Anne Schreiber is a PhD researcher in subproject A01. She holds an M.A. in Modern German Literature, Philosophy, and Economics and was a member of the Research Training Group Automatisms (University of Paderborn) as well as a member of the PhD Net “The Knowledge of Literature” (Humboldt University Berlin). She has published scholarly work on the media history and epistemology of systems thinking in early 20th-century U.S. management, as well as on Anthropocene knowledge, network art, and network culture. In addition, she has written as an author in the field of contemporary art and cultural theory (including for Der Tagesspiegel, Badische Zeitung, artnet Magazine, Berliner Gazette, and De:Bug) and has worked in curatorial contexts at institutions such as Kunsthaus Dresden, Kunstverein Freiburg, Independent Curators International (New York), ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Mediamatic Amsterdam, de Appel Centre for Contemporary Art (Amsterdam), Sculpture Biennale Münsterland, transmediale salon, and Kleine Humboldt Galerie.

The dissertation project examines the emergence of systemic modes of thinking during the Progressive Era and the interwar period at Harvard University, in the context of the biochemist and sociologist Lawrence J. Henderson (1878–1942). Shaped by his involvement in institutions such as the History of Science Society and the Harvard Business School, Henderson developed systemic concepts in which so-called “boundary objects” simultaneously serve as models that make biochemical processes in organisms and the environment describable, while also mapping social behaviors. Using systemic concepts and visual media capable of capturing a wide range of interactions from a “bird’s-eye view” and “at one glance,” Henderson aimed to respond to perceptions of crisis, in which the lifeworld was seen as fundamentally altered by scientific and industrial progress, rendering previous concepts of rational action inadequate. Against the backdrop of an accelerating pace of societal change, new techniques of adaptation were to be developed to maintain the balance between social and technical worlds. Assuming that social behavior is based on implicit and social needs such as group membership and the sharing of values and emotions, everyday practices and habits come to the forefront. This influenced both emerging scientific theories and management techniques, which focused on practices of cooperation and teamwork. In transferring biological modes of thought to the study of the social, practices and media techniques are understood as integral components of a “social environment.” Henderson’s milieu therefore represents not only a prelude to media-ecological questions. In the context of the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) “Media of Cooperation,” it can be understood particularly as a historical precursor of a praxeological media theory, in which cooperation practices and media techniques are considered together as central elements of environmental design. Through a historical reconstruction, the emergence of theories and media practices is traced, starting from Henderson’s natural-philosophical writings on the co-evolution of organism and environment, through his philosophy of science assumptions, which incorporate the role of practices and habits, to his engagement with equilibrium values in both biochemical and social systems. In this way, Henderson’s assumptions influenced cosmic cooperation theories (Vernadsky, Lovelock), functionalist approaches in sociology and the sociology of science (Parsons, Merton, Kuhn), as well as the management thinking of the Human Relations School (Mayo, Barnard). The reconstruction of historical working methods shows that early systems thinking at the beginning of the 20th century can be understood as the outset of a transformation, in which management techniques for controlling social networks were systematically developed for the first time. The interwar period thus appears as a further stage in the genealogy of governance knowledge emerging since the early modern period and serves as a historical backdrop for contemporary platform economies. At the same time, this era should be understood in the context of emerging Anthropocene knowledge, in which technospheric modes of control come to expression.

“Die eigene Entwicklung ist eine kollektive Angelegenheit. Ein Künstlerinnenporträt.” In: Eros, edited by Christl Mudrak, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2025.

Together with Alexander Schindler: “The Mechanical Discovery of Ultrastability.” In: Critical Zones. The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth, edited by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel, Karlsruhe: ZKM / MIT Press, 2020.

“The Secrets of Management: Mechanisms of Structural Formation and Decomposition in Early 20th-Century Physiology.” In: Automatismen und Struktur: Zu Prozessen der Auflösung und Zersetzung, edited by Norbert Eke and Patrick Hohlweck, Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2019.

“Standards for Group Action.” In: Standardisierung und Naturalisierung, edited by Christoph Neubert, Dominik Leibenger, and Martin Müller, Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2018.

“Organisation durch Kommunikation. Medien des Managements in den USA Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts.” Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft 18: 45–68. DOI: 10.14361/zfmw-2018-0104. 2018

Schreiber, Anne, Tanja Brock, Elena Fingerhut, Timo Kaerlein, Kolja Liebau, Monique Miggelbrink, Jennifer Morstein, Samuel Müller, Annelie Pentenrieder, and Johanna Tönsing. “Gehäuse: Mediale Einkapselungen.” Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft, Online. DOI: 10.25969/mediarep/2361. 2015.

“Distanz / Shared Answers: Anne Schreiber in Conversation with Karin Sander.” In: Terms of Exhibiting (from A to Z) / Begriffe des Ausstellens (von A bis Z), edited by Petra Reichensperger, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2014.

“Gefahrensinn. Sense for Danger.” Zeitschrift für Germanistik 1: 45–60, 2011.

“Live bei Giga TV! Welcome to the Real World.” In: Vernetzt, edited by Krystian Woznicki, Berlin: Verbrecher Verlag, 2009.

“Netzkunstwerk = Netzwerkkunst?” In: musik netz werke. Konturen der neuen Musikkultur, edited by Lydia Grün and Frank Wiegand, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2002.