Coded Objects
Lise Meitner Group Anna-Maria Meister
At a moment when the design and distribution of information has become a dominant driver of world politics and economy, the formal and material implications of “codes” often remain unnoticed or unchecked—as do concurrent shifts of agency and attempts to program society through spatial and formal measures. Hence, the research group will look at the space of coding not as abstract technology or remote activity, but at the programming of objects through design. It is imperative to investigate the form that drives the production of seemingly non-aesthetic processes—and the analysis of forms emerging in the focal point of material and data. With form as epistemic entry point, the multi-disciplinary research group will probe information systems and data as (and through) objects of design, while investigating the role of material forms in automated processes. In short, this project will focus on proto-algorithmic thinking as material and spatial practice.
Taking coded objects as central lens of refraction will question any ready dichotomy of design and bureaucracy—and any assumptions of "neutral" technology. The investigation of the form of processes and the objects they produce—locating design moves in systems imagined as automated—promises to unveil uncomfortable friction and productive affinities necessary for this research to bear on the present. The matter of processes matters, so to speak. Shaping things is often masked by rhetoric of technological "neutrality," but given the global circulation of images and objects, and the embedded design of information, form-giving operations and the matter of design demand closer scrutiny. This project will carve out discourses of responsibilities, aspirations and techniques of forming values through aesthetic means. After all, what is coded here are not only objects or tasks—but subjects.
By looking at the coded objects that surround us as a set of human, material and aesthetic negotiations, the group wants to move the focus toward the importance of formal intentions (and consequences) in prescribed processes and programs. At the same time, it will consider the making of objects and giving form as locally and culturally highly specific practice, be it the deliberate shaping by experts or intelligent solutions for material processes developed by communities. Building on the critical work around "precision," "objectivity" or "technological efficiency", especially its questioning through feminist and queer methods, the group will study practices developed by shape-givers together with bureaucrats to create form (both historically and contemporaneously). Techniques of making will serve not just as tacit knowledge, but as skillset and tool in the operations of (always already) coded objects.
The group includes doctoral and postdoctoral positions, collaborative and individual research projects, as well as scientific guests, aiming for a wide range of scientific and public outcomes and building upon three modes of research: rigorous, in-depth archival work to uncover and evaluate case studies; intensive interdisciplinary exchange toward shared terminology and methodologies; and, lastly, a strong focus on making as form of knowledge, namely on the tangible, material and formal skills and sensorial experience of formgivers and their practices.
See also the recent article by Anna-Maria Meister:
Coded Objects: The Forms of Proto-Algorithmic Thinking.
Lise Meitner Research Group Coded Objects
Anna-Maria Meister
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Books
Medina Warmburg, Joaquín, Anna-Maria Meister, Martin Kunz, and Mechthild Ebert. Frei Otto. Building with Nature. München London New York: Prestel Verlag, 2025.
Meister, Anna-Maria, Teresa Fankhänel, Lisa Beißwanger, Chris Dähne, Christiane Fülscher and Anna Luise Schubert, eds. Are You a Model? On an Architectural Medium of Spatial Exploration. Berlin: Jovis Verlag, 2024.
https://jovis.de/en/book/9783986120726
Hsiung, Hansun, Laetitia Lenel and Anna-Maria Meister. "Entangled Temporalities." Special Issue of Journal of the History of Knowledge, 2023.
https://journalhistoryknowledge.org/issue/view/839
Book Chapters
Meister, Anna-Maria. "Die DIN-Normen: Papierarchitektur oder Bürokratischer Exzess?" In Die Macht der Bedingungen: Architektur zwischen Abhängigkeit und Wirkung, edited by Benedikt Boucsein, Elettra Carnelli, and Daniel Zwangsleitner. Leipzig: Spector Books, 2025.
Meister, Anna Maria, and Rafael Uriarte. “Forgetting as a Feature, Not a Bug: The Intelligence of Loss in the Archive.” In City in the Cloud – Data on the Ground: The Architecture of Data, edited by Cara Hähl-Pfeifer, Damjan Kokalevski, and Andres Lepik, 148–157. ArchiTangle, 2025.
Pawlow, Karina: "So ähnlich wie verschieden: Zur konfigurativen Vielfalt einer Gruppe geblasener Formgläser aus der Buquoyschen Hütte in Gratzen." In Die Vielfalt des Vervielfältigten. Bildgebende Verfahren in der Kunst der Neuzeit und ihre Produkte, edited by Magdalena Bushart, Andreas Huth, and Livia Cárdenas, 155-173. Köln: Böhlau, 2025.
