What does research feel like? How does the place where knowledge is created shape the knowledge itself? And what knowledge remains neglected because we cannot transform them into written words? Building Spaces follows four social scientists through their academic lives, making spaces and practices visible, tangible, and audible that have remained unnoticed until now. Creating knowledge is much less the genius achievement of individuals, but a social and sensory practice. In this sense, the film explores sensory spaces of research. It is about mediating an experience: research, whether artistic or academic, is always a search, an emotional balancing act, a manual labor, a material work.
Elaine Goldberg
A researcher and filmmaker, currently at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. She has a background in theatre studies from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Arts du Spectacle from the Université Rennes 2 (France), and Science and Technology Studies from the University of Vienna, where she has worked as a research assistant in the field of Technoscience, Materiality, & Digital Cultures. Her research focuses on the exploration of epistemic practices and spaces through audiovisual methods, continually questioning the interplay between media and world-building practices.