Dear former Fellows and members of the Fellows’ Club,

During my year at the Wissenschaftskolleg I had a strange experience. For the very first time in my life I fell out of bed while sleeping. When I awoke, I was lying on the floor of our apartment in the Koenigsallee. I felt this type of mobile dreaming to be a good sign – as thinking with the body. But what would Freud say? Or neurology? Tarot?

For a change of pace, our 2024 newsletter is not concerned with ideas, theories, and other kinds of ratiocination (nor with politics – even if these days there is more than enough call for it) but with the place where these thoughts are generated: the body.

We have a number of experts telling us what being a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg can mean for one’s body and spirit. The entomologist Goggy Davidowitz expounds on the pleasures of insect snacks as an appetizer. From the composer Mart*in Schüttler we hear his cycle “Schöner Leben” which was recently performed and discussed at the Ultraschall Berlin festival. In his composition Schüttler tests the limits of the music-making body – and challenges the listening habits of his audience. The sociologist Barbara Thériault cuts Daniel Schönpflug’s hair and imparts what her discipline can learn from the barbers and hairstylists of this world. Sonja Frühsammer, the Wissenschaftskolleg’s new chef de cuisine, explains in an interview why she prefers cooking here rather than in a Michelin-starred restaurant. And in terms of moving forward and getting ahead, the Teufelsberg-conquering Wicked Wiko Runners are second to none; here a picture is worth a thousand words.

Have fun reading, listening, watching, eating, running, washing, and blow-drying!

Yours,
Julia Voss
Chairwoman of the Fellows’ Club,
together with Simone Reber and Alexei Evstratov
Deputy Chaipersons of the Fellows’ Club