People Dancing Without Bodies

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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 …………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………14

3.3 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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 ‘dematerialization of the body’, how we through the internet see faces and not whole

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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’.

1 Our 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.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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

2 A 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.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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.”

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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 12

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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 mainstream society. Meaningful for them might then speak for keeping some parts

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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,

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

‘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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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’

‘Liveness’ is a concept discussed by for example Philip Auslander (2012), and counts as 23

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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.

In this research, the researcher has to take the virtual happening into account as well as

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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.

5.4 Ethics

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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 31

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen 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

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen looking for drugs. Some of the interviewees told stories of situations that was for them interesting. The stories were scary, exciting, and crazy. These stories were not the most important ones to collect but that the people being interviewed felt safe enough to tell the researcher made the exchange genuine as little to nothing felt hidden. However, this discussion as difficult as it might be, it is still necessary to mention, along with that even if the people interviewed had taken drugs or not, the experiences and feelings they had towards raves at the time of the interview were still real. For the sake of transparency, their names are not revealed. This consideration was made in reflection of what one as researcher should share and not share. The interviewees were approached with the possibility of not revealing their names in the interview, although the researcher knew who they were and therefore the choice of not revealing names made more sense (since all of them in one way or another are part of the same community). The answers that were not included in the research were those of more personal nature (for example memories of raving), while those included were the ones when they giving their experiencing of the virtual rave. For personal stories concerning raving in a club, to limit the thesis in one sense, the researcher went searching in her own. These stories she is allowed to tell from her perspective and memory without harming others participating in the case study.

5.5 Limitations & further knowledge

There are a few aspects concerning the limitation of the thesis, subjects that are too large to address properly at this point and that one would need more knowledge to study further. Additionally, the research could have been extended in the sense of that the researcher could have visited more and different kind of virtual raves over a longer period of time. However, due to a strict time schedule, visiting only one virtual rave made sense as well and in relation to making a detailed account of that one. For the future it will be possible to add onto the knowledge acquired for this thesis, with more varied experiences of virtual rave situations. In the same way, the researcher have chosen to focus on one occasion of the virtual rave she visited as she went there three times, instead of presenting data of all three (since they all are rather similar).

In the migration of raving from a physical club to a virtual space, supposedly new

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen communities and sub cultures will be formed, as for now in the beginning the virtual raves are accessible to more or less everyone. Of course there is still an aspect of ‘who are in the know’ and will find out about the raves, but technically everyone who has a computer could join. For future research this would be interesting to explore, what these possible new communities might be. Another perspective in relationship to this is something already mention during the earlier part of ‘ethics’, how bodies who are already marginalized in the society will be treated at a virtual. However, at the rave people were only represented as ‘dots of color’. Even if people are just ‘dots of color’ that doesn’t take away the present inequalities that exist in our society, wherever we go. It would be interesting to dig deeper into this topic, but here the thesis will limit itself to what the researcher herself have experienced due to raving as it is an auto ethnographical research. The same goes for ‘disabled bodies’ raving, is it more inclusive to participate in a virtual rave then? Does a virtual rave hide judgement against bodies? As the researcher went out dancing before the pandemic, mostly to Berghain, sometimes she sees a fellow dancer in a wheelchair participating. As Covid-19 in one way ‘dematerialized’ the body, as Orbach (2020) wrote in her article, with life ‘going virtual’ technically granting more bodies of all kind easier access to for example raving, one wonders if this will all disappear if the pandemic ends. How do we go back after this ‘dematerialization’ of the body? This is a question too large for this thesis, but free for future research to embark upon.

6. Findings

The findings presented consist of auto ethnographic experience (Durham 2017), the field notes from the experience of Club Quarantine, as well as interviews with ravers who either went to this virtual rave and/or another one. Club Quarantine was chosen as a case study in reference to its accessibility for the researcher and for how it came into existence, which reason is due to the current social distancing.

6.2 Field note corpus

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

The evening of Friday April 24th, I was sitting at Tempelhof feld in Berlin with a few friends – as we are in ‘Corona times’ we couldn’t be that many. These are friends I usually go raving with, but since all the clubs are closed, we meet in small groups outside. Soon, I went home to go to the ‘virtual rave’ called Club Quarantine, some of the others went home as well, to visit the rave.

I attended the virtual rave with my roommate Louie. Louie was the one who showed me Club Quarantine in the beginning. He also gave me the link and told me about the first rave they did two weeks ago. I was already a little bit tipsy, getting into a party mood, when I arrived home we started to prepare for the rave. The reason for ‘being a little tipsy’ was because I needed to believe and accept this party as an actual rave, to give the experience a proper try. As the feeling at raves are hard to examine from the inside I needed to take the ‘object’ of the study’s (the rave’s) claim seriously, going there as I would have to most regular raves. This is for example connected to understanding the ‘liveness’ (Auslander 2012) of a space as well as the atmosphere Sumartojo, Edensor, & Pink 2019), which was discussed during the former section of theoretical frameworks. So, we poured some wine, set up the computers at the kitchen table, Louie attached his beamer and made our living room dark with only the projected screen and a disco lamp as light sources.

