Annika Kühn
University of Hamburg, Sociology, Graduate Student
- Infrastructure studies, Mobility/Mobilities, Architecture, Oceanography, Cultural Anthropology, Social Theory, and 14 moreCultural Sociology, Bruno Latour, STS/ANT, STS (Anthropology), New Materialism, Urbanism, Non-representational theories, Affect (Cultural Theory), Gilles Deleuze, Alexander R. Galloway, Jane Bennett, Digitalization, Smart City, and Affect Studiesedit
- PhD Candidate. Researching standby infrastructures within urban environments.edit
Short Video about terminals on standby. The video is part of an ethnographic research project on standby infrastructures in urban environments. It engages with questions of ‘practice’, of how to get in touch with a sensuous, constantly... more
Short Video about terminals on standby. The video is part of an ethnographic research project on standby infrastructures in urban environments. It engages with questions of ‘practice’, of how to get in touch with a sensuous, constantly changing and (partly) immbobilized field of urban infrastructures. When terminals on standby switch off their main functions they are mostly overlooked by public interest. There is hardly discourse one could examine, there are hardly movements, which can be integrated in common political debates. But as they rest in the middle of the city, taking up space with their sprawling materiality, video ethnography can ask for the affective force they are incorporating, spreading and (re-)producing.
In collaboration with Friederike Güssefeld (Director), Stephan Rosche (Photography) and Iwan Schemet (Sounddesign).
In collaboration with Friederike Güssefeld (Director), Stephan Rosche (Photography) and Iwan Schemet (Sounddesign).
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Visual Studies, Research Methodology, Mobility/Mobilities, Qualitative methodology, and 6 moreActor Network Theory, Cultural Anthropology, Affect (Cultural Theory), Non-representational theories, Ethnography of Infrastructure, and Sociology of the Scientific Image/ Videoethnography
Essay on the importance of mobility infrastructures within sociological research on tourism. Together with Urs Stäheli, University of Hamburg.
Research Interests:
Standby, in its technical sense, refers to devices that are neither on nor off. It designates an operating state in which, despite apparent shutdown, energy continues to flow to guarantee sudden reactivation. However, the term does not... more
Standby, in its technical sense, refers to devices that are neither on nor off. It designates an operating state in which, despite apparent shutdown, energy continues to flow to guarantee sudden reactivation. However, the term does not only appear in technological data sheets or user manuals. Standby increasingly acts as a mode of organizing in our daily life worlds. Comparable to the ‘sleep mode’ of a laptop, workers use non-active phases to recharge which, unlike designated breaks, constitute a state in which they must be ready to be re-activated at any time. While being on standby is a common experience amongst professionals such as medical doctors or service personnel, more and more sectors require such availability ‘on short call’. However, it is not only humans but also the material and technical elements of our infrastructures that remain under constant tension. From transport terminals to power plants, even the seemingly motionless state of production stoppages or seasonal breaks is accompanied by a nervous humming, ticking and pulsating of bodies and things.