Marano, Virginia, Charlotte Matter, Laura Valterio, Jillian Crochet, and Vincent Barras. “Transforming the Medical through Art: Artistic Interventions on Normative Notions of Body and Health.” In Biomedical Visions: Aesthetics, Epistemology, and Medical Practice, edited by Alfreed Freeborn and Elizabeth Hughes. Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2025.
Meister, Anna-Maria. „Frei Ottos Architekturlehre: eine gesellschaftliche Formfindung [Frei Otto Teaching Architecture: Form-Finding for Society].“ In Frei Otto: Bauen mit der Natur [Frei Otto: Building with Nature], edited by Medina Warmburg, Joaquín, Anna-Maria Meister, Martin Kunz, and Mechthild Ebert. München London New York: Prestel Verlag, 2025.
Pawlow, Karina. "TikTok’s Duet Feature: Prodused Images in Political Contexts and Beyond." In Cinematic Images. The Digital Condition of Moving Images, edited by Lars Grabbe, Patrick Rupert-Kruse and Norbert Schmitz (eds.), 119-145. Marburg: Büchner, 2024. https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/98526
Carrai, Rebecca. "The IKEA Suburb. A Catalogued Imagery of Single-Family Housing." In What's Next for Mom and Dad's House? , edited by Federico Zanfi and Martino Tattara, 69-87. Spector Books, 2024.
Meister, Anna-Maria, and Mechthild Ebert. "The Powers of Metadata: Stories of Fragile Knowledge Constructions." In Architecture Archives of the Future. Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Conference of the Jaap Bakema Study Center, 201-208. November 2023.
Meister, Anna-Maria. "Processing Models, Modelling Processes for the HfG Ulm ca. 1952." In Designing the Computational Image, Imagining Computational Design, edited by Daniel Cardoso Llach and Theodora Vardouli, 80-83. Oro Editions, 2023.
Articles
Ngo, Anh Lin, and Sascha Kellermann. Interview with Anna-Maria Meister. "Institutionality and Radical Pedagogies." Arch+ Berlin (September 2025).
Marano, Virginia. “Beyond the ‘White Cube’: Intersecting Art and Design in Hospital Spaces.” PAD: Pages on Arts and Design, special issue “Art and Design in the Workplace,” 17, no. 27 (2024): 123-147. ISSN: 1972-7887. https://www.padjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/27PAD-122024.pdf
Meister, Anna-Maria. “Coded Objects: A Material Method.” Technology|Architecture + Design 8, no. 2 (2024): 183–86. DOI:10.1080/24751448.2024.2405343.
Marano, Virginia, Charlotte Matter, and Laura Valterio. “Bodily Matter and Complex Embodiment in the Art of Donald Rodney.” RACAR: Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review 49, no. 2 (Fall 2024): 112-128. ISSN 0315-9906.
Carrai, Rebecca. "Degrowth to Architecture." Stoà. Open Seminar (June 2024). 16-24. https://files.cargocollective.com/c979116/24_sto--open-seminar.pdf
Meister, Anna-Maria. "Coded Objects: The Forms of Proto-Algorithmic Thinking." Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 53, no. 5 (November 2023): 518–528. https://online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article/53/5/518/198194/Coded-ObjectsThe-Forms-of-Proto-Algorithmic
Hsiung, Hansun, Laetitia Lenel and Anna‐Maria Meister. "Introduction." Journal for the History of Knowledge 4 (2023): 9–32. DOI: 10.55283/jhk.17017 https://journalhistoryknowledge.org/article/view/17017
Meister, Anna-Maria. "Chernobyl’s Palimpsestic Shelters." Journal for the History of Knowledge 4 (2023): 165–192. DOI: 10.55283/jhk.12570 https://journalhistoryknowledge.org/article/view/12570
Reviews
Marano, Virginia. "Relocating Modernism: Global Metropolises." Modern Art and Exile (METROMOD). A digital exile archive and urban mapping project, Exilforschung. Ein internationales Jahrbuch 42/2024: Exil und Emotionen, edited by Esther Kilchmann and Sebastian Schirrmeister. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2025, 325–327. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111329345/html
2025
Glass Crafting Workshop, 16.05.2025, Murano - Venice
The Lise Meitner Group visited Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. The trip was organized by doctoral fellow Karina Pawlow, whose research focuses on early modern glass objects. During a workshop, the group learned about the intricacies of traditional glassmaking techniques and the material properties of glass. Under the guidance of artisans at the Scuola del Vetro, participants had the opportunity to experiment with lampworking to create glass beads, as well as with glass cutting and fusing.