I wore an outfit which I could have worn going to a regular party; low-cut military pants, a shiny knitted type of cardigan with only one button – revealing my stomach –, and a fluffy bucket hat. Sure, I had been outside before, but now I was dressed up to ‘go to my living room’, which was a funny thought that hit me. However, entering the virtual scene was another thing.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

Image description: Screenshot of the ‘dancefloor’ as a virtual space and an open chat in a virtual rave at Club Quarantine.

Entering the link was the first step, this felt a bit like a secret was opening up, because before I was not really sure what it was, I had just heard a few bits and pieces. There were a few things that reminded me of a rave taking place in ‘reality’. Usually when going to illegal raves in warehouses or off-locations there is a secret Facebook-event with a link where you get to type in your email address, to get sent an address just two hours before the party starts. I remember it being like this since 2011, when I started going to illegal raves in Gothenburg. To find this virtual rave, you had to get the link somewhere, either via email, Facebook, or a friend. The first action was a question popping up on my screen “do you know who’s playing tonight”, other questions that people got, which I would realize later, was for example “are you alone” or “have you been here before”. Often when I was entering a club in Berlin, the bouncer could ask you questions like these to make sure that you know what you’re getting into, often they also deny people. For the virtual rave everyone gets in, but I guess you still need to be ‘in the know’. Before you’re allowed to enter the dancefloor, you choose a color which was part of the ‘settings’, which would be who you are when writing to people, but you don’t present yourself as an avatar or with a live image of yourself. This rave could then be more described as a livestream, similar to live Instagram videos which people can comment while it’s streaming. The virtual scene or the dancefloor was a film of a big

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen virtual space, in a post-internet computerized landscape (see image). In the top left corner, there was a number changing, counting the amount of guests inhabiting the party. I went to the rave three times, at different hours of the day, the amount of guests were ticking between ca 1200 and 1800. Other places that you could enter was the ‘cloakroom’, ‘bar’, and ‘bathroom’. The cloakroom and bar were just for making some money, supporting the DJ’s who played live, but the bathroom was interesting.

The bathroom in a club is a rather interesting place, if you could call it that. The virtual rave had 18 stalls. They were difficult to get into; you had to be persistent. It was difficult because they were occupied all the time since they only allowed 8 people at once, and more than a 1000 attended the rave. Each stall was posed as a chat room. In non-virtual raves at clubs, the bathroom or ‘toilet’, the queue is long and people stand there for half an hour or longer, mostly because they go in big groups doing drugs. As a girl, this can be particularly difficult when you really have to pee, I’ve seen ten people come out from the same stall at Berghain. However, as of this year there is now a ‘girl toilet’ in Berghain, which was when it started a club for the male gay scene in Berlin. In the virtual bathroom, people were only chatting with each other, represented by their dots of color. They didn’t really talk to each other, more at each other. I tried to get into the conversation but became very aware of my role as a researcher and mostly posed questions such as “where are you guys from”, later on I realized that this was what they were usually ‘shouting’ also in other stalls and on the chat in the dancefloor. I became more interested in talking to Louie who was sitting next to me by the computer. Further on I will mention more on the topics of the conversations I witnessed.

Soon Louie went to bed and I continued by myself but got bored pretty fast. I didn’t feel like dancing there by myself in front of the computer, I often dance by myself in my room – not because I need to rave but because it’s nice. In front of the computer here, it almost felt embarrassing (even if no one could see me and I didn’t know if anyone else at this rave was) – as dancing in a club by yourself can be embarrassing but with people it’s amazing. Maybe virtual raving takes some time getting used to and so I thought I should re-visit the rave next morning. Re-visiting raves is something we do sometimes, especially when the clubs are open for three days and the DJs we want to dance to are playing on different days.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

The second time I entered the rave was the next morning and I had a loading issue. Instead of thinking how the virtual rave reminded me of raves in clubs I was reminded of how uncertain it is using the internet and how flaky livestreams are. Of course, technical equipment can always break down, but my party in a club have never been interrupted by anything like that. This time, I also notice the rules they give you before going in on how racism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexism are not acceptable. I was eating my breakfast as I was loading the page, although the page called it ‘queuing’, and so I was all right with waiting as I remembered standing in line for Berghain for nearly three hours once (and even then we also skipped most of the line). Usually technological issues makes me impatient but since I had accepted this virtual rave, as in one sense just another party and then queuing is a part of it. As strange as it felt the technological issue made me remember and recreate feelings of going to a club. Standing in those long queues makes you exhausted along with building excitement. I was still not ready to dance with my morning tea in hand, so I sat and watched the comments in the dancefloor area.

