The Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter“, funded by the German Federal Republic and State Governments, combines projects in physics and chemistry at the forefront of international research. With interdisciplinary teams from Universität Hamburg, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and European XFEL the Cluster aims at imaging and understanding how collective behavior and functionality emerge microscopically and how one can dynamically create new functionalities.