DIY Hack the Panke
Art + Science Research Project
The research group DIY Hack the Panke was founded in January 2018 and consists of a group of artists and scientists applying artistic and scientific research at, in and around the river Panke, and promoting Citizen Science projects along the Panke River in north and central Berlin.
In the next few years the upper part of the Panke, in Berlin-Buch, will be re-wilded according to new EU standards, while the river’s two points of entry into the Spree, currently underground, will be uncovered. DIY Hack the Panke is interested in these fluctuating areas and the effects of re-wilding, but our main area of focus is the Panke in Wedding and southern Pankow. This part of the river, known only a century ago as the ‘Stinkpanke’ because of pollution from nearby factories and tanneries, is now a popular urban green space sought after by local residents.
Through interdisciplinary art science practice, the group aims to explore the Panke River for living organisms and critically examine its complex history of human use. Members of DIY Hack the Panke offer public workshops on topics such as river flora, fauna and microbiology; bio matter as part of artistic research; plastic waste and other pollutants; and the impact of history, culture and technology on the present-day Panke. The public is also invited to take part in walk & talks, art performances as well as public labs to rediscover their urban environment, as well as learn and take part in Citizen Science.
In addition to public participation in the research and related events, the actions and results will continue to be made publicly available on this project website. A publication in book form is also planned.
Topics of interest and approaches
- Microplastics in the Panke
- Bio Matter and Artistic Research
- Microflora and fauna and larger creatures in the Panke
- Hydrofeminism
- Watery ecologies, community coalescence and experiments with algae
- Panke mud ecologies and Winogradsky columns
- Traces of the industrial Panke in soil and water
- A cultural and natural history of the Panke
Activities
DIY Hack the Panke
- Learning from the River
- Documentary Exhibition with Artists and Scientists around the Collective


The documentary exhibition presents the research of the art science collective DIY Hack the Panke. Critically exploring the river near by the event space of Art Laboratory Berlin the group has offered public workshops on topics such as river flora, fauna and microbiology, plastic waste and pollutants. The focus has been also on bio matter as part of artistic research, the impact of history, culture and technology on the present-day Panke.
The exhibition also shows presents various art science installations by artist designer Fara Peluso, artist Sarah Hermanutz and biologist India Mansour with artist Sybille Neumeyer. The exhibition invites to reflect what Hybrid Art and shared knowledge through transdisciplinary research mean in times of ecological mega crisis in a posthuman era.
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- Walk & Talk
- With members of the art science collective


After an 18-month hiatus we are happy to announce the next event of the artist and scientist collective DIY Hack the Panke. The research group DIY Hack the Panke was founded in January 2018 and consists of a group of artists, art theoreticians and scientists applying artistic and scientific research at, in and around the river Panke, and promoting Citizen Science projects along the Panke River in northern and central Berlin.
On 31 October members of the collective will meet for a walk along the Panke river, together with the public, to talk about their previous research on the river, its flora, fauna and ecologies. We will also give a preview of our upcoming DIY/ DIWO program for 2022.
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- Microplastics and Coexistence | Online Workshop Discussion
- Kat Austen and Joana MacLean


What we consider to be our environment unequivocally and ubiquitously contains plastic. It has been found at the outskirts of human reach: at the top of Mount Everest, in Arctic ice, and at the bottom of the Mariana trench. Plastic is becoming part of our geology and the lively surrounding of many organisms on this planet – a new material and habitat providing new stories and life forms.
This Earth Day, join Kat Austen and Joana MacLean to discuss the coexistence of microplastics in the environment and what it means for nature and ourselves. During this online talk, we will invite your minds with us to go visiting the plastisphere as artists, chemists and biologists, trees and bacteria, humans and particles – negotiating together a plan of coexistence with microplastics on this planet.
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- Science by Doing
- With students from the Gustav-Freytag Schule


The project Science by Doing offered the pupils of the Gustav-Freytag-Schule a wide range of events about the River Panke, spread throughout 2019. Through workshops and visits the Art Science collective DIY Hack the Panke made it possible for students to artistically explore biology, chemistry, design and ecology, and to implement their own ideas.
In addition to workshops on the topics of urban ecology, microplastics, microbiodiversity and wetland ecology, there were performances such as the Wasserklang Orchestra, where the pupils examined the Panke using self-made instruments, which was later presented as an installation at the Berlin State Opera.
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Symbiosis in intra-flux of the Anthropocene
- Project Presentation
- Saša Spačal
For the month of November 2019 bio media artist Saša Spačal undertook artistic research at the Rillig Group, Ecology of Plants, Institute of Biology, FU Berlin, addressing pressing societal and environmental issues such as climate crisis and plastic pollution.
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Local Area Network (LAN)
- Part of the project: Invisible Forces
- Martin Howse
Local Area Network (LAN) open workshop is a collective, speculative investigation of local fields/particles, and energetic exchanges, towards the hacking and re-routing of energy flows and networks at all stacked levels of local geological, environmental and technological…
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- Wasserpank | Workshop & Jam Session
- Kat Austen and Nenad Popov