What seemed most present at this virtual rave was two things – listening to the music and chatting with people. The visuals of the rave didn’t interest me that much, as they were not ‘live’ but a video of a computerized or animated landscape (as mentioned above). As I don’t go to a club to listen to a record but to experience something ‘live’ and be part of an atmosphere. For the time I spent in the rave overall it was possible to distinguish 6 different topics of the conversation, (the attached sentences below are people’s comments retracted from the conversations I witnessed):

1. Country: ‘new York house’ ‘is everyone in Berlin now? Party at my house’ ‘Madrid’ ‘Espannnnaaaa’ ‘Mexico here’

2. Quarantine:

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

‘how long have you’ve been quarantining?’4 ‘week 7’ ‘1 month and 1 week’ ‘Week 6 and I live alone’ ‘It’s been brutal’

3. Comments for the DJ: ‘where they showing the footy?’5 ‘se26 stand up’6 (and general praise)

4. Connecting on other platforms: ‘huge zoom party 30+, fat lines and no guest list’78 ‘whats your msn messenger’ (several zoom links were posted)

4 Quarantining is a seemingly new made up word for people who are spending their days in ‘quarantine’ at home, due to the pandemic.

5 This person was wondering if there were any live footage from the people DJ’ing.

6 A comment for the current DJ.

7 For the sake of research, I decided to join. However, this virtual Zoom rave will not be a main part of the analysis, and therefore placed with the footnotes, still included as an interesting contrast to the livestream virtual rave. Since it was a Zoom party, I got up put on some make-up and the outfit from last night. There were twenty-six people at this party, including myself. I felt awkward at this party, as it was twenty-six different parties going on next to each other, instead of in the same room. There were some interactions in the chat exchanging Instagram accounts. One guy was half-naked just looking into the camera dancing, in another screen three people were running around looking pretty smashed, as if they’ve already been at the party too long. I felt like I ended up at a random after-party from yesterday’s club. I looked at each and everyone’s face, noticing a ‘bobbing’ of the head in the same rhythm. We all seemed to be listening to Club Quarantine, with muted microphones (luckily), but it was all very much in the vibe of a silent disco which I would argue is not really a disco.

8 This person is using lingo of regular clubbing. Fat lines could either be related to “fat lines of drugs” or “fat lines as in queues”, however since “no guest list” is included, I suspected it was the first meaning mentioned. An interpretation of “no guest list” could be that no guest list is needed to get in first, everybody gets in since the rave was digital and these spaces are thought of as having “endless of space”. I also thought the “30+” part meant that the zoom party is huge because they are more than 30 people in there, however it could also be directed at people below the age of 30 are not welcome.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

5. Drugs: 9 ‘ketamine is ketayours’ ‘acid team’ ‘who’s on drugs?’

6. Finding your friends: ‘Loraiiiiine’ ‘ANDREA’ ‘ Helene are you here?’.

As these are chat topics, and via the chat people seemed to desperately wanting to connect, share the experience, and interact with each other. Most people seemed to have attended the virtual rave as it was intended by the organizers – alone, at home, supposedly in quarantine. Although, the conversations never seemed to go deeper than these kind of topics, leaving the conversations on a more or less of superficial level. Topics 1, 2, 3, and 5 seems to be mostly related to socializing while sharing an experience, possibly wanting to create an atmosphere with others. The other two topics are also in one sense related to socialization, since they’re written in a chat, but could rather be related to the setting or spatial circumstance of the rave. Concerning connecting on another platform in the way that at a club or a rave you want to feel that you’re in the same ‘space’ as other people, getting an even stronger ‘live’ experience than just text on a screen, as in for example Zoom that also have the possibility of video interaction. The need to find ones friends on this kind of rave might be related to that when you go to a physical rave, you usually go with your friends – sharing the space with them, and then wanting to find them in the virtual rave would perhaps remind you of that. Of course since we live in a digital world contacting your friends is easy, you don’t have to ‘go find them’ in a virtual space to talk to them, but finding them in a virtual space would possibly mean a stronger experience of the virtual rave as an actual rave. In contrast, at a physical club when we lose each other on the dancefloor we use our phones (something digital) to find our friends physically in the same space – the

9 Ketamine and acid are a drugs.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen sharing experience seem therefore very important. Further analysis and interpretation will be discussed in the following ‘analysis’ section.

6.3 Summary of interviews

For this study, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with people who are regular ravers in the Berlin club scene, and live locally as well. They were made on the dates of 26th, 27th, and the 30th of April, each interview were between ca 30-50 min long. The length of the interview varied a lot as the interviewer sometimes felt the need to ask further questions, and some interviewees spent longer time with certain questions – for example when they were talking about memories from parties they went to. The interviewees had been going to raves for a couple of years (at least 7 years) and lived in Berlin for at least one and a half years and one was born in Berlin. Two of them played at virtual raves, one organizes them, and the rest went to one or several virtual raves. As with regular raves as well they found out about the virtual ones via friends, social media websites, and music/event websites.

