Two hands holding a smart phone photograph a placental dyeing procedure that researches freemartinism in cows.

Doctors at Leiden University hospital reenact Frank Lillie’s early placental dyeing method used as a diagnostic tool for assessing placental anastomosis. Used to study a biological phenomenon in genetically female cows born from a dizygotic twin pregnancy, called freemartinism, the dyeing technique maps the exchange of blood and hormones across the placental connection that renders the female twin intersex and unable to conceive. Film still from Flush (2023). © Lucy Beech, courtesy of the artist.

Department

Artifacts, Action, Knowledge

Department Artifacts, Action, Knowledge studies the history of knowledge and action considering the interchangeable role of artifacts as texts, objects, and spaces. Collaborative working groups focus on project-based outputs that promote discussion and debate on the production of knowledge across all domains of life. Our research structure is organized around three key facets of knowledge: material artifacts, social action, and formalized epistemic expressions.

Research

Metals, Minerals, and the Life Cycle
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Heavens in Your Hand
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Proteins and Fibers
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Reclaiming Turtles All the Way Down
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Common Knowledge and Its Sources in the Sinosphere
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The kn/own/able Project
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News & Press

Exhibition stand and several MPIWG scholars at this years ESHS/HSS Joint Meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Postdoctoral Scholar Chanelle Adams participates at Biennale Gherdëina 10

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Vacancies in research, administration, and technical support

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Events

10th IASSRT Symposium. Textiles as Knowledge Systems: Practice, Codification and Transfer

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Transmission of Mechanical Knowledge between Late Antiquity and Early Islam

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Research Directions in Premodern Agricultural and Food Knowledge

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Publications

Multimedia & Feature Articles

Digital Resources