Spaces of Uncertainty Berlin Revisited

Book published by Birkhäuser (2018)

How has Berlin's urban landscape changed in its remarkable transformation from divided city to creative capital? Despite the monumental heritage and grand development projects, Berlin still conjures up ... [more ▼]

How has Berlin's urban landscape changed in its remarkable transformation from divided city to creative capital? Despite the monumental heritage and grand development projects, Berlin still conjures up images of urban fragmentation and vacant inner-city land. The book reveals the changing nature and complex politics of this open space. A rephotographing of sites between 2001 and 2016 shows how no man's land has made way for new apartments and underground hangouts have changed into commercial hubs, but it also transports us to remaining pockets of urban wilderness and unexpected freedom right next to the city's most iconic squares. The accompanying essays by noted urban thinkers explore this little-known but vital reserve--forcing us to reflect on our unrelenting efforts to chart the future of the city at large. [less ▲]

La production en céramique dans la Grande Région SaarLorLux

E-print/Working paper (2018)

Consisting of four entities, regions or states, located in the heart of Europe, the Greater Region SaarLorLux has long been considered a territory with a rich industrial past of great dynamism. Among the ... [more ▼]

Consisting of four entities, regions or states, located in the heart of Europe, the Greater Region SaarLorLux has long been considered a territory with a rich industrial past of great dynamism. Among the many branches of activity, there is one that has long been a flagship of its skills: ceramics. The term "ceramics" covers a certain number of very different products in terms of their appearance and properties, all made from fired clay. Over time, manufacturing techniques have evolved to produce less and less porous and finer designs. The applications of this material have thus expanded considerably. Working with clay is a long-standing tradition in this region, as the first ceramics discovered at archaeological sites are 7 000 years old. So, for thousands of years, potters made objects out of fired clay. [less ▲]

Metropolitan Life

Book published by Scheidegger & Spiess (2018)

Since the late 2000s, German-Iranian artist Bettina Pousttchi has been creating works at the intersection of sculpture, architecture, and photography. Her large-scale installations investigate the history ... [more ▼]

Since the late 2000s, German-Iranian artist Bettina Pousttchi has been creating works at the intersection of sculpture, architecture, and photography. Her large-scale installations investigate the history and memory of places, exploring the connections between time and space from a transnational perspective, and have gained her international recognition and praise. This book features Pousttchi’s new photographic installation at Nivola Museum in Orani on the Italian island of Sardinia. She chose the Metropolitan Life Building on 1 Madison Avenue in Manhattan as her subject for this piece. Criticized for its blatant Italian references at the time of its completion in 1909—and the world’s tallest structure until 1913—the building displays a hybrid identity, recalling cultural and temporal-spatial dislocations between the Old and the New World, Renaissance and Modernism. Published alongside the images of Metropolitan Life and other works by Pousttchi are an essay by art historian Greg Foster-Rice and a conversation between the artist, critic, and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and architect and writer Markus Miessen. [less ▲]

Distributed

Book published by Open Editions (2018)

For those who would seek to influence others, the distribution of ideas is paramount. Similarly, for those holding ambition to secrete knowledge for reasons of authority dissemination is key. The same ... [more ▼]

For those who would seek to influence others, the distribution of ideas is paramount. Similarly, for those holding ambition to secrete knowledge for reasons of authority dissemination is key. The same, however, goes for those who seek to protect the fruits of intellectual labour for reasons of profit or ethical concern. This new volume in the Occasional Table series of critical anthologies focuses attention on the act of distribution as a subject for serious creative consideration and one of great social and economic importance. [less ▲]

Blessing and Transgressing: A Live Institute

Book published by Witte De With (2018)

Published at the end of curator Defne Ayas' six-year directorship of the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, this richly illustrated publication celebrates the institution's programs ... [more ▼]

Published at the end of curator Defne Ayas' six-year directorship of the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, this richly illustrated publication celebrates the institution's programs and collaborations while ruminating on their realization. [less ▲]

The evolution of the macrophage-specific enhancer (Fms intronic regulatory element) within the CSF1R locus of vertebrates

in Scientific Reports (2017), 7(17115),

The Csf1r locus encodes the receptor for macrophage colony-stimulating factor, which controls the proliferation, differentiation and survival of macrophages. The 300 bp Fms intronic regulatory element ... [more ▼]

The Csf1r locus encodes the receptor for macrophage colony-stimulating factor, which controls the proliferation, differentiation and survival of macrophages. The 300 bp Fms intronic regulatory element (FIRE), within the second intron of Csf1r, is necessary and sufficient to direct macrophage-specific transcription. We have analysed the conservation and divergence of the FIRE DNA sequence in vertebrates. FIRE is present in the same location in the Csf1r locus in reptile, avian and mammalian genomes. Nearest neighbor analysis based upon this element alone largely recapitulates phylogenies inferred from much larger genomic sequence datasets. One core element, containing binding sites for AP1 family and the macrophage-specific transcription factor, PU.1, is conserved from lizards to humans. Around this element, the FIRE sequence is conserved within clades with the most conserved elements containing motifs for known myeloid-expressed transcription factors. Conversely, there is little alignment between clades outside the AP1/PU.1 element. The analysis favours a hybrid between “enhanceosome” and “smorgasbord” models of enhancer function, in which elements cooperate to bind components of the available transcription factor milieu. [less ▲]

Lattice model to derive the fluctuating hydrodynamics of active particles with inertia

in Physical Review Letters (2017)

We derive the hydrodynamic equations with fluctuating currents for the density, momentum, and energy fields for an active system in the dilute limit. In our model, nonoverdamped self-propelled particles ... [more ▼]

We derive the hydrodynamic equations with fluctuating currents for the density, momentum, and energy fields for an active system in the dilute limit. In our model, nonoverdamped self-propelled particles (such as grains or birds) move on a lattice, interacting by means of aligning dissipative forces and excluded volume repulsion. Our macroscopic equations, in a specific case, reproduce a transition line from a disordered phase to a swarming phase and a linear dispersion law accounting for underdamped wave propagation. Numerical simulations up to a packing fraction ∼ 10 % are in fair agreement with the theory, including the macroscopic noise amplitudes. At a higher packing fraction, a dense-diluted coexistence emerges. We underline the analogies with the granular kinetic theories, elucidating the relation between the active swarming phase and granular shear instability. [less ▲]

From Ephemera to Archive: The New Digital Practices of Historical Research

Presentation (2017, November 08)

La dématérialisation de la frontière européenne

Conference given outside the academic context (2017)

Histoire du temps présent - Bilan & Perspectives. Actes des 6es Assises de l'historiographie luxembourgeoise, édités par Elisabeth Boesen et Denis Scuto

in Hemecht : Zeitschrift für Luxemburger Geschichte = Revue d'Histoire Luxembourgeoise (2017), 3-4(69), 277-436