All interviewees were on beforehand asked if they wanted to participate in the research as the researcher knew they had gone to the virtual rave, at that time they were also informed of the content of the research and what kind of questions were to be asked. All interviewees knew why and for what purpose they were being interviewed. The interviews were either at their home, work, studio, or outside in a casual and relaxed way, more in the sense of two people having a conversation to make the interviewee calm and sense since many questions could become personal if the interviewee wanted too. When asked what a typical rave was for them most were talking about the people and the music and not the location, as the factors of making a rave. It becomes a rave when the right people meet and coming together for the music, the music could vary but it had to be danceable. However, some people mentioned locations such as clubs, warehouses, and off-locations. Another important factor was the sound system, which had to be of a certain level. The feeling of going raving was also something discussed in each interview and similar answers were given. They were speaking of it as ‘releasing’ in general but also for pressure and tension, giving a feeling of freedom, escaping and balancing out their regular life, and letting go of negative things. They used terms such

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen as exciting, spontaneous, scary, nervous, therapeutic, energizing, resetting, zoning out, and immersive.

List of interviews are to be found in the appendices, including the interview questions, exact length and etcetera.

7. Analysis

This section focuses on addressing the findings of the case study and interviews. The analysis is made in relation to the theoretical framework of Affordance Theory (Thorpe & Holt 2008), with supporting concepts such as ‘liveness’ (Auslander 2012) and ‘atmosphere’ (Sumartojo, Edensor & Pink 2019),. The upcoming parts are divided into four thematic sections, focusing on comparing and analyzing the affordances of raving virtually as opposed to raving in a club for example. The thematic sections are the ones of: settings, socialization, entertainment, and mobility.

As a theoretical framework, the Affordance Theory has been helpful in mapping out what the environment of the virtual rave has and could provide a participating user. The experienced environment of the virtual rave has been thought about in relation to subcultures as club cultures, and how digital natives are conducting themselves in online environments (in light of viral videos as it is mostly them who are spreading information in this fashion). A core point for groups creating club cultures is tying their identity to a territory or a space, creating a feeling of belonging outside the domestic sphere. Digital natives’ relationships to online environments and virtual spaces are based on how fast they adjust to new technology, how comfortable they are in living a virtual life as they naturally grew up having these possibilities.

Furthermore, the overall sub-questions for this thesis will be addressed in during these four parts of this section. The questions mobilizing the analysis are: ‘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?’ and finally, the researcher will as well return to them in the concluding section of the thesis. 42

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

7.2 Settings

The settings possible could be defined in three different ways; ‘atmosphere’ (Sumartojo, Edensor & Pink 2019), the virtual space where the rave took place and the place where the attendee’s body was. The physical place needed to provide a situation so the virtual space could be accessed, a technical setting. There were also technical setting aspects in the virtual space – as for example choosing or altering one owns color before entering the rave. The situation included the researcher’s home along with necessary equipment such as computer and speakers. As ravers think of a space this usually includes other people, whom are together creating a group identity tied to a space where they feel comfortable. A problem is then the loss of bodies and therefore connections, also how the researcher reacted during the Zoom party is interesting in this aspect: ‘I felt awkward at this party, as it was twenty-six different parties going on next to each other, instead of in the same room.’ (6.2 field note corpus). As the virtual rave is open to anyone at this stage when it is this new, participants do not have the same possibility and knowledge to choose where to go, to the place that fits them. The settings is also supposed to provide an environment that can create socialization and entertainment, which are the next two points to be discussed.

Another focus of the idea of settings connects to what one can do with the technology and space at home in contrast to how it is in a club, as this interviewee puts it when asked what they missed about a “real club”: ‘Yeah. I miss a space where I can dance, like really dance. More than anything. And the music. You need the sound and the volume, because dancing is reacting to the music. A dedicated space. If you do it at a house or like here in the studio it’s not a space that’s dedicated to dancing, and to like playing loud music.’ (Interview nr. 3, time 10:51, appendices). However this is relating to the physical space of virtual raving while the virtual space could be thought of in this way, as the visual element of this experience, described by Shin as information causing an organism to react but it has to be properly perceived and the users have to actively engage (Shin 2017, p. 1829). It seems to be difficult focusing on the body getting a raving experience while the mind have to actively engage with the virtual raving environment for it to be properly received. Arguably this speaks for virtual raving, as it

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen is now, not being able to afford users what clubs can, pointing to the mentioned obvious contradiction.

