The COVID-19 pandemic has reorganized existing methods of exchange, transforming the comparatively marginal technology of video conferencing into the new normal. Multipoint video conferencing in particular has become a favored means for web-based forms of remote communication and collaboration without physical copresence. Taking the recent mainstreaming of video conferencing as its point of departure, the authors workshop examines the complex mediality of this new form of social interaction and cooperation. Connecting theoretical reflection with material case studies, the contributions questions practices, politics and aesthetics of videoconferencing and the specific meanings it acquires in different historical, cultural and social contexts.

Organizers: Axel Volmar, Olga Moskatova, and Jan Distelmeyer

The workshop is will take place online and partly on-site in collaboration with the Brandenburgische Zentrum für Medienwissenschaften (ZeM), Potsdam. Due to its format (discussion of pre-circulated chapter drafts), the event will not be open to the public. Interested members of the CRC, however, are welcome to join. Please register via email (axel.volmar@uni-siegen.de) to receive further information.