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People dancing without bodies:
A qualitative study of virtual raving in a pandemic
Masters in Media and Communication Studies One-year master’s thesis
VT 2020
Word count: 18895 Advisor: Erin Cory Examiner: Temi Odumosu
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Abstract
This thesis revolves around social dance movements in the form of raving and clubbing in Berlin, and how this performative scene is affected by social distancing measures due to the current situation of Covid-19. As an important moment in history, online body performances and virtual spaces aim to complement and substitute social experiences in physical environments. The field of study relating digital technology to club cultures is timely, as virtual raving is changing social bodies’ interactions. Life has gone online for the sake of upholding socialization, as people find themselves in
isolation – in a hybrid experience of the digital and material. To assess these changes in social life, this thesis uses an auto ethnographical case study on virtual raving and interviews with rave participants, and deploys Affordance Theory. The affordances accounted for are those of ‘settings’, ‘socialization’, ‘entertainment’, and ‘mobility’. The analysis demonstrates the possibilities and problems of transferring the
meditative and social bodily experiences associated with raving, to virtual
environments. The resulting discussion addresses issues of global accessibility, virtual raves, and what these mean for a techno raving sub culture, and the people who participate in it.
Keywords: virtual raving, social bodies, social distancing, Affordance Theory, digital natives, virality, rave culture, liveness, atmosphere, auto ethnography.
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Table of Contents
Abstract Keywords 1. Introduction ……….………5 2. Background .………..………..7 2.2 Raving in Berlin .………..………..………8 2.3 Social distancing .………..……….10 2.4 Virtual raving ..……….………12 3. Literature review ………..14 3.2 Club cultures ……….………143.3 Viral videos and digital natives ……….17
4. Theoretical framework ……….21
4.2 Affordance Theory ………22
4.3 ‘Liveness’ & ‘atmosphere’ ………23
4.4 Research questions ………..25
5. Methodology ………25
5.2 Methods ………..26
5.3 Research design ………..29
5.4 Ethics ………..30
5.5 Limitations & further knowledge ………33
6. Findings ……….34
6.2 Field note corpus ………35
6.3 Summary of interviews ……….……….41 7. Analysis ……….42 7.2 Settings ……….42 7.3 Socialization ………..44 7.4 Entertainment ………..45 7.5 Mobility ……….47 8. Discussion ……….……….49 9. Conclusion ………..51 Bibliography Appendices
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1. Introduction
The start of 2020 vibrated with high expectations, spinning with projects to be realized, and whispers of a virus no one truly believed in. Then, the end of March dawned and the world came to a screeching halt. Where people once teemed with excitement, stress, and a bustling agenda of social arrangements, they were now gripped by a fear of Covid-19. Anxiety reigned, but also an odd calm as basic needs were prioritized, and isolation quieted down the streets. Even the colorful rave culture closed to prevent the spread of this strange, new virus. The shutdown affected social dance movements across the city of Berlin, which thrives in its party atmosphere. It became clear, however, that the city could not be quiet for too long. Clubs found new opportunities despite social distancing – or rather physical social distancing – and isolation. Berlin club organizers designed virtual raves to substitute the loss of social interactions provided by the city’s clubs. Those who already started virtual raves in the form of livestreams prior to the lockdown got a chance to flourish. People attending the virtual raves were not only from Berlin but from all across the globe. The need for socialization was trying to be met, with hopes of putting on a virtual outfit and gaining an intimate interaction in a digital space.
The physical social distancing affected and is still affecting club cultures and club-goers by depriving them of the physical space which their club culture identities are tied to. The effects appeared devastating, but as many of these clubbers belong to a generation of ‘digital natives’, a shift toward an even greater online social life could prove their saving grace. One thing that digital natives do the best is spreading information in for example forms of viral videos (as well as creating them), and as technology often is discussed via terms as for example “migrating”, “transferring”, and “viral”, which can also be medical terms, there is an interesting link to be made. A viral virus has now made viral video connection into something necessary, a connection that shows us faces while ‘dematerializing’ the body.
Susie Orbach wrote in a recent article for the Guardian on May 7th on the
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bodies, and how Covid-19 makes us aware of this. Due to Covid-19 new ways of accommodating bodies in reality, via avoiding those, distancing from them, and seeing or not seeing them on a screen, an etiquette of the body which is not natural for us has to become our nature. When a person have to deal with for example a trauma,
concerning both the mind and body, Orbach writes that they have to ‘unlearn and learn anew’. With the ‘dematerialization of bodies’, home is viewed as a prison where we miss interactions which are confirming our sense of value and place in our community, in whichever it might be (Orbach 2020). As Covid-19 is affecting our mind and social bodies, changing relationships to one another, many social spaces are made to go ‘virtual’.
This thesis therefore seeks to explore how social dance movements are being affected by the current social distancing measures and how these scenes might be changing along with social interactions, while posing the research question: ‘How are the current Covid-19 social distancing measures affecting social dance movements in Berlin?’. This research adopts the use of a case study based in the method of auto ethnography of a virtual rave in combination with interviews with ravers that also had attended this aforementioned virtual rave. To examine the experiences, from the researcher correlated to the interviewees, of the virtual rave the theoretical framework of Affordance theory have been adopted. To help mobilize the theory three sub question will be posed as well: ‘What differentiates a virtual rave from a non-virtual rave?’, What affordances can virtual raves provide for the rave subculture? and ‘How can virtual raving be beneficial for ravers?’.
With an interpretivist perspective of defining reality as socially constructed, the researcher’s and the interviewees experiences of the virtual rave are woven into a discussion contributing to the field of media and communication, studying a contemporary form of interactive media that is virtual raving. Further, the different sections of this paper will therefore be presented.
The background of this thesis is addressing an in-depth narrative of raving in Berlin and social bodies coming together in this, following a description of how the scene was forced to cope with social distancing, and the reaction as different versions of virtual
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raving. The next section is dedicated to previous research, reviewing literature of club cultures as sub-cultures, and viral videos in relation to digital natives. The fourth section consists of the theoretical framework such as Affordance Theory, accompanied by a part consisting of discussing the concepts of ‘liveness’ & ‘atmosphere’. All the research questions are listed in this section as well. Following is the section of methodology, introducing the mixed method of auto ethnography and interviews. The paper’s research design is presented in this section, as a qualitative study using an inductive logic of inquiry with an interpretivist approach, as well as the ethics and limitations & further knowledge. After reviewing methods, the findings of the case study are revealed. The auto ethnographical findings from the virtual rave is written in the field note corpus, followed by a summary of the interviews that were conducted with people who attended virtual raves. The analysis of the study is split into four parts: settings, socialization, entertainment, and mobility. Lastly, the discussion of the research is put forth, and the paper is finalized in the conclusion section.
