COVID Lounge and Social Club

Participatory installation prepared and enacted for Residence Artist’s Open Studios on 18 December 2021 at GlogauAiR in Berlin, Germany.

Context:
The winter holiday season.
Dark, cold.
People pulled in many directions–last minute shopping, gathering with friends, touring art galleries and open studios. COVID numbers rising; and rules to minimize possibly unsafe social interactions are rewritten by the government several times a week.
One favorite place to gather in these times of social reinvention is outdoors with warm mugs of Glühwein (spiced red wine).

CLaSC is a social lounge for the art visitor. Free mugs of homemade Glühwein are served to visitors provided they follow my rules. These rules keep changing.

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Rule #1: Scan the QR Code and fill out this form

Rule #2: Sign in on the COVID contact list (even though this was performed when the visitor entered the building).

Rules #3, 4, 5, etc. Are written on the chalkboard at the greeting station. This board is updated once an hour. Examples include: Now serving Glühwein. 2 Visitors at a time.//Now serving Glühwein. 1 Visitor at a time//Now serving Glühwein. Please purchase a new face mask before entering.

 

As visitors enter the lounge, they are directed on where to sit. Two couches are arranged opposite one another, the windows between them are kept wide open. Between the windows and couches, sits a small monitor on a low table. On the monitor, all of the most up to date COVID rules and regulations established by the German government scroll repeatedly. Across from the scrolling COVID rules video, a large flat screen monitor plays a video of a crackling log fire. Visitors are asked to keep their masks on until they are served Glühwein. If two visitors are present, they sit on opposite sides of the room, one on each couch. If there is only one visitor allowed, I sit across from them. Usually.

 

 

 

18 December, CLaSC
 Reflections
Guests were invited to enter the lounge and drink homemade Glühwein if they followed the rules. The rules kept changing. The basic rules were that visitors needed to scan a QR code, fill out an online form, enter their contact information on a COVID contact form, and show me proof of vaccination or recovery. Early visitors did not stop long enough to assess the situation or ask questions: No open studio door; keep walking. One visitor registered their COVID contact information, showed me proof of vaccination and scanned the QR code, but would not fill out the online form. A large group of people wanted to hang out in the lounge as a group and drink Glühwein, but was unwilling to deal with any bureaucracy.

The 15 participants who entered the lounge, lingered. They lingered in an absurdly comfortable–uncomfortable space. I responded and interacted differently with each guest or pair of guests.

Those who came into the lounge thanked me afterwards for the experience. They liked the atmosphere, the absurdity, the fucking with the rules, and commented frequently that the Glühwein tasted good. They also enjoyed the conversations.

I met and conversed with people from Jordan, Egypt, Germany, Russia, Korea, Italy, Spain, Columbia, Australia… Some of these people met one another. We talked about apartments in Berlin (and how they’re hard to find); we talked about art, we talked about Covid rules, we talked about personal relationships; we talked about being in Berlin.

From one young Korean participant, I learned that she came to Berlin on vacation and never went back home. She didn’t like Korea. She now teaches private piano lessons but never studied piano. I learned from another Lounger where to find good eyeglass frames in Mitte. Affordable, stylish, vintage. Small business. I learned from her friend that a politician in Russia bought a mask and disposable glove factory early in the pandemic and now all Russians are required not only to wear a mask in public but also disposable gloves (even if one goes to the Russian embassy to renew a passport here in Germany). I learned that not all Germans like Glühwein (he chose to lounge with a mask on and not drink Glühwein).