MultimOst is a new online colloquium connecting researchers across Eastern Germany, East Europe and beyond who work on movement—such as gestures, or facial expressions— in spoken and signed languages, images, and other aspects of multimodality in human and animal communication. The name combines multi (multimodality), Ost (East), and most (bridge in many Eastern European languages).

We meet ca. three times per year for informal talks and discussion, welcoming researchers at all career stages.

26.01.2026: Susanne Fuchs (Leibniz-ZAS, Berlin) „MultimOst united: from past to present in studying the role of the body in communication“

In this talk, I will discuss how the symbolic role of the body in sports and art in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) influenced my socialization and may have contributed to my current interest in the body, its properties, and its role in multimodal communication. I will summarize empirical work demonstrating that the entire body contributes to meaningful multimodal communication, from head to toe. The examples focus on: 
1) the change in head rotation angle when looking up and its impact on fundamental frequency (F0);
2) the effect of fast manual co-speech gestures on the respiratory system, intensity, and F0; and
3) the underexplored role of the lower body in maintaining balance and stability, as well as signalling attitudes toward an interlocutor and leader-follower scenarios in multimodal communication.
I will conclude my talk by presenting a unified perspective from both the East and West and an integration of different body parts in multimodal communication.
The talk will be held online via Microsoft Teams. Those interested in attending the colloquium are kindly asked to contact me by email.