Before listing the references of books and texts, e-articles, and websites in the bibliography, and in the appendices is additional interview information presented.
2. Background
The context of this paper revolves around Berlin’s rave culture and its history, as well as personal stories to enhance the understanding of said subject. These stories are told from the researcher’s perspective of the underground scene, as a special insight into rave experiences. The stories will be addressed as an auto-ethnographical method, in the fifth section of this thesis. They have been added in the footnotes, giving a layer below without interrupting the contextual presentation. As they are underground stories from an underground scene, thus for form and function it was a decision to include them as footnotes, without interrupting the contextual presentation. Additionally, the current social distancing measures are addressed, and lastly aspects on virtual raving are presented.
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2.2 Raving in Berlin
Since the fall of the wall in 1989 (officially on October 3rd 1990), Berlin has developed a strong story of rave culture. Techno and dancing were ways of bringing social bodies together despite their differences. In post-wall Berlin, a new party scene emerged in places that then were ‘no man’s land’. In an egalitarian spirit, futuristic and industrial dance parties occupied strange, abandoned places such as power plants, hangars, underground stations, and bunkers. Differences between East and West Berlin remained, however, for a short period, the dedication to techno enabled citizens to overcome their differences – regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, and political opinion. The dancing happened in places where you could not have been standing before, where you would have been shot for trespassing (Bychawski 2014). Seemingly a socio-cultural change, like the fall of the wall, brought people back together – and what they did together was dance.
When the wall fell, 2 million people from East Berlin came to the West to celebrate and party while taking down the wall, the East and West was then reunited for the first time since the end of World War II in 1945. The berlin wall was built to keep people in the West from the East, an “anti-fascist protection”, and stood from 1961 until 1989 when the East German Communist Party announced that citizens could move freely again. 171 people were killed trying to cross the wall, however many also managed to ‘escape’ (Mullen, Onion & Sullivan, 2019). Separating bodies with a wall, in this history, could be described as an act of violence, something no one would want back – one can imagine. Of course the separating of bodies that is today happening all over the world due to Covid-19 is not the same. Nevertheless, spaces such as clubs where social bodies met are forced to close, which seems devastating for members of these communities, even if it is for everyone’s ‘safety’.
In Berlin, the club and raving scene have parties that go on for days and it’s a big part of its cultural spirit, but due to gentrification, real estate investors, and infrastructure projects, old and famous clubs in Berlin have been forced to shut down. Early this year, a club called Griessmuhle got evicted, an incident that made many people of Berlin stand together in protest (Rogers, 2020). However, as clubs are shutting down, new ones
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are popping up – for example, a small club called Trauma Bar und Kino – and even in times of Covid-19 people seem to be determined to party on.1
For Berlin’s clubs to close for any reason seems like an intrusion on people’s freedom – the way people meet, and move together every weekend is a necessity to them. People head down to Berghain – a famous club – with an almost religious devotion every Sunday as if it were church. In these spaces, the socialization happens in silence on the dancefloor next to hundred other bodies moving to the same music as hardcore techno makes every muscle in the body tense. With it comes a feeling that energies are released and absorbed in these social movements – the bodies are performing. Diana Taylor writes about performance and its various forms in her book Performance, wherein she states a version of the function of performance, ‘performances can operate as vital acts of transfer, transmitting social knowledge, memory, and a sense of identity through reiterated actions’ (Taylor 2016, p. 25). This is arguably a way to look at how people also identify with the club they go to and what they do there, as well as how subcultures work in this terrain, which will be discussed further on. Performing or dancing in the same space makes for a connection to one another, whether one wants it or not.
The people who go to Berghain and for example those who go to Sisyphos, they might differ in their styles and their behavior. Sisyphos is another rather popular club in Berlin. The usual dress code for Berghain is black, however, inside the club the styles range from having no clothes to kinky, leather outfits, but queer and high fashion as well and on some level they all seem connected regardless. There is a darker kind of cult vibe in Berghain with its hardcore techno playing. Sisyphos’s daytime parties seem open and happier, with people dressed in colorful, relaxed fitted clothes. These two groups might meet, without resentment, but will always know which club is ‘theirs’.
1Our last party: On March 6th, we went to Trauma und Kino Bar, a club close to Berlin’s main
railway station. It takes some time to get there but it’s always worth it. We had a regular party night; it was fun, and we stayed until morning next day. During these parties everything is shared – a drink, a cigarette, or a kiss. The dancefloor is small, and everybody is sweaty. I remember the DJ-set having performers – dressed in all blue (or maybe it was a blue light) – and they came out dancing on the stage. It was a performance rather than a standard DJ-set. How could we know at that point that all eight of us that went together would become sick five days later, and have bedrest for two weeks? And one week later all clubs in Berlin had closed.
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On Wednesday the 11th of March 2020, a club called Tresor was still open, as the rules in Berlin allowed at the time for gatherings with fewer than one thousand people. On Thursday afternoon, the day after, the party continued with little mind of the pandemic. People went on with the parties but with new thoughts on behaviors as maintaining distances, not passing around drinks, no touching, and not making any new friends (Rogers & Marshall, 2020). Due to the coronavirus it seemed like the Berlin party-life had reached an end of an era. Perhaps the most striking example is that of Urban Bierbaum, a bar in Kreuzberg that has been open for thirty years, 24/7. It never closes, except for now. Berghain has similar stories of dedicated ravers and is deemed as one of the world’s best clubs because it’s something special when the hawk-eyed bouncers scan the guests closely before letting them in and making them part of the family.2
Berghain has now closed as have the other clubs in Berlin, with a chance of reopening in September at earliest. Berlin counts roughly one hundred-forty clubs, many of which remained open until the end. Two clubs, however, Reed and Trompete, were already linked to the spread of Covid-19. Clubs are the perfect breeding ground for the virus with patrons standing close to talk to one another and sweating on the dancefloors. Most clubs are unlikely to survive a lockdown that drags on throughout the next couple of months. (Rogers & Marshall, 2020).
2.3 Social Distancing
“Maintain social distancing” is a message that has been spread across the world, by governments and WHO (World Health Organization) as well as on social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. The reason behind the warning is to avoid
2A story from Berghain: I used to go to Berghain often, before Corona, and Berghain has many
characters: the giant Jimmy, a beautiful man in a wedding dress, and a raving grandpa called Gunther Krabbenhöft (check out his Instagram). Once, I met one of the many characters there – Bettina. I was sitting down on a heater next to the dancefloor to catch my breath for a while. The heater is placed in one of the corners in the largest dancehall (which is called Berghain), we call the area “front to the left” to meet up after going to the toilet. A lady in her fifties with grey hair comes up and tells me that I’m sitting in her corner, and so we start talking. She tells me how she left an abusing marriage, her husband, and sons. She had read about Berghain in a magazine and became obsessed – she had to go there. Until that day I met her she had been in the club every weekend since December 2017.
