Webinar to be held on 24 March 2021, 11am – 4pm.

The Covid19 pandemic has caused people, worldwide, to be confined to their homes for extended periods of time. In addition to their traditional roles as places of refuge and nurturing, homes have had to accommodate the additional roles of schools, gymnasia, restaurants, cinemas, offices, making spaces and more. Above all, the home has been looked to as a site to support and enhance the well-being of its inhabitants in a variety of ways. Many of these new functions are tech-enabled. At the same time, the work and hospitality spaces in our city centre buildings sit empty.

MIRC’s Webinar, Interiors in the era of Covid19, invites reflections on the complex ways in which interiors have responded historically, and are responding, to Coronavirus and similar historical crises. It welcomes papers on the multiple transformations that have taken place in interiors, both private and public, as a result of these. In turn, we will ask: how has this affected our perceptions of, and our relationships with, the interiors we inhabit?

Topics could include:

The changing functions and identity of the home in the context of Covid-19

The home office

The interior in the community

Well-being in the home

The home connected by technology

Making in the home

Historical case-studies of the effects of crises/pandemics on interiors

We are inviting suggestions for 10-minute papers. Please send a max 300-word synopsis on your chosen topic to Patricia Lara-Betancourt by 12th December 2020.

For further information please visit this page.