial advisory board of the “Design+Posthumanism Network” and part of the research group “Against Catastrophe".

• againstcatastrophe.net

Eva Moldenhauer (1934–2019) translated French-language literary and academic texts into German. She received a number of awards and prizes for her work. In 2012, she was awarded the Prix de l’Académie de Berlin for revitalizing and deepening German-French relations.

Jasper Morrison is a product and furniture designer. He was born in London in 1959 and grew up in New York. In 1982, he earned his Bachelor of Design from the Kingston Polytechnic Design School in London. In 1984, while studying industrial design at the Berlin University of the Arts, he contributed to the creation of the “Kaufhaus des Ostens” catalog.

• jaspermorrison.com