Visit of the Gucci Archive, 18.03.2025, Florence
The Lise Meitner Group and KHI fellow Elisa Palomino organized a visit for KHI members to the Gucci Archive at Palazzo Settimanni in Florence. The guided tour offered insight into the brand's evolution—from the first iterations of the iconic Bamboo Handle Bag to the broader visual identity of the Gucci name. The tour provided rare access to the collection's meticulously curated objects, offering a unique perspective on fashion historiography and archival practices in the luxury fashion industry.
"Coffee+Jam," 25.02.2025, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
No colloquium, no lecture, no formalities: at this research brunch, work in progress is discussed in a relaxed setting. Across status groups and degrees of elaboration, researchers exchange ideas and projects in a constructive and cooperative atmosphere. "Coffee+Jam" is organized by the Professorship of Architectural Theory at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in cooperation with the Lise Meitner Group. http://at.ekut.kit.edu/1290.php
2024
Visit of the Ferragamo Archive, 17.12.2024, Florence
The Lise Meitner Group and KHI fellow Elisa Palomino organized a visit for KHI members to the Fondazione Ferragamo at Palazzo Spini Feroni in Florence. The group toured the research archive, exploring documents, prototypes, and materials from the brand’s history, and visited the former production basement used for assembling shoes and bags. In the afternoon, they visited the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, viewing an exhibition of historic shoes, bags, photographs, and films showcasing Ferragamo’s creative legacy and impact on fashion.
Launch of the Research Center saai | iaas, 27.11.2024, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) With the newly launched research center iaas [international architectural archival studies], research is located in the archive itself. With projects on metadata genesis or ordering structures in the estates, the iaas makes use of its unique position in the saai | Archive for Architecture and Engineering utilizing the synergies of the interdisciplinary team and the links between analog and digital processes, from two-dimensional files to three-dimensional models, the time lapses of long-term storage to the speed of AI-controlled data acquisition, and from material restoration processes to digital erosion. The saai | iaas is a partner institution of the Lise Meitner Group "Coded Objects."
https://www.saai.kit.edu/1695.php
Launch of an international residency program at the saai, 27.11.2024, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Starting in 2025, the Wüstenrot Foundation will fund 3 fellows who will have the opportunity to research and work in residency at the saai | Archive for Architecture and Engineering for 4-6 weeks in early summer. The residencies are aimed at researchers at all career levels. The saai is a partner institution of the Lise Meitner Group "Coded Objects."
https://www.saai.kit.edu/1782.php
"Coffee+Jam," 04.09.2024, KHI, Florence
No colloquium, no lecture, no formalities: at this research brunch, work in progress is discussed in a relaxed setting. Across status groups and degrees of elaboration, researchers exchange ideas and projects in a constructive and cooperative atmosphere. "Coffee+Jam" is organized by the Professorship of Architectural Theory at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in cooperation with the Lise Meitner Group.
http://at.ekut.kit.edu/1290.php
Visit of the Carrara marble quarries with accompanying screening of "Quarry" by Amie Siegel, 01.07.2024
The Lise Meitner Group "Coded Objects" organized a field trip for KHI members to the Carrara marble quarries, accompanied by a screening of "Quarry" by Amie Siegel. During the guided tour, the group visited three types of open quarries and one underground quarry in the Apuan Alps. They discussed the environmental and economic processes of marble extraction, as well as the related industries—from family-owned quarries to large, global industrial operations—behind the diverse uses of Carrara marble.
EAHN International Conference, 19. – 23. June 2024, Athens
At this year's EAHN International Conference in Athens, both Anna-Maria Meister and our collaborator Sina Brückner-Amin of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology / saai Archive are part of the roundtable "Data Narratives of Architectural Modernity", and the Lise Meitner Group's postdoctoral fellow Rebecca Carrai chaired the "Media and Object of the Home" session of the "Building Word Image" Interest Group.
http://eahn2024.arch.ntua.gr/