Paper short abstract:

Workshop. Performative Material Science. Get together with a stack of printed photographs. Related to the method of photo elicitation, associative and wild speculating on dark matter knowledge generation through photographs.

Paper long abstract:

It is not surprising that current physics struggles with arguments regarding the (non-)detection of dark matter. On the one hand, physicists have been theoretically puzzling for nearly 100 years over the composition of said matter, which is supposed to constitute 85% of the total mass of the universe. On the other hand, it remains to be seen which experimental strategies will lead to possible detections in the foreseeable future. However, so far the own observation, current efforts to detect dark matter rely significantly on procedures that are situated far from elaborate wave- or particle-like models and well-established experimental practices. The session, under the scrutiny of STS-informed perspectives, invites following the hypothesis that dark matter exhibits more complex material characteristics than is generally recognized by physics; therefore the question is asked where and how knowledge generation in the field takes on a barely controllable momentum of its own and risks escaping future reproducibility. The workshop negotiates dark matter in the tension between formal physical constitution and collective imagination. After a brief introduction, a common dive into the topic is made by negotiating with/through photographs to re-configures the body of knowledge predominantly governed and disciplined by physics.