'5+1' with Esra Aydin – spokesperson cultural engagement at Volkswagen Group

Lately we talked to Esra Aydin who is spokesperson for the cultural engagement at Volkswagen Group. Esra manages international cultural and social engagement projects and cooperations in the fields of art and design. Besides being part of VW’s inter-divisional network ‘Future Heads’, she is Editor in Chief of Volkswagen’s magazine ‘Crossing’. Find out more about her work and motivation, her projects ‘Build on Volkswagen’ and ‘Crossing’ as well as her relationship to owning a car.

1. You are the spokesperson for the cultural engagement at the Volkswagen Group. What does your job involve and what is it that drives you?

I often say that I am in fact a translator. The way that society functions has always fascinated me as a social scientist. This fascination considers Citizens, Corporations, Public Institutions, NGOs, Political parties, Media etc. as both stakeholders and contributors.
In my job as a spokesperson for cultural engagement I work at these interfaces between business, society, art, design and media. I manage cultural partnerships between Volkswagen Group and museums, initiate research collaborations and dialogues about broader societal topics such as sustainable design and post-urban mobility. I organise exhibitions and/or Volkswagen contributions to exhibitions and curate accompanying (education) workshops with artists, designers, curators and different Volkswagen experts. Our goals are providing access to art and culture, supporting educational efforts and enabling intercultural exchange. I believe in the concept of Corporate Citizenship and I see a growing need for corporate responsibly in a world that faces major challenges like climate change, political instability, societal injustice and a growing digital gap. Investing in social and cultural capital is key to driving innovation for a sustainable future. As a mother I am ever more concerned about the planet that my daughter will inherit. That drives me.

2. Within your work at VW, you are also Editor in Chief of the magazine ’Crossing‘. What is the focus of the magazine and how do you curate the content? 

When I was a student, I worked as a freelance journalist for a German newspaper. Already then I very much enjoyed identifying interesting topics, stories and interview partners. Recently with the rise of social media and digital formats, my job as a communications manager has changed from being a press contact to becoming a content producer. We very successfully established Volkswagen Group Culture Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Podcasts to make our partners’ work visible to a broader audience. It’s all about access.
So why Crossing, a printed magazine, one could ask? Again, it’s all about access. Crossing is a free culture magazine that addresses people who normally would not come across an art magazine. Crossing features our cultural partners. It allows a look behind the scenes; portraying artists, makers and thinkers that Volkswagen Group is associated with. Furthermore, I enable a nuanced view with potentially controversial opinions and make Volkswagen Group an accessible dialogue partner who supports divers perspectives. With Crossing Magazine I could create the space and frame for that. Importantly the art direction reflects the free and contemporary spirit of the content. Each of the carefully designed and printed volumes of the bi-annual publication is dedicated to an overarching theme, e.g. Post-urban in the current issue. You can subscribe to receive Crossing or get it everywhere we are: Museums, Concert Halls, Universities, etc.. 

3. You are part of the ‘Future Heads’ – a network established 4 years ago within the Volkswagen Group. What was the intention to build such a network? What is the vision and what are the projects you are working on?

The intention is change. The Volkswagen Group Future Heads network is a prototype for a virtual organisation with a cross-divisional governance. Self initiated projects are the driving force. In other words: colleagues with all kinds of professional backgrounds and career positions come together to work on impending questions about our future, that are identified in and by members of the network itself. Volkswagen, as a traditional car manufacturer is in the midst of a transformation process driven by technological developments, climate change and social challenges. In an ever more connected world all kinds of stakeholders and considerations impact this transformation process. Together the Future Heads are identifying new unconsidered needs and blind spots, or we explore how cultural understanding might influence engineering.
We started with a strategic initiative named the Futures of Mobility. I, as a Social Scientist, based in the communications department, managing cultural cooperations found myself discussing vehicles and/or mobility solutions together with designers, engineers, software developers etc. The interdisciplinary approach is important because I, of course, look at the world less from a technological but more from a stakeholder perspective. I truly believe in the power and success of divers teams. Transformation and innovation can only be achieved by overcoming old structures and hierarchies benefiting those who haven already been in power for a long time. The work is very much about co-creation, knowledge sharing and pitching ideas. Within the network, embodying its spirit, I myself initiated a strategic discussion. Together with my colleague Daniela Blaschke from the Public Affairs department I started a conversation about Post-urban Scenarios because we think that we need to pay more attention to non-urban areas and develop new mobility solutions in that context. Eventually we teamed up with renowned architect and urban thinker Rem Koolhaas and his colleague Samir Bantal, who have been researching the countryside for the last seven years. We not only became their research partner but even contributed to their Countryside exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum with a study of a shared electric, solar fueled tractor for the African continent that was developed by my colleagues in Wolfsburg and South Africa. Without the Future Heads network the e-tractor would have never had access to that kind of audience.

4. With the project ‘Build on Volkswagen‘ you have dealt with the future of mobility. Together with Berlin design studio New Tendency you have developed a digital configurator for the modular future concept where customers are able to design the interiors of mobile spaces as they wish. How will mobility change within the next ten years?

”Mobility: the ability to move freely or be easily moved.” That’s one of the first definitions that one will find when looking up the term in a dictionary. In every day life we often encounter the expression in the context of transportation: vehicles, travels, logistics, people, data or goods moving from one place to the other. 

I work for a car manufacturer and, of course, the term traditionally applies to vehicles with the aim to move people or goods. With the shift to electric mobility and the battery replacing the engine vehicles will substantially change in their design and mandate. This is to say that more than people and goods are moving. The Volkswagen MEB (modular electric toolkit) can be regarded as a platform on which you can build mobile spaces. We literally talk about spaces on wheels. We can have a shop, a doctor’s office, a bank office and whatever we might need in the future.

With “Build on Volkswagen“ we showcase the potential of a modular system, that can create a new mobile vital infrastructure in rural areas where more and more shops are closing and doctors are moving away. The digital configurator developed together with New Tendency is a showcase for co-creation and at the same time a tool to design your very own mobile space!

I believe that the next ten years will be challenging. We are in the midst of a transformation process towards emission free mobility. Another major challenge is the digitisation that will completely change what has been defining a vehicle so far. This transformation will be challenging but I prefer to see the bright sides: The future of mobility will be much more sustainable, also more accessible and colourful! Coming back to the definition: Mobility is in fact so much more: It’s a right, a social condition, prerequisite for access and change.

5. What is your relationship to owning a car?

I got my drivers license at 18. In my middle-sized hometown driving my own little car was essential for my independence back then. That said, for the last 15 years I have been living in big cities wherein I mainly use my bike, public transportation, mobility services and recently almost daily We-share, Volkswagen’s electric car sharing to get around. But now my family and I will be moving into a “post-urban“ area of Berlin, and suddenly my husband, who is from Manhattan, and I find ourselves turning into typical new car customers who buy a family car with the arrival of the first baby. We are dreaming of a yellow ID Buzz, the electric version of the iconic VW Bus. For now we use my parents old car.   

And the +1 question from Esra to you: “What if mobility becomes a space and an experience without any actual movement?”

We are looking forward to your answers. Thanks Esra for the great and inspiring interview.

Picture 1, 10: Lenz Flare
Picture 2, 3, 8: Alycia Kravitz
Picture 4-7: Ludwig Haslberger
Picture 9: NEW TENDENCY+
Interview: Britta Reineke