Lastly, concerning the atmosphere, the researcher as well as the interviewees had trouble making a raving atmosphere, both in the physical space and in the virtual space. The concepts of ‘atmosphere’ (Sumartojo, Edensor, & Pink 2019) and ‘liveness’ (Auslander 2012) are in a way overall concepts helpful to understand how virtual raving and non-virtual raving differentiates themselves from each other. The reason for not feeling a raving atmosphere according to the researcher was connected to not sharing the happening with enough people, not feeling the rave as ‘live’ – not believe the objects ‘claim’ on their attention. Another aspect to refer to is the one of ‘presence’ (Heffernan 2014), when inhabiting a virtual space (works well with VR googles) in a successful way one gets ‘presence’. ‘Presence’ can be another way of discussing ‘liveness’, as in ‘believing that one is somewhere else’ and ‘accepting an objects (as a virtual events) claim’.

7.3 Socialization

Socialization at the virtual rave were in forms of chat rooms – such room was set-up on the dancefloor and multiple chats in the bathroom. As people didn’t know anything about each other in the chats, besides the dot of color the researcher realized that: ‘They didn’t really talk to each other, more at each other.’ (6.2 field note corpus, p. 30). This space for socializing makes the participator having to work harder to find a connection to another participator, which calls for less socialization than at a club where you also have body language and way of speaking to connect to. Something that seemed very present here is the ‘dematerialization of the body’ (Orbach 2020), making the socialization more difficult. During the virtual rave of Club Quarantine, the researcher visited a Zoom party as well, which was mentioned in the footnotes of the field note corpus. There, body language played a greater part as participants had turned on their cameras. This already opens up for the third point of dancing, which is of course related to body language and will be discussed in relation to entertainment.

Additionally, the interviewees found the situation too anonymous, in relation to

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen presenting themselves in a social situation. When a user is attending a virtual rave, not showing anything about themselves, beside a dot of color to represent themselves with, self-presentation can either have endless possibilities or no function at all. Thanks to imagination, a dot of color can be enough to fantasize and mirror yourself with a possible other person, since chats were available and this as well can add to creating an image of a person. However, with this possibility, the function of self-presentation (how the user wants to present themselves) as a possibility can be lost – with too many options the result can be nothing. Another aspect addresses the question of being ‘real or fake’. As a user cannot see other people with their own eyes, trust can be difficult. Honesty is, of course, in general important to be able to integrate personally somewhere. This is at least applicable to the Club Quarantine rave. At Zoom parties, faces and bodies can be visible, which some of interviewees had been a part of and reported ‘getting a feeling of being social more easily’.

The interviewees’ response to feeling sociable or being socially integrated, interacting with others are diverse. The people who attended Club Quarantine missed seeing people and were disappointed by this, again relating to the ‘dematerialization of a body’ (Orbach 2020). A problem addressed was sitting in front of the computer at home felt like being alone (although this person did not chat with anyone). To argue people do not necessarily chat with each other at a physical club and many attend clubs alone, because the physical experience of being in a group of bodies, even if they are not familiar, can give a feeling of belonging and being social. Some of the interviewees also DJ’d at Zoom parties and livestreams. They also spoke about ‘missing the crowd’, which considerably builds the ‘atmosphere’ (Sumartojo, Edensor, & Pink 2019) of a rave, the performative and social movements of playing in a club. One had the experience of actually feeling like people coming together via a Zoomparty, as she could see the ones attending were dancing in various places: ‘I was a little cynical about it and then I actually did it and when I was performing and I saw so many people that I haven’t seen in a long time on the call and they were each dancing on the screen, on different screens, and I was playing and you know it actually gave me back that feeling of community.’ (Interview nr. 4, time 1:33, appendices).

7.4 Entertainment

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

As was stated above, body language plays an important role during a rave, therefore it was accorded its own point as socialization. This part that is concerned with ‘entertainment’ as a affordance during a rave focuses mostly with dancing while listening to music, which also can provide a tension-release in the sense of escaping the everyday routine and boundaries. A possibility of dancing together with someone virtually at the Zoom party was there, in a technical sense. Although, since it was not clear if everyone listened to the same music, making a connection is again challenged. It is, though, plausible to argue that dancing together was happening there, as the researcher could see the other heads on video bobbing to the same rhythm. Another aspect of dancing in these settings involves how the physical environment of one participator of the virtual rave is connected to the other participators’ physical environments. Arguably, a rave is still conducted even if a person is physically dancing by themselves in a living room, and as she is logged into a virtual space playing live DJ sets, she is also virtual raving.

However, it is important to note what a user feel like doing in the situation of virtual raving: ‘I didn’t feel like dancing there by myself in front of the computer, I often dance by myself in my room – not because I need to rave but because it’s nice. In front of the computer here, it almost felt embarrassing (even if no one could see me and I didn’t know if anyone else at this rave was) – as dancing in a club by yourself can be embarrassing but with people it’s amazing.’ (6.2 field note corpus). A digital native would probably make a case of calling this raving, as their adjustment to a virtual way of conducting their everyday life comes natural.

