Contemporary Closeness – an audio archive on embodied isolation and interpersonal voices
By Kirstin Burckhardt in the framework of the Body Map Institute
The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic across the globe was mirrored by the abrupt shutdown of public life. To me, it felt like slamming on the brakes, with the jarring stutter reverberating underfoot.
An eerie feeling washed over me; just a year earlier, I had been researching the psychological effects of isolation cells in the Western prison system, asking: What happens when we take interpersonal closeness away? Before the pandemic, closeness was so self-evident that I often had to explain its vital importance and how its absence—often used as a form of torture in prisons—can be detrimental; afterwards, no explanation was needed.
The pandemic stripped away the familiar, forcing people into isolation or (tight) family proximities. It highlighted the profound emotional toll of dis:connection. Loneliness and anxiety surged as social interactions vanished overnight, leaving many to grapple with an unsettling void. Conversely, people in cohabitating communities were dealing with issues that could be maneuvered before now bubbled to the forefront.
The psychologist Lisa Guenther argues that depriving us of the ability to touch or be touched dismantles “the structure of our being”1 [1] as relational creatures, making it clear that our well-being is intricately tied to our connections with others.
In the first half of 2020, I recorded in-depth talks with people in art, medicine, psychology, theology, dance, activism, teaching, curating, and composing for a series I titled Contemporary Closeness. Each conversation, lasting 1-3 hours, was recorded from the intimacy of our rooms in Berlin, Bogotá, San Francisco, Copenhagen, Verdens Ende, Hamburg, Medellín, Los Angeles, Härnösand, and Cape Town.
This archive, serving as both a research platform and an empathy oscillator, aims to depict the impact of isolation—where closeness becomes simultaneously a health risk and an imperative for mental survival.
The talks remain yet unpublished and include:
ANDREA ACOSTA
CAROLYN CHEN
BRENDA I STEINECKE SOTO
DANIA BURGER AND PEDER K BUGGE
DANIELA VON DAMAROS
JESSICA OWUSU BOAKYE
JOHANNA BRUCKNER
JUDITH LEWAYAN
KATE AND KLAUS BURCKHARDT
KIM FONTANA
KLAUDIA STOLL
LISA W CARLSON
LUDWIG SEYFARTH
MAXIE SCHULTE
NADINE DEI
NICOLE WENDEL
SAJAN MANI
SARA LU
SEVDA SEMMER
THEODORE TEMPLE
TUE SOVSO
ANNA-LENA WENZEL
WARREN NEIDICH
YEIS