Artist and chemist Kat Austen together with sound and new media artist Nenad Popov take the Panke river and its water as a starting point for this exciting workshop on sound experimentation from water and the environment. Mixing hydrophone recordings, DIY water and soil sensors, participants make their own recordings and the workshop ends in a group jam session along the river.
The research group DIY Hack the Panke was founded in January 2018 and consists of a group of artists and scientists applying artistic and scientific research at, in and around the river Panke, and promoting Citizen Science projects along the Panke River in north and central Berlin.
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- Pankquelle
- Sarah Hermanutz and Nenad Popov


Artists Sarah Hermanutz und Nenad Popov perform a new work based on their involvement in the art science collective DIY Hack the Panke. The two artists’ previous collaboration have mixed Hermanutz’s artistic research into wetland ecologies with Popov’s sound and programming based work. For the project Pankquelle, the artists draw inspiration from the Panke river’s source in Brandenberg, and it’s journey through the changing urban landscapes of Berlin.
The research group DIY Hack the Panke was founded in January 2018 and consists of a group of artists and scientists applying artistic and scientific research at, in and around the river Panke, and promoting Citizen Science projects along the Panke River in north and central Berlin.
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DIY Hack the Panke
- Summer Walk & Talk #1
- Eliot Morrison and Daniel Lammel
During the event we will discuss the interaction of water, soil and atmosphere from the molecular level and how this effects and is affected by organisms up to the larger ecological level and how water, plants and soil take part in cycles of carbon and nitrogen that support life.
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DIY Hack the Panke
- Summer Walk & Talk #2
- India Mansour | Nenad Popov | James Whitehead
For the last day of summer, sound and new media artist Nenad Popov and biologists India Mansour and James Whitehead walk along the Panke and give a series of short talks interwoven with participatory inter/actions between visible and invisible ecological layers.
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- Panke Life. Microbiodiversity
- Sarah Hermanutz | India Mansour | Fara Peluso


This workshop will research the diversity of invisible life in the Panke River. Choosing a site along the river in Berlin-Wedding artists Fara Peluso and Sarah Hermanutz and microbiologist India Mansour will show participants how to investigate the microbial life and ecologies of an urban waterway.
The workshop will explore the river and floodplain as microbial habitats, with special emphasis on water, sediment and soil along the riverbanks. Microbial community characteristics, interactions with the environment, and nutrient cycles will be discussed and examples sought out.
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- (Un)Real Ecologies. Microplastics
- Kat Austen and Frithjof Glowinski


Plastic has pervaded water, soil and our bodies. It is the new icon of our time. During the (Un)Real Ecologies: Microplastics workshop we will explore the presence of microplastics in the Panke River, near Art Laboratory Berlin. How do organisms and microorganisms exist with microplastics and construct with these human-made materials? We will investigate water samples, to discover a new understanding of the reality of the Panke’s ecosystem, with plastic present and wholly a part of it – a microcosm that allows us to ask “What is nature?”
In the workshop participants will use DIY chemistry methods to separate microplastics from mineral and organic matter, and discover the origins of the plastics they find by creating density columns. They will also learn about the ecology of the Panke River and the Citizen Science project DIY Hack the Panke.
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- (Un)Real Ecologies. Microplastics | Workshop
- Kat Austen and Joana MacLean


Plastics come in different shapes, textures and material properties. Their chemical properties makes them generally very resistant to natural degradation processes by fungi, algae or bacteria. However, the term plastisphere has been used by biologists to describe the living microworld attached to plastic particles in the environment. Surprisingly, plastic seems to be much more than just an human-made waste product: In marine ecosystems it was found that pieces of plastics carry a very specific community of fungi, algae and bacteria. Using a microscope, we can get a close and intimate look into their habitat.
The workshop examins the plastisphere of the Panke and observes the shapes and forms of how organisms interact with plastic. For this step, we choose some interesting particles from our catch and use the available microscopes to get a close look at plastics and living creatures.
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