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droplets that circle in the air after people sneezed or coughed, because these droplets might carry the coronavirus Covid-19 (WHO public advice, 2020-04). This is an infectious disease caused by an outbreak of the newly discovered virus (WHO
Coronavirus, 2020). Covid-19 is thought to have come from bats, and possibly from a market in China (Readfearn, 2020).
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary’s definition of social distancing is defined as, “the practice of maintaining a greater than usual physical distance from other people or of avoiding direct contact with people or objects in public places during the outbreak of a contagious disease in order to minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of
infection.” (2020). It feels like Covid-19 has brought us a new way of living, and even if it ends soon it is easy to doubt that our surroundings ever will go back to how it was. Our new ‘normal’ is social distancing. Self-isolation and being scared of closeness are key to slowing down the virus that is spreading at an alarming rate. Due to the virus, schools are closed or changed to distance education; working from home is tolerated; shops, bars, clubs, and more are closing all over the world. Events of all shapes and sizes have closed, small businesses are struggling to stay alive, and many have lost their jobs.
Isolation is known for not being good for human beings, or animals in general, and extreme isolation can be harmful both mentally and physically. It has been shown in studies that chronic lonely people have higher blood pressure, more stress hormones, get sicknesses such as Alzheimer’s and dementia easier, but also are more vulnerable to infections and inflammations. Every day functions are affected as well such as sleep patterns, attention, and the logical and verbal reasoning (Bond, 2014).
The social distancing due to Covid-19 might not be that extreme everywhere and for everyone. However, the loss of social gatherings and spontaneous fun with friends – had in person – is truly devastating. At least having walks outside is still possible.3 People are coping differently with self-isolation, and spending time home and keeping busy
3 My friend told me in a phone call: “I was walking by myself, since we are still allowed to do
that, down Weserstrasse late one evening, from my apartment to Hermannplatz in Neukölln. Suddenly, I heard music, so I looked up and from someone’s balcony people were playing their instruments or speakers loud – into the empty, quiet, and abandoned streets of Berlin.”
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seems to be a crucial component to not go ‘insane’. Psychologists that once prized real connections over virtual ones are now recommending the opposite to cope with the social distancing. They recommend using technology to connect with friends and ‘virtual touches’ such as voice memos or video calls (Prior, 2020). However, one must remember that having internet is a privilege, and not everyone has a job that can be done from home. For example, millions of Americans lack web access and can’t afford basic broadband. This is a digital divide which also complicates the distance education that is encouraged during a health crisis. (Ramm, 2020). The pandemic is not only putting pressure on the individual that has to cope with self-isolation but also exposing societies inequality problems from who gets health care to who gets information, and which people will fall through the gap of social security.
In Berlin, rules are enforced to keep the social distancing and reduce contact to a minimum. The only stores and establishments are those of necessity, such as
supermarkets and pharmacies but also Bauhaus, bike shops, key copy places, and book shops remain open. Civilians are not allowed to go outside in groups bigger than two, though exceptions are made for people who live together and families. As a resident in Berlin, one has to carry identification and registration at all times, and of course keep the 1, 5 meter distance in public. These were guidelines posted the 22nd of March 2020 (DW News, 2020).
Self-solation can be a total mental breakdown for many people but by rising above our obvious reality, and with the power of our imagination we survive. As for example Berhard Moitessier during a sailing race around the world in 1968, who was so ‘happy in his solitude that he just kept on sailing’ (Bond, 2014).
2.4 Virtual raving
In the midst of social distancing and the loss of social gatherings, a new phenomenon has appeared; the virtual rave. Existing clubs are also gathering under the name United We Stream where live DJ sets play from the clubs such as Wilde Renate, Tresor, and Sisyphos (Pape, 2020). Another project is called Club Quarantine, which is a virtual party that goes on for 48 hours. You have to queue to get in. There are live DJ sets, and
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one can even stand in queue to the toilets. (The researcher attended this rave and a more elaborated description will be presented further on.) Another example of virtual raving is a collaboration between two platforms called IMVU and Twitch, in one platform the user can create a party with a live DJ, make an avatar, join the dancefloor, and talk to anyone that’s in there. The parties are then livestreamed on the other platform. In this way, the raves seem to have left the ‘moment’ of experiencing parties in a club to enter a digital ‘forever’, as the livestreams are saved and watched. Ravers are not only going to these virtual raves but are also creating their own via Zoom, which is a platform for video calls and virtual meetings. Participants mute their microphones and dance into the webcam with their friends. Like a virtual ‘silent disco’.
Virtual raving is new in some ways and old in others. Above are examples of what has been happening in relation to the current social distancing and its spread under the term ‘virtual rave’. A radio station in Berlin called HOR already started a livestream version of virtual raving back in August 2019. Second Life, an online computer game, has since years back been hosting live virtual concerts, which will be touched upon further in the essay. All these descriptions could be classified as virtual raves, as something that is virtual “can be done or seen using a computer and therefore without going anywhere or talking to anyone” (Cambridge dictionary, 2020). Although, virtual raving in these ways are not considering raving with Virtual Reality (VR) goggles. Early VR experiments failed due to being too nauseating, called simulation sickness or “sim sickness”, it was so bad that it traumatized people. Sim sickness happens when there is a contradiction in the body, for example eyes and ears signals the brain something while deeper systems that make spatial sense signals somethings else. However, the sought experience in VR have been discussed as ‘presence’, which is achieved when one is convinced of being in another world, a cellular conviction ‘too deep for words’. It allows you to get a sense of space while forgetting that you’re staring at a screen (Heffernan, 2014). The idea of ‘presence’ in relation to virtual reality experiences could perhaps as well be thought of in relationship to the current versions of virtual raving, even if they are virtual reality experiences conducted without goggles. The virtual raves in the solitude of one owns’ home should possible have the goal of ‘presence’, convincing participator’s that they are at a virtual rave.
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As everyone is forced or encouraged to stay home, ravers have gone looking for
alternatives of social interaction, in that sense of how virtual raving is happening now – it’s new. People might have to get used to partying and gathering in this way, as an American healthcare specialist predicts that art and music events are to be the last ones to return, and that they would probably not return until the autumn of 2021 (Trisari, 2020).
However, social distancing or physical distancing does not have to mean the end of socialization but rather a beginning; in these virtual raves people from all over the globe can participate. Clubbers who have not been able to visit certain raves or listen to a certain DJ live before now get a possibility, as virtual raves in general are free and you can set up your computer as you wish in the solitude of your home. Even if they’re free for the ones attending, organizers still have the possibility to make money on something like this, if not now but later.
3. Literature review
The topic of this thesis is linked to the previous research of club culture as subcultures, discussing moving bodies in physical spaces where they can dance and be sociable. The second part focuses on virality and digital natives, who seem to be set up naturally for handling social distancing and digital life.