Lastly, tension-release was mentioned by most of the interviewees as something they go to regular clubs for. It is also a motive for the use of media. This was not something the interviewees spoke of in relation to virtual raving, which makes one think it was not tension-releasing and it possibly mattered where the ones attending were in reality. Some, however, did describe and compared the virtual rave to computer or video games, which of course can be tension-releasing. As the digital and material, at least in this situation, is part of the same environment, there is much to be distracted by. At a club, for example, the experience is often described as meditative, where the focus is mainly

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen about having one’s eyes closed (to enhance the experience sometimes), hearing the music, and feeling how the body can move. When other social bodies around are doing the same, possibly because it feels natural and easy – making the mind relax as the body moves in difference to how it is using a computer. When asked what the interviewees missed about physical clubs, one said this: ‘The togetherness, if you’re only in front of your PC it’s only your mind attached to it, but if you go to a club it’s like mind and body. I miss the physical part of it.’ (Interview nr. 6, 5:51, appendices). The interviewee are speaking of a very important point that has been mentioned earlier, which is the physicality of a club space as well as, maybe it’s just as simple as that – the mind cannot substitute virtually what a body does on the dance floor.

In times of physical social distancing, the isolated club-goers at home made virtual raving into an option to have their raving needs met. The affective point of having simple entertainment via virtual raving were addressed, for example, in terms of; interesting, inspiring, eye-opening, boring, and satisfying. Even if not every interviewee mentioned the word ‘boring’, it stood out as a laden description in regards to how long they stayed at the rave. No one stayed more than three hours whereas at raves in reality, they stay at least six hours, many up to twelve hours. The virtual rave as a livestreaming event, while not as inviting to dance as much as it is to listen to music, also plays a role in the level of entertainment. This points at that the virtual rave to make the participants believe in it and its claim, hence also failing to provide ‘liveness’ (Auslander 2012). What the interviewees wanted from a regular rave is usually the physical experiencing of dancing with other social bodies, wanting to create an atmosphere with other living, breathing, and sweating bodies – perhaps not a ‘dematerialized’ (Orbach 2020) collection of social bodies. In this situation, what is then dancing together? In the Zoom party; ‘I looked at each and everyone’s face, noticing a ‘bobbing’ of the head in the same rhythm. (6.2 field note corpus), obviously a kind of dancing was happening. Another aspect of entertainment was posed by one of the interviewees when asked about their experience of their virtual rave: ‘It felt like a game somehow, because they were always occupied in like a normal club. And I think you were in a chat room. This was kind of funny, but it didn’t feel like a party in the same way, and I didn’t feel like chatting with a stranger there on the internet in a virtual bathroom.’ (Interview nr. 2, time 0:20, appendices). Games are a big part of the entertainment business and that “it

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen felt like a game” speaks for that the virtual rave couldn’t afford entertainment in the sensed it was wished for, as when going to a rave the raver is not looking for a game but a totally different experience.

7.5 Mobility

The last point that deserves to be addressed in greater detail is mobility in relation to accessibility. There are negative and positive aspects of accessibility when discussing raves and virtual raves, as in what has changed due to what kind of access virtual raves has. As virtual raves became an activity, the internet almost instantly propelled them towards the global stage – making the rave in one sense mobile. The mobility of a rave is interesting in relation to what it stands for when discussing rave or club culture, as opposing the mainstream (Gelder 2007) and being exclusive or underground (Thornton 1995).

The virtual raves are also free most of the time, accessible in this sense, and can be done with minimal equipment which does not have to be too expensive. Even then, not everyone has the possibility to go to a virtual rave even if it is available via the internet, as the mobile aspect. Furthermore, the virtual rave experience is likely to get better with equipment of higher quality, along with the comfortable physical space to have it in. This accessibility that comes with globalizing raves is for the most part positive, as being more inclusive. An argument in favor of the negative aspects revolves around the fact that the rave experience is threatened by the lack of exclusivity, as there is no secrecy and, in a sense, no rule breaking. For example, club cultures are made through the distinction from the mainstream (Gelder 2007 & Thornton 1995). If raves become too accessible, one might argue that its essence would get lost. Although, the organizers made a case of relating virtual raving to entering a club and the exclusivity that comes with that: ‘The first action was a question popping up on my screen “do you know who’s playing tonight”, other questions that people got, which I would realize later, was for example “are you alone” or “have you been here before”.’ (6.2 field note corpus). Relating to this another situation occurred in relationship to technical issues in reference to accessing or entering the club: ‘I was eating my breakfast as I was loading the page, although the page called it ‘queuing’, and so I was all right with waiting as I

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen remembered standing in line for Berghain for nearly three hours once (and even then we also skipped most of the line). Usually technological issues makes me impatient but since I had accepted this virtual rave, as in one sense just another party and then queuing is a part of it.’ (6.2 field note corpus, p. 31). This point is also related to the overall concept, which was mentioned earlier, of ‘liveness’ (Auslander 2012) and ‘atmosphere’ (Sumartojo, Edensor & Pink 2019), making the participant ‘believe’ in the virtual rave as an actual rave – which would afford a better experience for them. This aspects adds to the idea of virtual raves substituting the feeling a physical experience can give, with just a simple word. Here comes the acceptance: of queuing physically for something or virtually loading. As we use terms for physical experiences in virtual situations, we’re reminded of the experience.

