Living at Night in Times of Pandemic

1. Why did you choose this topic?

In March 2024, Berlin techno culture was officially recognized by UNESCO as Germany's intangible cultural heritage. However, just two years prior, club culture had never been more endangered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The health crisis highlighted the central role of nightlife as a place of sociability and culture. The closure of clubs, festivals, and open-air events, along with sanitary restrictions, deeply affected club cultures and their communities. Electronic music scenes – both the audience and actors – had to demonstrate adaptation and resilience. This challenging context, compounded by inflation due to the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, pushed club culture to reinvent itself.

2. What new perspectives does your book offer?

The book addresses questions that have been scarcely explored in the field of night studies: sustainability, the war in Ukraine, techno culture & queer (feminist) activism.

It is the first book on nightlife that offers Franco-German research perspectives on night study, bringing together recent academic works of young researchers from different fields of study (queer/gender studies, geography, anthropology, ethnography, sociology, fashion theory, etc.)

3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?

This book aims to raise very current questions at the heart of debates: What is the place for scenes and communities in a context where the experience of live streams has replaced lived experience? How can club culture become more inclusive and diverse, more open to women and marginalized individuals based on gender and ethnic background? How does awareness work play a central role in the techno culture of tomorrow? How can nightlife become more sustainable without excluding considerations of light pollution and biodiversity?

4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!

Lutz Leichsenring.

5. Your book summary in one sentence:

Rethinking nightlife and club culture after the pandemic in a more diverse, inclusive and sustainable way.