During my time as a postdoc in the »Topology of Technology« program, I put my longterm research project on track by selecting islands in the North Sea and by making first field visits. On these islands, I want to conduct in-depth research to study the relations between social change and change in material settings. On these islands this general, theoretical question about the relations between materiality and the social displays its full significance: here, I can study if and how the ›aesthetics‹ or the sensual qualities of climate variations enter the everyday life of people living on islands.

Usually, ›climate change‹ is something that is produced and perceived in science and the media. What happens if this abstract entity becomes part of first-hand, corporeal experience or daily practices? Would such experiences (along with the practices that are part of them) constitute or influence political or communal action in specific ways?

Thus, my research interests are two-fold: on the one hand, a passion for doing basic research on a theoretical question; on the other hand, an urge to address vital matters of our current times. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to follow both of these motivations in my current academic research and I very much hope that I will be able to follow this path in the future.

My period as a postdoc fellow at »Topology of Technology« ended in November 2008. Afterwards, I will continue to work on the theoretical framework of this project while being in a six-month research position funded by the Norwegian Research Council’s (Norges Forskningsråd) KULVER program (until July 2009). To secure further funding, and to be able to do the necessary field work, I am applying for funding at different national and international research institutions.

full project description

• materiality (with an aesthetic twist)
• urban studies
• environment
• social theory
• ethnomethodology (with a phenomenological twist)
• science and technology studies
• video analysis

* 1973 in Cuxhaven. 1994-1995 civil service (Ranger in Wadden Sea National Park). 1995-1996 sociology, Christian Albrechts Universität Kiel. 1996-2002 more sociology , Freie and Humboldt Universität in Berlin. 1999/2000 direct exchange scholarship, Indiana University Bloomington (USA), sociology again. 2003-2006 Ph.D. scholarship at the Post-Graduate School »Technology and Society«. 2007-2008 postdoc scholarship at the Post-Graduate School »Topology of Technology«. Fall 2007 guest researcher at the TIK Center, University of Oslo. Since 2009 researcher at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design / Oslo University.

• November 2008: <em>Automatische Irritationen: Ãœberlegungen in Video zur Initiativentfaltung der Dinge.</em> Conference <a href="http://www.gfe-online.org/cms/" title="Homepage der Gesellschaft">Die Sprache der Dinge – kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die materielle Kultur</a> of the Gesellschaft für Ethnographie in Berlin.
• November 2008: <em>Offene Stadtforschung: ein Plädoyer für Ambivalenzen und (selbst-)kritische Methodologien.</em> Founding meeting of the network of young researchers in the sociology of the city, space, and architecture.
• September 2008: <em>The subtle politics of making matter: Musings on the naturalisation of architecture’s product.</em> International workshop <a href="http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/marc/news/seminars/index.htm#asp" title="workshop program at the center’s website">Architectures, Spaces, and Politics</a>. Manchester Architecture Research Centre (MARC).
• August 2008: <em>Encountering Places: Aesthetics of the Lived Moment and the Aesthetics of Long Durations.</em> <a href="http://www.fehnsymposium.no/english/" title="homepage of the international forum for architecture">Fehn Symposium</a> in Oslo.
• April 2008: <em>Space, materiality, perception – The process of envelopment.</em> Session »Thinking Geography.« <a href="http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/2008/" title="conference homepage">Annual meeting</a> of the Association of American Geographers in Boston.
• October 2007: <em>Der Prozess der Einhüllung. Wahrnehmungshandeln und materielle Konstellationen.</em> <a href="http://www.philosophie.tu-darmstadt.de/index.php?id=phil-dgpf-13" title="Konferenz Website">Räume und Orte. Spannungen eines Paradigmas.</a> Konferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für phänomenologische Forschung in Darmstadt.
• July 2007: <em>Subtle. Evident. Encountering the materiality of the Potsdamer Platz.</em> <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/subtle_evident.mp4" title="movie that has been presented during the conference">movie (180 MB)</a>, International interdisciplinary conference <a href="http://www.inevidence.net/" title="conference homepage">InEvidence</a>, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities in Cambridge/UK.
• May 2007: <em>Video research in the open – researcher, camera, and others.</em> International workshop »Video Interaction Analysis – and how to do it« in Berlin.
• August 2006: <em>Moving through the terminal. Investigations into material practices.</em> Session »Landscape, Mobility and Practice.« Annual international confence of the Royal Geographical Society in London.
• June 2006: <em>Ibn Khald&#363;n dans la sociologie allemande.</em> Colloque International »Figures d’Ibn Khald&#363;n. Appropriation, usages.« In Algiers.
• May/June 2006: <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/doorology/" title="presentation outline and video clips">Opening, Closing, and Revolving. Studies in Doorology.</a> Panel »Everyday Stuff: Narrating the Social Lives of Material Objects.« Annual meeting of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association in Toronto.
• March 2006: <em>Automatic Irritations.</em> Session »Ordering / Disordering Space and Matter.« Annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Chicago.
• October 2005: <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/tafs-envelopment.html" title="die Präsentation als Online-Video">Perception, Aesthetics, and Envelopment – Encountering Space and the Materiality of Railway and Ferry Terminal Buildings.</a> International conference <a href="fileadmin/gradkoll/Konferenzen/abschluss/main.html" title="conference website">Technological and Aesthetic (Trans)Formations of Society</a> in Darmstadt.
• April 2005: <em>Pacification by Design: An Ethnography of Normalization Techniques</em>. International conference <a href="http://www.urban-conflicts.net" title="conference website">Negotiating Urban Conflicts</a> in Darmstadt.
• October 2002: <em>Normalität und Kontrolle im Raum – Von Sichtbarkeit und Sicherheit.</em> <a href="http://www.dgs2002.de/" title="Website Konferenz">31. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie</a> in Leipzig – Sektion »Soziale Probleme und Soziale Kontrolle«.