3.2 Club culture
Rave or club culture could be categorized as youth culture and is in this sense a
subculture. Rave culture might have roots or is mostly found in youth culture, but today one might argue that this is not the case. In Berlin, for example, a capital of partying, clubbing or raving is a tourist attraction and part of the city’s economy, as well as a subculture, but at most clubs ‘younger’ people aren’t even allowed in. Younger, as in under-aged or just looking too young and in-experienced. It can be difficult for tourists also. A ‘real raver’ in Berlin might make sure to never work Mondays so they can go to
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Berghain on Sundays. The clubbers who go to Berghain could be seen as a group, a subculture, as they might link their rave identity to a place where just certain people go.
Ken Gelder writes about subcultures and mentions a few of the many subculture groups/ scenes in Melbourne, such as; skateboards, goths, nightclubs, drag nightclubs, gay nightclubs, lesbian bars, underground criminal gangs, prostitution underworlds, hippies, neo-punks, metal enthusiasts, graffiti and hip hop types, and automobile dragsters. (Gelder 2007, p. 1). Each subculture creates its own geography. Via a set of places or sites they gain cohesion and identity for their special group. Gelder points out different narratives in relation to different kinds of subcultures. The first is related to work; being working class or without work in an unproductive, pleasure-seeking, or hedonistic way. As well as working hard but possibly as a criminal. Subcultures also have a relationship to class, as in more often disavowing class afflictions, or being without class
consciousness and rather self-interested instead. They are also located at properties that are not owned. People of subcultures rather have territory, and the people come together outside of the domestic sphere, finding a belonging outside of the family circle. Further on, Gelder discusses how cultural logic tends to associate subculture with ‘excess & exaggeration’, and these attributes are: behavior, style, music, language, consumption, and contrasted with restraints and moderation of the ‘normal’ population (Gelder 2007, p. 3-4). The point that is being made here is that social bodies comes together mirroring themselves through spaces and movements, connecting then and there physically and mentally, which argues that a subculture happens in a particular space via an
atmosphere enhanced by bodies sharing ‘anything’ they might have in common.
In the 1980s, the first raves emerged in Britain as underground events that often took place in abandoned warehouses or secluded places outdoors. Later on, these parties moved into fully licensed, encouraging the British youth to take part. (Hudson 2000, p. 35). With the raves moving into the regular club scene, they are barely called raves anymore, though they are still a subject of discussion. The academic discourse on raves usually describes them as hedonistic and a temporary escape from reality. In the
theoretical perspective of the neoconservative they are pointing at its prominence of nostalgia and meaninglessness in modern amusements. Nevertheless, Scott R. Hudson argues in his essay “The Rave: Spiritual Healing in Modern Western Subcultures” that
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if ravers say they get meaningful spiritual experiences from raves described as some kind of ecstatic healing, much like meditation, raves must have some meaning. (Hudson 2000, p. 36). It is meaningful to come together, as social human beings, and it can be especially meaningful in uncertain and difficult times. Social or physical distancing, for example, is then separating the bodies coming together for socialization and people have to turn to the internet in an attempt to connect there, as with virtual raving. The problem could be derived to trying to connect social dance movements, the sought atmosphere might then get lost virtually since the body is not physically there. When the body is central this obviously becomes a problem for people ‘without bodies’ that are trying to connect.
As Gelder writes about the club cultures and bar scenes, he states that their reason for forming is socialization. Considering how, for example, early gay subculture clubs were seen as something illegal and were raided if found, it didn’t refrain the clubs from organizing gatherings. Rather, the gatherings evolved by finding less public places, which were more organized and self-aware just to being able to keep being social. In history when society is labelling or suppressing what is thought as ‘deviant’ activities, also brings the groups into being, making the group stronger in a way or more outlined (Gelder 2007, p. 51). Queer clubs in New York were of non-normative nature, they were places of theatre and performance, and as the queer clubbers dance together in an expressive, creative, and playful way in the club, they become queer (a part of a
community or a subculture). Dancing and moving is expressive and creative, connecting clubbers to each other in a social environment, as being part of a group is also self-fashioning (Gelder 2007, p. 62). Judith Butler writes on performativity, that an
‘uttering’ about for example a group or someone also holds power in a sense that it’s an action performed, binding a body to a description that’s possibly decided by society. The word queer for example, Butler states derives its force through which it was
formed, originally linked to accusations or insult (Butler 1993, p. 18). This section again attests to how the body is important for being expressive and performative in order to also read each other’s body language. In a socially constructed reality, speaking (language) as well as body language make a human’s reality meaningful. Subcultures then seem to have a need to construct their reality via distinguishing from the
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secret and giving access to only certain people, this is related to exclusivity and how subcultures are defined by being different from mainstream society. The people who then gets access possibly proved that they’re ‘in the know’ by behaving, dancing, dressing, or talking in a certain way. With trying to re-create raves virtually it is possible that this aspect is lost, as access is distributed too much, however, this change might be a positive one.
Sarah Thornton has also written extensively on club culture in her book Club Cultures: Music, Media & subcultural capital, as something given to youth cultures for whom dance clubs and raves are symbolic in their social hub, and she focuses on hierarchies within these as well. Thornton specifies what people share when belonging, in reference to club culture; a taste of music, consumption of common media, a preference of similar people like themselves, and a common knowledge of what like and not to like. They embody themselves of what makes one “hip”, creating their own hierarchies. She makes distinctions of being “authentic vs phoney”, “hip vs mainstream”, or “underground or the media”, which are cultural hierarchies in club cultures (Thornton 1995, p. 15). How Thornton describes club cultures also seems to connect to accessibility, and that when something is too accessible it becomes mainstream and is then no longer a subculture.
As subcultures often are made in relation to a place or a site where people meet to connect and be social, it is interesting to see what globalization and digitalization will make of subcultures made in relationship to the rave scene that is linking different groups of people to different venues. When raves become virtual, the venue is both in one place and possibly everywhere at the same time, which might be game-changing for the subcultural club scene.
3.3 Viral videos and digital natives
Recently, a video went viral of a ‘Russian techno flash mob in isolation’, resembling a music video of people in disco-raving outfits dancing on different balconies. The balconies were on different apartment buildings facing each other. Dancing, even online, always seems to connect people. PW-magazine reports on a project by Sophia Hörmann called “Dance in Isolation ‘Urgency of techno dance’”, raising attention for
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freelance performers: “»Dance in Isolation ›Urgency of Techno Dance‹« achieves what seems impossible today: to create a community. When theatre migrates to the internet and fights for survival with different strategies, dance seems to be the most appropriate way to connect people. Sixteen dancers in four different cities share a rhythm and unite their individual movements to create a vibrant whole that overcomes national borders and loneliness in isolation.” (PW-magazine, April 21, 2020). It is interesting how people find ways to connect socially without the physical possibility to meet, however, whether meeting virtually can compare to meeting in reality is still up for debate. The atmospheric moment will be lost without physical presence, even if it is still true that, for example, dancing online, virtually can bring people together in one sense.
