Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Kulturwissenschaft

Martin Müller is a postdoctoral research associate working in the intersection of cultural history and theory, media studies, history of knowledge and science, and design theory. Since 2014, Martin has been teaching and researching at the Department of Cultural History and Theory as a research associate of Wolfgang Schäffner. His teaching covers a range of topics, including the history of knowledge, cultural and design theory, media theory, critical Anthropocene studies, and critical philosophy of technoscience. Within the Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity", he is a project leader of Symbolic Material and a member of Material Form Function.

He received his doctorate from the Department of Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In his book Leben machen, published by De Gruyter in 2023, Martin develops a critical history and theory of synthetic biology and CRISPR/genome editing. In his Genealogy of Zoëpolitics, he formulates a new theory of the »vivification of power« that has occurred around 1800. He shows how the "will to make life" intensified during the molecular revolution in the 20th century and is now escalating with the emergence of synthetic biology. Nature, from atom to atmosphere, has become a field of intervention for rigorous engineering and design. Martin's current research interests include the history and theory of air, critically examining the technologies of climate engineering and the vulnerability of breathing in the 20th century.

Martin studied cultural history and theory, comparative religion, education, sociology and psychology in Berlin, Paderborn and Stellenbosch, South Africa. He was a research associate in the Image Knowledge Gestaltung cluster at HU Berlin and a fellow in the Automatisms - Cultural Techniques for Complexity Reduction research training group (DFG fellowship) at the University of Paderborn. 

He has received fellowships from Waseda University in Tokyo (2019), Universidad de Buenos Aires (2017), Université Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (2013) and Columbia University in New York City (2012). Recent publications: »Nach dem metabolischen Bruch«, in: Texte zur Kunst, 110, 2018; »Neues aus dem Menschenpark«, in: F.A.Z., No. 211, 11.09.2019; »The Will to Engineer. Synthetic Biology and the Escalation of Zoëpolitics«, in: Patricia Ribault (ed.): Design, Gestaltung, Formatività, 2022; »Kein Zurück zur Natur«, F.A.Z., No. 27, 01.02.2023; co-authored with Emilia Tikka: »Mammoths and Reindeer: Speculative Design Imaginaries and Technoscientific Care in the Arctic«, in: Léa Perraudin, Clemens Winkler, Claudia Mareis und Matthias Held (ed.): Material Trajectories. Designing with Care?, 2023. Forthcoming: with Léa Perraudin. »Speculating with«, De Gruyter, 2025; co-edited volume with Léa Perraudin: »Sensing Common Grounds. Towards Collaborative Speculation«. Leipzig: Spector Books, 2025.

Furthermore, Martin is the leader of the experimental laboratory for science communication and speculative design, CollActive Materials, together with Léa Perraudin. The collaborative project between the Clusters of Excellence Matters of Activity and Science of Intelligence is funded by the Berlin University Alliance. Martin's main focus within the laboratory is the development of inter- and transdisciplinary methodologies that foster knowledge exchange between science, humanities, art, design and civil society. Central to this work is the conceptualization and testing of collaborative speculative design approaches to address political and ecological challenges, particularly those at the intersection of research on materials and climate discourse. In 2023, he and Léa curated the exhibition Airbound. Sensing Collective Futures at Aufbau Haus Berlin.