In an argument about the idea of successful abrupt auflösung [dissolution] of “older” technologies, Tabeas’ ethnographic research project explores the -perhaps irony- of the internal combustion engine. Since its invention in the 1880s, the internal combustion engine has been a global success, quite literally paving the way for mobility as we recognize it today. However, contextualised as one of the leading causes of air pollution (and perpetrators of fatal accidents), did she burn too bright; will the combustion engine go up in flames?
Drawn from a personal dissonance of wanting to make more sustainable life choices but actively enjoying motorsports and occasionally drooling over cars, Tabeas’ research focus was ultimately heavily inspired by her sibling – among other things, a passionate car enthusiast. Exploring the relationship between car enthusiast and car in the birthplace of the combustion engine automobile, Stuttgart, Germany, her visual output of choice is a photobook.
In a parallel to the research topic, a focus on the combustion engine whilst “newer” technologies seek to replace it, Tabeas’ visual output speaks through an “older” medium; photography in book form. One could argue, within the ethnographic toolbox and multimodal dissemination, film is the “newer” successor. In attempt not to overcrowd image with word and impose her own experience as a consequence, the photobook intends to trigger reflection about the viewers own relationship with and towards the internal combustion engine automobile. A relationship beyond practicalities or not, the car is a significant companion in modern western European life: how will we respond to a change?
Bio
Born in the UK, to a German mother and Indian father, Tabeas’ older brother soon introduced her to the world of toy cars, model cars and Hot Wheels. Core memories of growing up in India involve afternoons spent avoiding the heat, lying belly down on the dark wood floor of her siblings’ bedroom among a car world built out of Lego. (Picture an elaborate city catered to cars, with extravagant multilevel garages replacing houses and animated cars replacing humans; I dare joke, Pixar was inspired by us).
Tabeas’ interest however didn’t stop at cars, rather, it leaked into the terrain of being interested… in human interests. What do people enjoy? Why do people enjoy what they enjoy? How can we have a genuine interest in some things, not caring in the slightest about others? Her curiosity towards the diversity of human interest and modern human life led to a BSc in Psychology and Criminology, asking the question: who decides how we [should] live?
Introduced finally to the concept of multimodal anthropology, Tabea discovered the discipline within which she had the space to explore and express her social scientific interests in creative form, celebrating the disciplines capacity to lean into non-verbal communication methods of various types of art.
