Both create resonance

What connects a sociologist who thinks about the fundamental conditions of a good life with a philharmonic musician for whom music is the most beautiful thing in the world? More than might be obvious. Hartmut Rosa and Przemysław Bobrowski both know that sometimes the shortest path is the one that brings you peace—and that connection only happens when you truly engage. A conversation about mountains and bureaucracy, about the Volkshaus as a meeting place of worlds, and about what science and art can move together in a university town.

Which short path has recently brought you a major solution or a beautiful moment?

Hartmut Rosa: In Jena, Paradies park is always just a few hundred meters away—it’s a place where all axes of resonance can open up. It is a place of social encounter between young and old, academic and non-academic, athletic and non-athletic. It is a place of nature, a place of music, a place of the night sky: where the axes of resonance intersect. I was, recently during Pentecost, fortunate enough to experience just this.

Przemysław Bobrowski: I am a passionate mountaineer. Sometimes the shortest path is simply to go into the mountains and stop analyzing everything.

Philharmonic musician and sociologist—is there a place in Jena where you could cross paths by chance and it wouldn't surprise you at all?

Hartmut Rosa: The Volkshaus isn't called the “house of the people” by accident—it’s just a stone's throw from the Institute of Sociology, and we’ve held many large events there. And those, in turn, don't work without music. Music—society—sociology: these three belong together, and the Volkshaus is symbolic of that.

Przemysław Bobrowski: Jena is unique and very vibrant. The nature surrounding the city is also very inviting. We could certainly run into each other while hiking at the Studentenrutsche..

What are you really good at, and what are you perhaps a bit proud of?

Hartmut Rosa: If I am asked on Judgment Day what good I have done, I will not name my books or my research—but my work with young people at the university and at SchülerAkademien [pupils' academies]. Once, we brought a play from the SchülerAkademie to the university’s main auditorium to celebrate the FSU: that’s where worlds collided, and I'm proud of that, just a little…

Przemysław Bobrowski: I am proud to be a part of the Jena Philharmonic. My hobby is my profession. I deal with the most beautiful material in the world—music.

When does the resonance snap, and how do you bring it back?

Hartmut Rosa: Resonance is always lost when bureaucracy comes into play. Writing grant proposals, preparing expert evaluations, drafting reports, filling out forms. That's where all life dies. It returns when I am allowed to think through writing—or when a discussion in the seminar room picks up steam.

Przemysław Bobrowski: I see myself as part of something bigger - the orchestra, society, humanity... If you don't lose sight of that, then resonance should remain.

If Jena is selected as a University of Excellence, everyone wins. What are your hopes for the future of this partnership between the city and the university?

Hartmut Rosa: I have a strong wish that the university would see itself as an organic, living part of the city—and that the city would perceive the university as a place of energy, life, inspiration, and renewal.

Przemysław Bobrowski: Science and art should shape the cityscape. That is precisely what makes Jena cosmopolitan and exciting.

I’m part of the university city of Jena because…

Hartmut Rosa: …early on in my academic life, I was able to experience what a university city Jena truly is: the university is integrated into city life, the citizens take an interest in what we do, and even more: they are part of what we do—and we at the university are part of urban life.

Przemysław Bobrowski: …I feel connected to its innovative and tolerant society.