Club Culture and Corona: First Ones to Close and Last Ones to Re-Open

"Clubs play an important role in the symbolic and cultural value of urban spaces," says cultural scientist Robin Kuchar. Clubs and concert halls have become important places in the cultural infrastructure of cities, as can be seen, for example, in the Berghain in Berlin or the former Star-Club in Hamburg, known for performances by the Beatles. In this context, they mainly have so-called 'secondary economic effects': the club and concert culture of a city influences the tourism industry, but above all contributes to local culture and the (pop) cultural heritage of a city. With the rapid spread of the Corona pandemic in spring 2020, clubs and venues were forced to close without exception. Kuchar, who has already conducted intensive research on the development of club spaces and local scenes, decided to investigate the influence of the Corona pandemic on club and concert culture as part of a project seminar in the Cultural Studies Major. In various sub-projects, the students together with Kuchar collected qualitative as well as quantitative data through interviews, surveys and ethnographic fieldwork. "The students were thus able to directly implement methodological principles of research using a current case," Kuchar explains.

Interviews with club operators showed that there were different approaches to dealing with the pandemic and closure of clubs. Many club operators started digital streaming formats. However, this was not an alternative source of income: "Many actors simply established streaming formats in order to still be able to do what they live for. Namely, to create culture. Especially in the course of the second lockdown in the winter of 2020/21, increased psychological stress was noted among the actors. "The work bans in the cultural sector caused a kind of mental insolvency among many club operators* in the winter of 2020/21, which was perceived as worse than the economic hardship," says Kuchar. Despite bridging aid from the federal government, club operators built up debts and had to live off their savings. "We have had feedback from some that they have depleted all private reserves and retirement savings. Without aid money and public bailouts, I don't think a lot of the clubs and venues would have made it through the pandemic," Kuchar explains. The study also found that the pandemic has led to significant perceptions of loss on the part of audiences and for local music scenes. "The physical meeting places for scenes have suddenly disappeared. Liveness, a sense of space and immediate social exchange cannot be compensated for digitally. The 'felt' intimacy with the performing artists, the physicality of the music as well as the collective experience cannot be recreated one-to-one at home."

For Kuchar, the teaching model of 'research-based learning' has paid off: "Project seminars offer a very good opportunity for students to try out their own empirical projects in an interest-driven way. In this way, students learn together to develop a basis for their own projects, to apply methodological principles and to collect empirical data.