ABSTRACT
The events that unfolded in 2020 have been a massive disruption to our everyday lives. As millions were stuck at home under the impact of a global pandemic, the everyday rose to the surface – it became hard to be blind to our daily gestures and routines – there was no escape from the quotidian. We also became acutely aware of our environment as we had time on our hands to “interrogate our small spoons and wondered what was underneath our wallpaper?”. 1 Although we were living an extraordinary situation, paradoxically it was the triumph of the infra-ordinaire. 2 While our streets, museums, and offices were largely empty, our homes had become even more of a “cockpit”, where increased chafing and rubbing of our bodies onto its fabric speeded up the traces of its inhabitants molded into its interiors. 3 During times of crisis, our everyday gestures also begin to shield us from threatening events; the most mundane and repetitive side of our lives becomes reassuring. In such situations, “the constant exchange with the set of daily appearances surrounding us” becomes comforting – “often they are very familiar, sometimes they are unexpected and new, but always they confirm us in our lives. They do so even when they are frightening”. 4 The most familiar activity perhaps to gain an unexpected renewal of attention associated with fear during this period of uncertainty was the act of washing our hands. As guidelines encouraged us to repeat this gesture ad infinitum, we gave it a specified duration, engrained a technique of gestures, and even began to adorn it with musical soundtracks. Suddenly, the act of washing hands became a defined performance set to the tune of “Happy Birthday” or other 20-second songs devised by experts and the public alike. An abundance of videos, signage, and even a shortage of consumer products emerged from our new-found attention to this cleansing routine. We began to focus on every detail of a mundane activity that would have gone by unnoticed in normal times. It may take a while for the everyday to subside back to its minor status and for our blindness 2to the ordinary to return. No matter if consciously perceived or receding into the background, the everyday remains the backbone of our lives; it is life itself.
