Auf Wiedersehen und danke, Berlin!
After a breathless 4 months of living in Berlin for a sun-drenched summer, I have a lot to reflect on, and even more to be grateful for. The process of moving, even temporarily, to a new country can be quite daunting, especially for those of us not blessed with the freedom-of-movement of Europeans. However, I can now attest that it is also a very good teacher - one that reminds us that the communities that matter to us in life can take on many forms, many of them not as geographically or temporally bound as we expect.
As many others have already discussed more eloquently than me, Berlin is in an especially vital moment in its history, one which is defined by rapid transformation, as capital and foreign investment reshape urban topographies according to their own visions of what the future should look like. It is also a period, however, where key community movements are gathering, their networks fostering solidarities of a different kind, from #FridaysForFuture to Kreuzberg's Bizem Kiez. They are fighting for a different Berlin - one that is heterogeneous, diverse, affordable and even a bit utopian. And they are not giving up. For this reason and many others (from the city's many spaces and networks of refiguration such as Anarche that continue to provide refuge for alternative modes of living against all odds; to the many bikes that almost outnumber cars in some neighbourhoods; to the empassioned sticker dialogues that still cover the city's surfaces; to the pan-European, anti-facist, pro-diversity, post-capitalist and environmental justice movements that continue to make themselves heard) I have left Berlin enriched, full of learnings - including a new language! - and a renewed sense of hope.
I have many people, communities and spaces to thank for this. Here are a few of them: First, IRI-THESys Humboldt-Universität where I was lucky enough to be Visiting Scholar in human-environment transformations this summer - and especially my wonderful office-mates Sören and Sascha, and folk like Tim, Olof, Cecile, Laurie, Jules, Jörg and others who went out of their way to in many little moments to invite me to lunches (und laufens!) and generally make sure that I felt welcomed in what would have otherwise been quite an intimidating group of great minds; second, the many other inspiring thinkers and practitioners involved in academic spaces like the Refiguration of Spaces group at Techniche Universität, Humboldt-Universität's CARMAH and Dept of European Ethnology and Institut für Musikwissenschaft und Medienwissenschaft, Berlin Open Lab, and Geographisches Institut Universität Bonn such as Sabine Heishler, Michelle Christensen, Florian Conradi, Sharon MacDonald, Stefan Höltgen, Phoebe Moore and Daniela Rosner, who invited me to speak at their departments, made time for me to ask them endless questions about the intricacies of academic life in Germany, and thoughtfully considered my proposals for a new phase of international research that I piloted in China this summer with a wonderful team of makers and academics ; and third, the friends new and old who joined me for adventures in Berlin's finest not-academic spaces, from Cashmere Radio to Kater to the Temple - Anna, Michael, Tadeu, Geoffrey, John, Lara, Magda, Nadia, Bernie, Ross, Kahlym, Leon, Jihyuck, Rommelo, Patrick, Dave, Chris, R00tkate et al - glad to have enjoyed some beautiful moments in utopie-gartens und Waldsees mit dir.
And now, writing this in the U.K., from a nation in crisis that is yet to determine the shape of its own future, and having recently submitted my PhD thesis on the potentials of digital spaces for making and learning to transform the traditional logics of public museums, I hope to use the next phase of my career to work with many more spaces and communities of resistance, transformation, and hope like these - because our world needs them more than ever. Es ist nur der Anfang, Berlin - und vielen danke!
