Contribution short abstract:

Drawing from manifestos of convivial methodologies (Berg & Nowicka 2019) and the play ethic (Kane 2011), we engage in a playful exploration of a range of collaborative methods to better understand the life-worlds and futuremaking of labour migrants and commuters on the Polish-German border.

Contribution long abstract:

While collaboration has become nearly a prerequisite for considering visual research worthwhile, collaborative visual research can mean many different things and a line between collaboration and exploitation is often thin. In this contribution we want to think both creatively and critically about collaborative visual methods. Drawing from manifestos of convivial methodologies (Berg & Nowicka 2019) on the one hand and the play ethic (Kane 2011) on the other, we propose a playful exploration of a range of collaborative methods, a “menu” from which to choose or start further collaborative search with our research participants/partners.

The aim is to design research which is not “ethical” in the sense of ticking boxes of ethical commissions preoccupied with legal responsibility, but moral, in line with our own consciences. As the play ethic is about having the confidence to be spontaneous, creative and emphatic, we would like to use a research design that is centred around the passions and enthusiasm of our research partners and ourselves. Getting ready for work with

migrant and trans-border workers within our project, we are interested in “non-linear ways of knowing and transmitting multiple worlds” which will be useful and fulfilling both for us and the people with whom we will research.

Coming from a convivial perspective that focuses on the art and practice of living together in solidarity despite differences, we are interested in how visual output can contribute to transmitting the multiple life-worlds of mobile workers, finding proximity to wider audiences, and working towards more sustainable communities.