CovidArcadia was a project supported by the Scottish Funding Council to document, map, and analyse responses to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions brought in by local businesses in Edinburgh. The project mapped retailers’ digital and material adaptations to create a visual archive capturing the innovative solutions that businesses came up with in order to continue operating. What began as a bricolage of repurposed items, tables used as barriers, over time progressed into bespoke solutions, like safe servers.
The team collected evidence in several ways. The photographic evidence – both digital and material – was collected by the team, student researchers, and by bicycle couriers as they delivered goods across the city. The project also used interviews, observations, and Instagram as a means of both gathering and disseminating data. The Covid Arcadia Instagram channel archived and analysed how businesses were developing their solutions as rules changed. The resulting gallery of images showcased both physical and digital adaptations, and the place where the two corresponded.