Viral is explained by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as something relating to or caused by a virus, but it’s also explained in connection to ‘viral videos’. A viral video is spread or popularized quickly and widely, especially on social media. (Merriam-webster Dictionary, 2020). The ones spreading viral videos the most are a group or the generation called ‘digital natives’, this is a term coined by Marc Prensky in 2001 and they are defined by the technological culture of which they are used to. (Joy, 2012). More precisely digital natives are born after the 1980’s and the widespread of digital technology, as opposed to ‘digital immigrants’ that stem from an era prior to the 1980’s and are more fearful of technology. Prensky wrote an essay of the emerging life of the digital natives in 2004, about how they’re creating new ways of making any activity happen, based on the new technologies where internet and email are paramount. These are daily activities relying heavily on that which is fast and easy, also with a new texting language shortening every word basically, communication with the possibility of
constant socialization. He states how online life has become a way of living, surviving, and thriving with cyberspace part of everyday life (Prensky 2004, p. 2). Physical social distancing seems to be almost natural to digital natives, who seems to connect to other people online just as well as ‘offline’.
Prensky laid out how digital natives differ from digital immigrants. They communicate and share their lives differently, via social media, blogs, and with webcams and the camera phones to exchange information such as music, movies, and humor which are passed around and become viral videos. They meet in 3D chat rooms for dating,
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collecting all kinds of data, coordinating online projects and work groups, evaluating things in relation to followers or ratings (Prensky 2004, p. 7). These are only naming a few ways of living which differ from the former non-digital life. They also create and socialize differently, where an online life can be real and the friends you make are real friends. Entire worlds get created (also known as ‘modding’), you make yourself as an avatar, build your house, and more. (Prensky 2004, p. 12). In 2003, a game called Second Life (mentioned above) was launched by the US-based company Linden Lab. In this game, users design their own avatar to live their second life online. It became a place, a virtual world, where businesses opened branches, for example American
Apparel, and bands started playing live online concerts. In 2007, four million had joined and made a second life, but the interest was rather quickly diverted back to real life, at least for businesses, in 2010 Linden Lab had to cut 30 % of their work force (Hansen, 2009). In this way, virtual life is taking off, and today social distancing seems to be pushing for a life more in front of the computer, as the coronavirus might never
disappear. While digital natives are set up for a life more like this, it is still plausible to think and wonder if it can ever replace the life that was known before. Additionally, relating to how interests shift, as digital natives are known for losing it quickly and are always looking for something new (which is not unusual considering how much access the internet gives) (Prensky 2004, p. 7) , the technology needs to adjust as fast as or faster than digital natives lose interest.
The reason for the loss of interest in Second Life was because “not much happened”. Second Life was also deemed not being a good enough social space and ruled as being difficult to learn how to control. The game also struggled with the mobile possibilities, as being very heavy (requiring a lot of space on a device) (Hansen, 2009). Perhaps the world wasn’t ready yet. Today, new avenues are opening up in regards to virtual lifestyles, at least for fashion brands. Brands like Gucci and Burberry are creating mobile games in their apps as a marketing strategy, where the user can make an avatar and later shop the real outfit, as well as win real-life prizes if the user gets far enough in the game (Bischof, 2019). The reason for going virtual then and today might not be so different, being ‘present’ in another reality in which we live is exciting and adventurous (Heffernan 2014). Many would probably also argue that these experiences are just as real, however a question still plausible to ask is – why go live virtually when there is
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‘real life’? Some experiences might only be possible to do virtually, for certain people. However, in Second Life the environments might be more exaggerated than reality, but if one as an avatar in a virtual world are supposed to reflect reality, aren’t reality better? Creating intimacy, emotions, and connecting virtually, it’s not impossible but seemingly much harder when the sense of a person is a virtual avatar or a flat face on a screen instead of a breathing, moving, and alive body. When Second Life was on its high of users there was no social distancing, perhaps nothing globally pushing for virtual life to happen, although due to the current situation this is different today. The ability to adjust to being social in new environments nowadays appears not only vital for coping with social distancing, but also for businesses and society to survive. What people might have to learn is transferring physical emotions and excitement created in physical environment to something that can be experienced online in a virtual room. However, to access technology has to become better, as our imagination possibly triggers more senses than modern technology such as current equipment for virtual experiences.
To understand how something becomes popular online, one must look at what makes a phenomenon go viral in regards to the process of internet sharing. A viral video is not only something that is spread rapidly by being frequently shared by individuals, as mentioned above, but also often concerns user-generated amateur videos. The viral video phenomenon is has social impact on several aspects in society as well, as for example political in presidential campaigns and for online marketing in advertisements. (Jiang 2014, p. 193). Tyler West (2011) pointed out certain factors that make a video go viral, such as title length, run-time, humoristic element, element of surprise, element of irony, minority presence, music quality, youth presence, and talent. These factors further become linked as search words, etc. “Charlie Bit Me”, a video where a baby sits on his brother’s lap and bites the latter’s finger has over million views on YouTube. Other popular videos are videos of animals, people singing, dancing, falling, or crying. YouTube as a platform lends itself well to the spread of these videos. Its layout and functions are reminiscent of those of a television, which makes the skimming and finding of videos easy. Additionally, West remarked that a viral video must contain some element that appeals to the popular culture of the time, people in the age of 18-25, and have a certain newsworthiness (West 2011, p. 77). These viral videos of virtual bodies are in a sense connecting people, as in how many people have been watching the
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same things and therefore talking about the same things – constructing a global social reality. Either way, being connected is not necessarily stating that people are being social, even if being social in silence is possible, as two people sitting next to each other playing with their phone. In connection to virtual raving, its social video aspects, and how it is being used has been precipitated by a virus going viral. As a viral virus is the center of a pandemic, the idea of viral videos (and the possibility of making virtual raving globally accessible or viral) is an interesting metaphor for what is digitally happening now due to Covid-19 and social distancing measures.
Another aspect that is important to the discussion is the concept of ‘virality’ or ‘going viral’. Robert Payne’s work (2013) on the arbitrary phrase of viral states that it is negatively loaded but when it comes to ‘going viral’ on the internet it’s usually positively received. Payne mentions how for example ‘transmission’, in relation to computer viruses, has been re-branded due to praise of interactivity and would now rather be called ‘sharing’. While computer viruses still exists, virality is ‘expelled by its progenitor’ by positive distribution of media as successful and desirable rather than destructive, which is interesting concerning how it’s symbolically related to the past (Payne 2013, p. 541). As a virus, viral videos for example also seem to replicate themselves in the social bodies of humans getting in touch with each other both offline and online. As Covid-19 separated bodies, dematerialized (Orbach 2020) them, the virus also brought them together virtually. How successful it will become is perhaps yet to be determined.
