[Themaintainers] Join our workshop "Histories of Maintenance and Repair" online (2 - 3 September 2021)

[Thomas HOPPENHEIT]

Dear all,

Over the past fifteen years, maintenance and repair practices have gained increasing academic attention, but the literature in the fields of history and philosophy of technology, science and technology studies, sociology and anthropology of technology is still focused on invention and newness. Complementing recent calls for a history of technology-in-use (D. Edgerton), broken-world thinking (S. Jackson) and a history of technology “after innovation” (A. Russell & L. Vinsel), we are working on the first systematic historical investigation of repair and maintenance in a Western consumer society.
In the spirit of chasing this turn, we have invited international scholars to present their own take on the histories of maintenance and repair. These range from considering the philosophical implications of our studies, to understanding societies through their creative interaction with technology, or the maintenance of large technological systems, and beyond. For a detailed picture, please see the program below. Together we will discuss the challenges of the field, share our fascination for technology and people, and close the gap one story at a time.

To join our (online) exchange, please write an e-mail to vanessa.napolitano at uni.lu<mailto:vanessa.napolitano at uni.lu> (before 15 Aug.) to receive the Webex-invitation.

We are looking forward to meeting you!
Stefan Krebs, Rebecca Mossop, and Thomas Hoppenheit

Please find the program below and soon also on repair.uni.lu.

Day 1: Thursday, 2.9.2021 (all times UTC+2)
10:00 – 11:00    Welcome by the organizers and introduction of participants

Philosophy of Repair
11:00 – 11:45     Mark Thomas Young, University of Bergen
Making and Maintaining: What Philosophers of Technology can learn from the Study of Maintenance
11:45 – 12:00     Coffee Break

Maintaining High-Tech (and Power)
12:00 – 12:45     Sangwoon Yoo, Seoul National University
Innovation in Maintenance: Technical Achievements of Cleanroom Operators and Maintainers in Korean Semiconductor Production Line, 1980s-2000s
12:45 – 13:30     Liliana Gil, New School for Social Research, New York
The Brazilian "Electronics Paradise:" Repair Work, Expertise, and Global Connections in Santa Efigênia
13.30 - 14.30      Lunch Break

Off the Grid: Everyday Repair Practices
14:30 - 15:15      Kostas Latoufis and Aristotle Tympas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Makeshift Engineering: Repairing Machines, Crafting Knowledge and Maintaining Relationships with Locally Manufactured Small Wind Turbines
15:15 - 16:00      Yovanna Pineda, University of Central Florida
Gendered Spaces of Repair, Maintenance, and Knowledge Production in Argentina, Twentieth Century

Day 2: Friday, 3.9.2021 (all times UTC+2)
10:00 - 10:30      Summary of Day 1
10.30 - 11.15      Anaïs Bloch, HEAD-Genève
Mobile Repair Cultures: from informal repair to silent innovation, the smartphone case
11.15 - 11.30      Coffee break

Maintaining Infrastructures
11:30 - 12:15      Laura Meneghello, Siegen University
Between Old and New: “Modernizing”, Maintaining and Repairing Pneumatic Tube Systems
12:15 - 13:00      Martin Meiske, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
Cultures and Costs of Maintenance. The Rise of Creosote and its Precarious Legacy
13.00 - 14.00      Lunch Break
14:00 - 14:45      Amanda McMillan Lequieu, Drexel University
Imagining the unmaintained object: Industrial transportation infrastructure decline as narrative symbol in the American Rust Belt

Visual Inventory of Repair Practices
14:45 - 15:30      Sam Bennett, Parsons School of Design, New York
A New Year’s Resolution of Repair: Investigated through Niche Repair Shops of New York City
15:30 - 16:00      Closing Remarks

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