• with Lars Meier: <a href="https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&amp;key2=&amp;orig=results&amp;isbn=0%207546%204929%206" lang="en">Encountering Urban Places – Visual and Material Performances in the City.</a> Series: Re-Materialising Cultural Geography. Ashgate Publishing. 2007.
• with Helmuth Berking, Sybille Frank, Martina Löw, Lars Meier, Silke Steets and Sergej Stoetzer: <a href="http://www.transcript-verlag.de/ts463/ts463inh.htm" lang="en">Negotiating Urban Conflicts – Interaction, Space and Control.</a> Series: Materialities. Transcript Verlag. 2006.

• <em>review:</em> Of Kenneth Liberman: »Husserl’s criticism of reason : With ethnomethodological specifications.« Lanham/MD: Lexington Books. In: Husserl Studies 24(2): 159-166. DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10743-008-9037-3">10.1007/s10743-008-9037-3</a>. 2008.
• <em>encyclopedia entry:</em> »Ibn Khaldun.« International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 2nd edition, vol. 3. Macmillan Reference USA. 2008: 545-546.
• <em><strong>book:</strong></em> <a href="http://www.transcript-verlag.de/ts806/ts806.htm" title="Buchpräsentation auf der Verlagshomepage">Einhüllende Materialitäten : Eine Phänomenologie des Wahrnehmens und Handelns an Bahnhöfen und Fährterminals</a>. Series: Materialities. Transcript Verlag. December 2007.
• <em>article:</em> with Lars Meier: »Encountering Urban Places : Visual and Material Performances in the City.« In: Frers, Meier (eds.) 2007: 1-7.
• <em>article:</em> »Perception, Aesthetics, and Envelopment : Encountering Space and Materiality.« In: Frers, Meier (eds.) 2007: 25-45
• <em>article:</em> with Lars Meier: »Working with the Visual.« In: Frers, Meier (eds.) 2007: 171-181.
• <em>article:</em> with Helmuth Berking, Sybille Frank, Martina Löw, Lars Meier, Silke Steets und Sergej Stoetzer: »Introduction : Negotiating Urban Conflicts.« In: Berking, Frank, Frers, et al. (eds.) 2006: 9-12.
• <em>article:</em> »Pacification by Design : An Ethnography of Normalization Techniques.« In: Berking, Frank, Frers, et al. (eds.) 2006: 245-258.
• <em>article:</em> »Normalization and Constraint : Socio-Spatial Constellations at the Marlene-Dietrich-Platz in Berlin.« In: Jutta Allmendinger (ed.) Entstaatlichung und soziale Sicherheit. Verhandlungen des 31. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Leipzig. Leske und Budrich. 2003.
• <em>thesis:</em> Den Marlene-Dietrich-Platz erleben : Konstellationen im Stadtraum. Institute for Sociology, Free University Berlin. 2001.
• <em>article:</em> »Globalisierung und Steuerung der Stadtentwicklung : ein Konflikt.« Together with Jan Hebecker and Stefan Wiese. In: Bericht des Projektseminars zur Stadtentwicklung. Humboldt University Berlin (organized by Hartmut Häußermann). 1998.

• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/materialitaet/soziale-ordnung.html" title="Alltag, Wahrnehmung, Materialität und Handeln">Materialität und soziale Ordnung. Inselgesellschaften im Klimawandel.</a> (2008)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/materialitaet/motivation.html" title="Videopräsentation zur Motivation meines Forschungsprojekts">Gezeiten und Ströme, Erholung und Erosion. Motivationen.</a> (2007)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/dissertation/dissertation_schreiben.html" title="Wie bekomme ich eine Dissertation fertig, ohne dabei zu Grunde zu gehen?">Dissertation schreiben. Anregungen und Erfahrungen.</a> (2007)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/pacification.html" title="Supplementary page for the article of the same name, published by Transcript Verlag in the volume Negotiating Urban Conflicts : Interaction, Space and Control">Pacification by Design. An Ethnography of Normalization Techniques.</a> (2006)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/tafs-envelopment.html" title="the concept of envelopment and its relation to aesthetics and materiality">Perception, Aesthetics and Envelopment. Encountering Space and the Materiality of Railway and Ferry Terminal Buildings.</a> (2005)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/merleau-ponty/phaenomenologie-vorwort.html" title="textnahe Untersuchung von Merleau-Pontys Bedeutung für ethnografische Forschung">Merleau-Pontys Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung oder Mehr Tiefgang für die Ethnografie.</a> (2004)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/begriffe.html" title="kurze Diskussion der Zusammenhänge zwischen Materialität, Dingen und sozialen Praktiken">Zum begrifflichen Instrumentarium – Dinge und Materialität, Praxis und Performativität.</a> (2004)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/ethnomethodology.html" title="essay on the significance of ethnomethodology for my research">Am I an Ethnomethodologist?</a> (2004)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/dissprojekt.html" title="Forschungsprojekt zu Fährterminals und Bahnhöfen">Skizze des Dissertationsprojekts.</a> (2002)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/norm_space.html" title="inquiry into the relations between spatial design and social action at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin">Normalization and Constraint in Space. Socio-Spatial Constellations at the Marlene-Dietrich-Platz in Berlin.</a> (2002)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/mdp/" title="Studie zu Raum, Architektur und sozialem Handeln am Potsdamer Platz in Berlin">Den Marlene-Dietrich-Platz erleben. Konstellationen im Stadtraum.</a> (2001/2002)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/authority_science.html" title="inquiry into the causes of the authority of science and into the role of objectivity">Authority of Science and Objectivity in Science Studies.</a> (2000)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/ibn_khaldun.html" title="comparison of Ibn Khaldun and Comte, arguing for inclusion of Ibn Khaldun into social theory classes">Ibn Khaldun and Comte. Discontinuity or Progress.</a> (1999)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/unterhaltungszentren.html" title="Sozioökonomische Gründe für die Entstehung von Urban Entertainment Centern">Urban Entertainment Center. Zur Bedeutung eines zentralen Ortstypus im Stadtraum.</a> (1999)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/exklusion.html" title="Einordnung des Begriffs der sozialen Exklusion">Die Verräumlichung der Exklusion. Falltür ins Elend.</a> (1999)
• <a href="http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~frers/arbeit_interaktion.html" title="kritische Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs von Arbeit und Interaktion">Arbeit und Interaktion. Kritik der analytischen Trennung zweier Grundbegriffe bei Jürgen Habermas.</a> (1998)