4. Theoretical framework
As this research seeks to connect the field of media and communication with people who use a virtual space to create experiences to be social, the theoretical framework is chosen in accordance. The Affordance Theory lends itself for analyzing people’s interaction and reactions towards media, or a certain environment, in different ways. To compare the environment of a virtual rave and a non-virtual rave, the two concepts of ‘liveness’ and ‘atmosphere’ are discussed. For the purpose of this paper, they proved
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helpful in making sense of the case study of participating in a virtual rave as well as interviews with the ravers thereafter. Lastly, this section also poses an overview of the research question as well as its sub-questions.
4.2 Affordance Theory
Affordance Theory is an approach that is used in various types of research and has been recently adopted by computer and technology studies amongst others. Affordance is a term coined by James J. Gibson and more explicitly explained in 1979 for a theoretical approach analyzing visual perception in an environment. He links this to an ecological approach in reference to what an environment affords and what it can provide or offer an animal, in any kind of way. The theory argues that an environment, including the visible materials and objects inhabiting it, affords and shows itself available for use for some users and is not available for others. (Thorpe & Holt 2008, p. 26). This suggests that not every user is fit for or would get something out of every environment. This theory has been selected to help understand what it means for people trying to get an experience from virtual raving, especially during a time where ‘regular’ raving is not possible.
Studies also explored affordances in relation to the experience of virtual reality. The affordance is then explained as a characteristic of the environment, for example a virtual space, that when perceived creates the possibility for action in some way. There is then a relationship between the environment, objects there, and the organisms visiting or inhabiting it. The visual elements in the environment could be described as information, causing an organism to react, however, it has to be properly perceived and the users have to actively engage (Shin 2017, p. 1829). With this comes the presumption that the set-up for the user to properly perceive the environment, hence the affordances, needs to be ‘good’ – as in, the user requires adequate technology to experience the virtual event as intended. Examples include the possible use of virtual reality goggles, the use of a dark room, and a desktop set-up. It seems to be presumed that the set-up for the user to properly perceive the environment, hence the affordances, needs to be good as in the user needs good technology. In a situation where a user has to experience something virtually, with or without virtual goggles, a desktop set-up is usually required and
23 possibly a dark room (etcetera).
For virtual raving, one part of the set-up consists of the actual room the user’s physical body is in, which includes the required technology. The reflections and reactions of the experience then starts with the materialization of technology at hand, the quality of them, and how good they can mediate an affective experience. (Shaw 2017, p. 3). While the term ’virtual raving’ may lead one to believe that the experience is an almost
exclusively virtual happening, we need to think of it as experience in reality – as any lived experience is real, in whatever way it is constructed.
Four affordances may be recognized in relation to virtual raving and the space of virtual raving, given that the phenomenon allows and even encourages the user to perform a certain kind of action. Firstly, there seem to be an affordance of ‘settings’ relating to being able to change the space or environment technically as well as belonging virtually somewhere, having a ‘territory’ as you do (any space have a setting), for example, when being part of a subculture which then relates to how you present yourself to belong to a group (or a subculture). Secondly is the affordance of ‘socialization’, to be able to socially connect via language (and possibly body language). The third affordance would be affording ‘entertainment’ in different ways including for example ‘a will to dance’, creating social body movements virtually or in reality in front of the computer. There is also a point of ‘mobility’ (& accessibility), relating to who can participate in the sense of being able and afford it, as most raves a free but the equipment is not, along with being capable to have and use the internet freely. It’s mobile in the sense of being accessible on the internet that the party is everywhere and in one place at once. The pointed out affordances are put in reference to what one usually seek at a ‘regular’ rave. Furthermore, connecting these affordances to each other and comparing a virtual rave with a non-virtual one, two concepts will be discussed. The concepts of ‘liveness’ and ‘atmosphere’ are important in relation to when a group of people come together with their bodies in a shared space, for example in a club for raving.
4.3 ‘Liveness’ & ‘atmosphere’
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a ‘live’ experience that changes over time. ‘Live’ is distinguished from something recorded, for ethical reasons. Auslander describes a happening as live when the performers and the audience are both physically and temporally co-present at the
happening, live broadcasts are for example only temporally co-present and not spatially. In a sense, with our digital life, we are all almost always co-present (Auslander 2012, p. 6). Arguably it is valuable that we all seem co-present all the time, for the sake of being social and connecting. Considering the ‘ethical’ part of something being live and not recorded, makes a situation ‘real’ which is also something we as human seem to value (in difference from something being ‘fake’). This could also be mentioned in reference to virtual raves, as they are substituting regular raves but perhaps cant substituting all affordances of a rave in a physical space.
To further become clear on ‘liveness’, Auslander defines it as a technological mediated relationship among human beings. This means that it is also a live interaction happening between humans and technological objects as well, however everything doesn’t ‘feel’ live. Aulanders writes about ‘claims’ that a virtual entity makes and for something to be live, the audience must accept this claim, take it seriously, and be conscious about this object. The liveness is then produced through our engagement with this object and our willingness to accept its claim (Auslander 2012, p. 8). This is something to consider when attending a virtual rave, if we as humans even accept this as a rave at all – as something live happening with other bodies assumingly all over the world.
Unquestionably, when bodies meet in one and the same space, or when one body enters a space, they feel something, one could determine this as ‘atmosphere’. ‘Atmosphere’ is described by Shanti Sumartojo, Tim Edensor & Sarah Pink in a text as something
‘inescapably spatial and located in experience’, and to understand it one has to pay close empirical attention. The attention should consider its constitution, how it arises, impress and circulate around the body, how it’s shared, and why it feels different to diverse people (Sumartojo, Edensor & Pink 2019, p. 1). To investigate ‘atmosphere’, it has to be experienced and researched in its ongoing flow and change of the moment, perhaps in an auto ethnographical sense (which will be discussed further on). The investigation then has focus on the atmosphere’s representational, immaterial, and effectiveness of its signals, appropriating ways for bodies to behave. It’s a ‘complex multisensory fusion of
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countless factors’, that can give one or many bodies in a space a shared feeling or mood (Sumartojo, Edensor & Pink 2019, p. 3).
The atmosphere at a virtual rave and a non-virtual one is imaginatively not the same kind of atmospheres. They can be different, without a hierarchical aspect, in the sense that virtual raves during the pandemic are physically spent at home alone and virtually with others, while before the raves were most of the time or always in spaces full of other bodies. Naturally the atmosphere must be different, but perhaps able to give similar affordances, as mentioned above. For example, the atmosphere at Berghain is very special, almost intoxicating, as sober one feels high, even if one is tired one owns body among all the others keeps dancing to that hardcore techno music.