Lastly, another aspect to be considered in this context of the rave as something mobile and accessible, is the virality (Payne 2013) of a virtual rave. The virality that happens to the rave when it enters a virtual circumstance is connecting to sharing and transferring moods and feelings, which are also circumstantial in creating an atmosphere and ‘believing that the virtual rave is a rave’. In the way that a virtual rave is globally accessible and thereby mobile, as many people can attend while being in separated physical spaces, it is viral and virally spread – as the virus virally making a pandemic happen. Interestingly enough, on WHO’s website for public advice due to Covid-19 they felt the need to explain that ‘the virus does not spread via 5G mobile networks’ (WHO Coronavirus, 2020). With virality in mind, the metaphor of a viral virus of a pandemic being linked to viral video connections make sense in light of how humans react to something being able to spread fast. Distinctively a virus makes humans scared but virality on the internet as ‘sharing’ is positively received (Payne 2013), without digital interactions the social distancing would be even more difficult.

8. Discussion

How are the current Covid-19 social distancing measures affecting social dance movements in Berlin?

A rave is usually defined as a party that goes on for a longer period of time, where the 49

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen one attending enters a meditative state of mind while dancing to techno music. Techno ravers can be considered as belonging to a certain subculture, and most of these ravers are probably of the generation of digital natives. The word virtual is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as something that is “almost, but not exactly or in every way”, therefore if a thing that exists as a physical thing also exists virtually it is not the same as the physical thing. It is almost the same thing as it would have similar qualities (visual aspects etcetera), but it cannot be experienced in the same way as the physical thing because they are not the same – only almost. Hence, the conclusion reached for this research is that a virtual rave is not the same as a rave, which might seem obvious and not problematic. The problem arises when the virtual rave wants to act as a substitute for ‘regular’ raving due to social distancing. Regular raving could arguably never be replaced in this sense.

Due to social distancing the raving in Berlin became non-existent, and virtual raves started being organized, and what seemed to be lost is the sociality happening between bodies. Virtual rave is naturally social because interactions between human beings take place. For bodies to be social, however, there is a necessity of feeling and sharing an atmosphere. As dancing and music can be infectious (making many people react in a similar way), performative movements are transferring social knowledge, which is shared when social bodies move in the same physical space. Just as rooms have different atmospheres, the virtual space has an atmosphere of its own, and there is something to be shared in the virtual space – but only for the mind.

To ‘survive’ social distancing, adjusting to activities in new digital environments is a necessity. Digital natives are primed for this, though may not be entirely ready for a life mostly lived virtually as we are now in a state of hybrid club-experiencing (with both physical and digital aspects). Therefore, concerning this research, the digital and the material has to be viewed as of the same environment, in relation to virtual ethnography, to make an analysis of human and computer interaction. If a virtual experience could produce the same excitement and feelings as physical experiences (in a multisensory way), virtual raving could be more interesting for social dance movements of the future, maybe for a generation called “virtual natives”, who sees virtual raves as ‘real raves’. Possibly, to make an unbiased evaluation of virtual raving,

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen virtual reality has to be imagined as the only reality – just as this paper is written with an interpretivist approach, with the goal to understand the world as it is experienced by actors making it meaningful in typical situations for them.

If virtual raves are mediating a good enough affective experience – social dance movements do not have to be at loss but can gain new possibilities. If virtual raves are made to fulfil a certain kind of socialization relating to body movements, it is insufficient to only remind the users of what a rave used to be. Livestream virtual raves are then not enough on their own. Instead, a combination of livestream, Zoom, and avatars seems promising. (“If your avatar is dancing, are you dancing?”) Either way, in this situation we would have to think about social dance movements in a new way and argue that if a user’s avatar is dancing the user is dancing as well, virtual dancing and physical dancing must be equally valuable and desired.

Partying with people without bodies is a strange feeling, and as raving is perceived now, there is no raving without bodies. Hence, virtual raving is something entirely different. The loss of bodies at raves is a loss of identity and connection to a space hence atmosphere, and for people being social – in the way of raving. Social distancing is also affecting social dance movements, concerning virtual raving concerning globalizing raves. For future research, it would be interesting to investigate what is happening to raving subcultures as they are globalized and digitalized into virtual raves. Will new communities take form? What does it mean when raves are globally accessible and mobile? What will clubbing experience be like if the pandemic ever ‘ends’?

