anatomia publica — Open Stage for Scientific, Aesthetic and Social Research Practices. GUIDED WALK

For over 250 years, the Tieranatomisches Theater (TA T) has offered science an impressive stage. anatomia publica reclaims this historic architecture—not to dissect bodies, but to explore the anatomy of research itself. Instead of a closed academic setting, the Theater becomes a Wissenstheater—a place where knowledge is not only produced but also performed. Anchored in the Berlin Science Week theme “Beyond Now”, the 2025 edition of anatomia publica invites the public into living, experimental environments where futures are speculated, knowledge is embodied, and science is reoriented toward relational care.

Looking to the sky is never a neutral gesture. Whether through telescopes, woven patterns, or storytelling, we project futures and inherit pasts still ahead of us. Under the dome of the Tieranatomisches Theater, the night sky appears as both archive and oracle—an immersive field where data, stories, and memory intersect. Within this horizon, anatomia publica unfolds across five days with two interdisciplinary artistic research projects that transform the Theater into a stage for cosmological imagination.

Marcela Moraga presents “What happens in the sky, happens on earth. Cosmology of an oasis”, a textile-based research station where oral memory, environmental conflict, and sky observation are interwoven into evolving constellations. Developed in collaboration with women weavers from Chiu Chiu, Moraga’s research traces the ancestral cosmology and technologies of the Lickanantay oasis culture in the Atacama Desert, now overshadowed by extractive industries and international astronomy. Reframing the oasis as an opportunity to link astronomy with economic and socio-cultural activities, the project examines how non invasive methods such as cooperative agricultural practices and Indigenous ecological knowledge might open alternative relationships between science, land, and care. Visitors encounter woven interpretations of the sky and intergenerational learning formats, including a children’s module that translates cosmological heritage into accessible knowledge. The project also hosts a public discussion with researchers from the Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), opening dialogue on cosmotechniques and decolonial heritage.

Po:era (Daniel Weyand & Lucas Lacerda) introduce CALADRI, a speculative exoplanetary star system where astrophysics and fiction converge. Visitors enter a hybrid observatory-lab animated by projection mapping, participatory world-building, and a twilight audio walk tracing the survival of a nomadic civilization inhabiting the twilight zone of a slowly rotating planet. While fictional, CALADRI draws from astrophysical research and resonates with speculative climate studies emerging across Berlin’s universities. On Caladri, interstellar migrating societies preserve their environments in underground echo chambers, archiving geodata, climate patterns, and celestial rhythms to transmit survival knowledge across deep time. These speculative repositories form a living cartography of coexistence, inviting reflection on how science might help us tell stories of survival, reciprocity, and planetary care. Po:era’s practice merges storytelling, research, and performance to transform the Theater into a foreign sky—where possible worlds are rehearsed and future knowledge begins to take shape in the now.

Together, these two artistic research positions compose the programme of anatomia publica, curated by Paz Ponce (curator for Public Programmes & Outreach at TA T). Visitors will find installations, performances, participatory workshops, a panel discussion, and learning modules for children. Across formats and generations, the Tieranatomisches Theater becomes a place where knowledge is embodied, cosmologies are reimagined, and science opens itself to care.