4.4 Research Questions
This section will provide an overview of the already mentioned research question and its sub-questions, which are asked in order to navigate through the analysis further on. The sub-questions will be answered throughout different themes posed in the analysis, while the overall research question is addressed in the discussion section.
RQ: How are the current Covid-19 social distancing measures affecting social dance movements in Berlin?
SQ-1: What differentiates a virtual rave from a non-virtual rave?
SQ-2: What affordances can virtual raves provide for the rave subculture?
SQ-3: How can virtual raving be beneficial for ravers?
5. Methodology
The methodology section includes the research mixed ethnographical method of auto ethnography and semi-structured open-ended interviews, which is naturally qualitative. The methods are placed in a research design with an inductive logic of inquiry and the
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interpretivist research paradigm. The last parts of this sections are dedicated to the ethical considerations of this thesis, following a part of ‘limitation and further
knowledge’ mentioning what the thesis fails but wished to examine in a larger sense.
5.2 Methods
The method chosen for this research is conducted in two parts. The first part is auto ethnographic method as the setting for the case study takes place at a location – a virtual rave. Gaining access to such an environment is a valuable action. Access is also granted for the researcher (and writer of this text) since the researcher possesses insider
knowledge and experience with raving and has contacts in this scene in Berlin, hence an auto ethnographical method makes sense. As an insider, the researcher for this paper had a possibility to immerse herself more deeply than others might be able to do. The first method is then combined with semi-structured, open-ended interviews with friends/participants of the virtual rave. Another auto ethnographical methodological layer to be made in reference to the thesis is the personal stories of the ‘background’ section, they are also thought of in reference to this method as a valid way of presenting how vibrant the social dance communities of Berlin can be.
The interviewees chosen for the study all followed the criteria of being ‘proper’ ravers in the sense that they have been ‘in the raving scene’ of Berlin or other cities for a ca 57 years. Additionally, they attended the virtual raves or DJ’d there. The researcher also had a relationship to each of them as good friends or friends of friends. Biases in relation to this will be discussed further on during the ‘Ethics’ section. Two of the interviewees were found via snowball sampling, which means that the researcher asked someone who has already been sampled to identify others who also could participate in the research (Sage research methods 2020). As the researcher had to use her own
contacts and knowing who was at the rave or not, only eight interviews were conducted. Steiner Kvale writes this about interviews, concerning its use: ‘The interview is a powerful method of producing knowledge of the human situation, as demonstrated by historical interview studies, which have changed the ways of understanding the human situation and of managing human behavior throughout the twentieth century’ (Kvale 2007, p. 9). The interviews made for this research are vital to get an idea of how social
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dance movements have been affected by the possibility of virtual raving.
The ethnographic interviewing is a qualitative research technique, and as mentioned above it wants to understand the human situation in certain circumstances. Useful interviews are based on genuine exchange which is gained through time, openness, and a durational and frequent contact between the interviewer and interviewee (Sherman Heyl 2001, p. 369). In this case, the researcher has then already established a good relationship with those interviewed, some she has known for years. The use of personal interviews is a kind of data collection which provides accurate information from the interviewed subject. The investigation also allows movements, motives, and feelings to play a valid role. (Collins 2019, p. 138). In this case, the interviews seemed honest since the respondents were trusting of the researcher as well as keen to help with the research.
Ethnographic interviewing is often conducted on-site with key informants. For the purpose of this study, the interviews were conducted the day after the virtual rave, given that a rave does not lend itself as an ideal interview locale. This is not viewed as a problem, that they were not made on-site as this research is combined with auto ethnography, and the researcher herself also attended the rave.
The research is conducted as auto ethnography, while the ethnographical ideas of field notes are here presented to understand their purpose. Auto ethnography is an embodied method and writing practice, embodied here is understood as a felt sense of knowing. The method seeks to narrate culture via interaction with the researcher herself, memory, scenes, spaces, or other bodies to make sense of how we are shaped by culture and circumstances. The self in this method is the center and the body is an instrument for sensing gaps in the object of study. The method also focuses on the social shaping on the self, asking ‘how am I’, using the researcher’s presence as departure point from traditional ethnography (where the researcher often should be invisible) (Durham 2017). Considering ‘presence’ in this context is interesting in relation to how earlier in the thesis it was discussed (as what is sought in a virtual reality experience), therefore an auto ethnographical method is plausible. The method is also accommodating the thesis’ theoretical framework which is put in light of ‘liveness’ and ‘atmosphere’, in which the body is hyper-central as an instrument getting clear on the spatial relations and feelings
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at for example a rave. The auto ethnographical method is combined with interviews for the sake of the researcher, stabilizing her own interpretation with the help of a dialogue with others since experiences often are made in connection to others.
The focus for the researcher or the ethnographer is to makes sense of the world they are researching as well as to write down accounts and descriptions in order to mediate this to others. It is central to give narration from data created in and from the field study. The researcher then re-writes and re-constructs the field data, which later becomes the Field Note Corpus, a polished ethnographic text. The field notes are supposed to provide descriptions of people, scenes, and dialogues, as well as personal experiences and reactions. Interpretation and sense-making by the ethnographer is also involved during this process (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw 2001, p. 352). The narrative self is an integral part of the research process. The researcher is creating and presenting a truth from personal experience, this is a dynamic way to showing and seeing the self in relation to and as the other (Durham 2017). As a raver, one is in one sense very aware of the space one dances in and next to so many people, to give the reader an understanding of this, auto ethnography seems to be the most truthful or correct way of telling this story. Furthermore, as it is a story of mostly atmospheric and bodily emotions, this is something that is very difficult to observe from ‘the outside’.
The field in this research is described as a combination of virtual reality and reality, as the experience takes place in front of a computer that is set in a ‘real’ room, as well as a virtual room/space and on chats in this virtual space. Descriptions and accounts of both these places are then considered important. The researcher could in this case be seen as a virtual ethnographer as well. Sarah Pink is a researcher conducting digital
ethnography, and she explains it in the fashion of using digital technology to do ethnographical research or to study relations linked to subjects in a digital world and how they are interacting with media (Pink 2018, 16 min). In this sense, concerning what has been already stated in this thesis is that, here, the methods used for this research are connected to digital ethnography, as we live in a world that is always digital. The virtual reality or what is digital and physical material is arguably part of the same environment.
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what she physically can touch upon. Field work is an ‘embodied spatial practice’, a certain place or setting that requires focused, disciplined attention to understand the social commitments that are occurring (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw 2001, p. 354). By the researcher’s presence in front of a computer, the researcher extends ‘her field’ for collecting data; she makes observational notes based on her experiences in both virtual reality as ‘offline reality. The method is still then applicable since her reality for this research consists of both, and a virtual reality is of course a ‘reality’ as well. The field is often described as a construction, a geographical place but also wherever reality is constituted and an interaction takes place (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw 2001, p. 354). The field data collected in this research is memories and notes written down during and after the experience, as well as photographs of the real room, photographs of the computer screen, and screenshots made on the computer. The field note corpus has to be written down in a first-person narrative (Reed-Danahay 2001, p. 408), hence its auto
ethnographical scope of perspective.