To summarize, social dance movements are affected by social distancing with a feeling of loss as virtual raving must be seen as something different. The loss is also related to change and adjusting, which cannot happen during the two months most countries have been in lockdown due to Covid-19. As such, the virtual club scene might already differ distinctly in a year from now.

9. Conclusion

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

Unquestionably, the physical space for social bodies are necessary, as the case study in combination with interviews showed. With such a rich history of rave culture as Berlin has, changing the scene into a virtual space is difficult, however it also makes for creative and innovative possibilities. These possibilities took the shape of virtual raves, as a new way of conducting raves and being social. What the discussion displayed was ideas on how virtual raving does not have to be disregarded, but thought of in a different sense as it yet cannot replace “regular” raving. As the analysis made more clear was with the notion of affordances for example in relationship to the spatial territory, arguing that to have a proper rave experience the body and the mind seem to have to be somewhat in the same space. With extensive and light equipment such an experience could probably be substituted, with virtual goggles etcetera the body would move in the space it sees (and thereby be in the same space). This also links to making social interactions online; a dot of color is not enough to make a satisfying social connection, although as soon as a face is visible it is much easier. Another interesting aspect of the analysis was how the language tied the virtual experience together with the “regular” experience of a rave, as for example calling “loading” for “queuing” instead. For social bodies to substitute physical experiences online clues (that catches the essence of raving), to make them remember and associate, are essential, a visual environment of a virtual space is not enough. This is connected to how a virtual rave differentiates itself from a non-virtual rave, as well as how it can be beneficial for ravers surviving isolation. Even if the pointed out affordances of virtual raving, such as settings, socialization, entertainment, and mobility, was not all successful – they might be later on as technology advances. Auslander refers to Brian Winston who states for example that the need for a new medium, it is created out of ‘supervening social necessity’ and linked to ideation, which is imagination of new technology to serve a specific purpose (Auslander 2012, p. 4) (a social need, perhaps why second life didn’t thrive?). During the pandemic, the virtual rave was a proper try to substitute the experience of a rave, as there was a social need for it.

This thesis is the beginning of a conversation concerning virtual raving, relating to previous research of club culture or rave culture, viral videos, and digital natives, with an aim to put virtual raving into this context. While researching these fields, the thesis attempts to fill a gap, focusing on bodies that are not allowed to be social in physical

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen spaces anymore because of the current pandemic. The already mentioned parallel of a viral virus and viral videos seems to summarize the proposed connections and thoughts. Facing a viral virus in a pandemic makes us having to become viral via video and virtual connections, creating new ways of solving social puzzles, while digital natives seems to be well set up for a change like this.

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

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Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

Appendices Additional Interview information

1. Interview questions:

Topic 1: General Information

Can you please state your name? (You may also decline, or ask for a pseudonym) How old are you? What is your country of origin? How long have you been in Berlin? Where have you lived in Berlin? Where do you live now in Berlin?

Topic 2: Overview of Raving Before Covid-19

Could you describe a typical rave (party, clubs etc)? Where did you go raving? What clubs? With whom do you go? Can you describe what it feels like to go raving?

Topic 3: Details About Raving

How did you find out about the raves? How long have you been going to raves? How often do you go? What kinds of activities do you participate in the raves? What made you want to go to these raves? Who have you met through raving? How did you meet them? Could you tell me about a specific activity, happening, or situation at a rave that you really enjoyed? Has your participation in raving affected or changed your life in Berlin? If so, how?

Topic 4: Virtual Raving

Thesis for Media and Communication Studies Sally von Rosen

How did you find out about of the virtual rave? Could you tell me about your experience of the virtual rave? What were the expectations? Where were you in “reality” when attending the virtual rave? Did you go by yourself, virtually or in reality? If not, with who? Did you meet someone in the virtual rave? Did the virtual rave feel like a social gathering? How long did you stay at the rave? What do you think a virtual rave is? Is there other kinds than the one you went to? Do you miss real clubs? If so, what do you miss? Would you go to a virtual rave even if the real clubs open again?

Topic 5: Follow-Up Questions/Statement

Do you have any questions for me? The answer’s you have given me will be used in my master thesis, please let me know if you have concerns about this.

2. List of interviews, and the length of the part that was recorded (the part of the interviews that was recorded were only concerning virtual raving):

1. Kienitzer Str., length 6:28 min. 26th of April. 2. Kottbusser Damm, length 6:56 min. 26th of April. 3. Wildenbruchstr., length 14:20 min. 26th of April. 4. Wildenbruchstr., length 09:32 min. 26th of April. 5. Görlitzer Park, length 07:02 min. 26th of April. 6. Tempelhof Park, length 07:26 min. 27th of April. 7. Kienitzer Str., length 6:15 min. 27th of April. 8. Urbanstr., length 07:08 min. 30th of April.