Project Lead with Valeska Flor & Victoria Huszka
2020-2021
A Project by the department of Cultural Anthropology / Institute for Archaeology & Cultural Anthropology in cooperation with the Department of Culture / City Museum Bonn
and the LVR Institute for Regional Studies and History
Moments of social crisis can be understood as “condensations of cultural dynamics” in which everyday routines change and produce new perspectives, interpretations and actions (Beck/Knecht 2012). In the city as a socially, economically and culturally condensed living space and thus also as a space of conflict, the everyday-world consequences of political measures to limit public life become drastically visible. In parts this can be contributed to the city’s promise of stability and hope for a good life (Färber 2019) that is put to the test in a crisis. At the same time, urban cultures are characterized by a particular resilience and it is precisely in the city as a “civil society laboratory” (Kaschuba 2015) that innovative and experimental practices of dealing with exceptional situations quickly emerge. Through these everyday practices, boundaries between public, private and digital spaces are renegotiated and hopeful narratives and imaginaries of the future are produced.
The research and outreach project is based on participant observation, qualitative interviews and online ethnographies to investigate the transformation of urban spaces and practices in Bonn. It shows how political regulations of public life affect everyday spaces and practices in the city and how ways of life and communities change in and after the pandemic. Three sub-projects ask how urban spaces of neighbourhood, nightlife and protest transform in the wake of the pandemic and which practices become part of everyday urban culture after the crisis.
The research project publishes the results in cooperation with the Department of Culture and the City Museum of the City of Bonn as well as the LVR Institute for Regional Studies and Regional History in science-to-public events as a contribution to the future exhibition of the City Museum as well as on the digital platforms of the LVR and to put them up for discussion. It will thus contribute to ensuring that the everyday consequences and ways of dealing with the Corona pandemic are scientifically recorded and transferred into the cultural memory of the city of Bonn.
Publications
2022 Pandemiebewältigung zwischen kreativ-schöpferischen Praktiken und erschöpften Möglich-keiten. With Jana Brass, Valeska Flor, Victoria Huska, Michaela Ressing, Jasmin Sina. In: Kuckuck. Notizen zur Alltagskultur. Issue „Erschöpfung“ 1/2022, Graz/München.
2021 Forschungsprojekt „Bonndemic“ – Urbane Kulturen in der Pandemie. With Jana Brass, Valeska Flor, Victoria Huszka, Michaela Ressing, Jasmin Sina. In: Rheinisch-westfälischen Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 66/2021, pp. 430-441
Blogposts:
Jana Brass „Feiern in der Pandemie“, online: https://rheinische-landeskunde.lvr.de/de/institut/institut_corona/feiern_in_der_pandemie/feier_in_der_pandemie_beitrag.html
Michaela Ressing „St. Martin light“, online: https://rheinische-landeskunde.lvr.de/de/institut/institut_corona/st_martin_light/detailseite_14.html
Jasmin Sina „Das digitale Defizit“, online: https://rheinische-landeskunde.lvr.de/de/institut/institut_corona/klimaproteste_beitrag/detailseite_14.html
Jasmin Sina „Ehrensache Klima: Wir protestieren (auch) in der Pandemie“, online: https://alltagswelten-blog.de/2021/05/18/ehrensache-klima-wir-protestieren-auch-in-der-pandemie/
Exhibition
2021 Poster Exhibtion in the City of Bonn
2021 Bonndemic. Urbane Kulturen in und nach der Pandemie. With Jana Brass, Valeska Flor, Victoria Huska, Michaela Ressing, Jasmin Sina (Hg.): Broschüre zur Ausstellung im Stadtraum. Universität Bonn. PDF
Talks
2022 (Gem)Einsam durch die Pandemie? Transformationen urbanen Lebens in Bonn, with Valeska Flor and Victoria Huszka. Lecture series: Herausgefordertes Leben: Seuchen bei Menschen, Tieren, Pflanzen, 02.06.2022, University of Würzburg, Germany.
2022 Pandemische Stadt. Zeit-räumliche Transformationen von urbanen Kulturen in und nach der Covid-19-Krise. with Valeska Flor and Victoria Huszka. Conference: Zeit. Zur Temporalität von Kultur. 43. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft, 4.-7.04.2022, University of Regensburg, Germany.
2021 Bonndemic: Stadtgesellschaft in und nach der Pandemie. Lecture with Jana Brass, Valeska Flor, Victoria Huska, Michaela Ressing, Jasmin Sina, 25.09.2021, Haus der Bildung, Bonn, Germany.
2020 Urbane Kulturen in und nach der Pandemie. Die Veränderungen des Alltags am Beispiel der Stadt Bonn. Lecture with Jana Brass, Valeska Flor, Victoria Huszka, Michaela Ressing, Jasmin Sina (Dies Academicus, Universität Bonn)
2020 „Bonndemic“ – Urbane Kulturen in der Pandemie. with Jana Brass, Valeska Flor, Victoria Huska, Michaela Ressing, Jasmin Sina, lecture series: Post- | Endo- | Peri-Pandemische Räume, 27.10.2020, University of Zurich, Switzerland.