5.3 Research design
Concerning the chosen methods, as mentioned above, this paper has adopted a qualitative research. It is qualitative in the sense of which types of data have been collected that are of a narrative sort and partly visual. In qualitative research, it is necessary to understand the context, which starts before the data has been collected. (Collins 2019, p. 169). The research of this paper seeks to understand something about a social situation, of an event such as a rave turning from real life clubbing to virtually entering a space and possibly some dancing at home. The virtual rave is then something constructed for a social gathering or situation, trying to solve a need that people in this world seem to have. To understand how these social body movements are affected by moving from reality to virtual reality, the researcher needs to understand the world as it is experienced by these actors in typical situations of raves and virtual raves, which is also made meaningful by them.
For this type of research, it is common to adopt an inductive logic of inquiry, which stipulates that the theory has to follow the collected data. Via induction the researcher is concerned with ‘getting inside’, while being aware of the context which it is in, to
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explore the event, happening, or the people that are the object of the research. To establish what is happening during this event also a small sample of interviews is appropriate, referring to qualitative data, however the subjects have to be carefully chosen. (Collins 2019, p. 45). For example, it was especially important that each of the interviewees had attended the rave.
In relation to the methods of qualitative research and an inductive logic of inquiry, interpretivism is a preferable research approach, considering a social situation constructed by social beings using humanly created objects (the computer, etc.).
Interpretive research seeks to describe and understand how the world is experienced by the subjects it is meaningful to, it also explores the interplay between this natural world, its meaningful subjects, and objects made by them. The paradigm also includes the researcher’s relationship to its research as well as her own background and motives. (Collins 2019, p. 49). In this case, the researcher’s insider knowledge and access to the raving scene in Berlin becomes essential. That the interviewed subjects concern people that are part of the scene as well – and she has known some of them for a period of time before the conducted interviews – gives further research credibility.
Interpretive research then aims to study social life from the ‘inside’. For this social life to exist, this world has to be interpreted via both the researcher’s own and other’s actions in social situations that are the objects of the study. For an interpretivist, social reality is a social construction, hence language becomes a viable factor as it is the medium of social interaction. The chosen methods of auto ethnography and interviews make sense at large. Finally, the interpretivist’s ontological assumption is then based on idealism, how reality is socially constructed by being produced and reproduced via its meaningful inhabitants’ everyday life. This is combined with the epistemological
assumption of constructionism, that social reality is explored in the relationship between subjects that create meaning when participating through language (bodily included as well), as well as objects created by them (Blaikie & Priest 2017, p. 102). Via this research design this paper hopes to understand and explore the proposed question via description and inscriptions of the social reality the researcher is part of.
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In ethnographical research, the researcher has a certain responsibility and role, in relation to participating subjects and the community in question which is being
explored. For this paper, the role of the researcher is important as she has special access to the community being researched. She is in the scene, and knows people whom she can interview. These people are also part of the scene and can provide special
information, and a genuine point of view. It could be argued that the researcher might be too close to the community she is researching, prompting a lack of objectivity. Her bias might stem from enjoying going to raves and therefore needing to keep an open mind to the idea of virtual raving. Although in this case, it would have been difficult to get close to the community and its people without a certain access. Generally, people in this scene might not divulge the full truth about their experience to outsiders, as there is an amount of secrecy and exclusivity that governs the rave scene’s clubs. This is related to “who goes and gets in where”, and “who’s in the know about parties”. A level of subjectivity is therefore necessary. As a researcher she is allowed to have her own opinions and perspective as long as she is not biased by them. The researcher’s ethical way of conducting research relies on and can be drawn from her epistemological and ontological perspectives relating to her moral values as well as political ones (Murphy & Dingwall 2001, p. 339). The assumptions and the knowledge of our social reality is also based on how we treat people and the ideas on human’s role in the world. In auto ethnographical research there’s an ethical consideration to make concerning what the researcher might share in her study which implicates other people (Durham 2017). However, if the researcher makes clear that it is her owns observations and interpretations, how ‘she saw them’, this can be acceptable. The paradigm concerned in this paper, as mentioned earlier, is the interpretivist research paradigm. This includes the idea of people inhabiting our social reality as meaningful, and it is through them and their experience we have to make sense of the world. This world is then socially
constructed and explored between the meaningful inhabitants via language. When the auto ethnographical case study was made, the researcher took part of a virtual rave without identifying herself or her objectives. In other situations, this concealment can be construed as morally questionable. However, in this occasion everyone was anonymous, everyone was a color dot on the screen. In the Zoom party there were faces, but no one
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knew anything about one another (name, age, country of origin, etc.) and no
conversation was prompted between her and the others at the party. Fieldwork here is already anonymous then, and her attending the rave is therefore harmless.
Furthermore, another topic to be touched upon are the research biases relative to
different “party and club scenes” or ravers in Berlin. The people interviewed are part of a more progressive queer club culture and before Covid-19 most of them went to Berghain. Given how the Club Quarantine rave seemed like a gathering of crossing different kinds of ravers from all over the world, some participants might have been a more skeptical about this particular rave. Additionally, since the rave was anonymous, they did not know who else was there, which perhaps makes it difficult to know if they would fit in or not. However, this bias did not stop the interviewed subjects from
imagining other kinds of virtual raves and speak about them. As we learned early in this paper, subcultures and therefore club cultures are related to taste – in music, style, and behavior, etc. It is unclear how the virtual raves will turn out in terms of this when it is has been globally accessible for a longer time. Either way, everyone is still entitled to their subjective view, and as researcher, she has to be able to see their biases as well as her own opinions are accounted for.
As many people from different communities attended the rave, assumingly people who in a wider cultural sense already is marginalized, it is important to consider what this digital shift might mean to them. However, this will be addressed more in the next part of this section. Another reflection to be made due to inclusion/exclusion at a virtual rave, is that seemingly ‘everyone’ is invited and the experience should be happily shared. Nevertheless, the club organizers of the virtual rave stated before one was allowed to enter ‘racism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexism are not acceptable’. The ideology of any part should include this, although it was not clear how they would deal with people who impose on these rights (can they be ‘kicked out’ as in regular clubs? Can people report each other, and where does one do this?).
Lastly, a difficult topic to pierce is illegal drug use. Drugs are part of the rave culture for some people, and Berlin’s club scene is probably no exception. When the Berghain bouncer checks your bag or searches your person, one can be certain that they are
