Quo vadis ars?

The situation in the cultural sector has been described and discussed in numerous interviews, corona diaries, comments and reports in the past few weeks. Our annotated collection of currently 193 sources gathers voices from different sectors and media. This creates a picture of the cultural landscape in crisis, whose temporal transformation can be explored interactively via a dedicated tag cloud.


 

»Diese Selbstverständlichkeit ist passé!« . Neustart des Musiklebens
»This matter of course is passé!« . Restart of the musical life

by Marie König, Frauke Roth (15 Feb 2021)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk

Although an opening prospect is not yet in sight, but subscribers are already waiting impatiently for the start of concerts at the Dresden Philharmonic. How the upcoming concerts might look, however, is still unclear. At the moment, no tickets are being sold, as the experience of last year has created a great deal of uncertainty for everyone involved. Nevertheless, the artistic director of the Dresden Philharmonic, Marie König, is looking positively into the future. Not only does her house have an excellent ventilation system, but last fall also showed that visitors are taking advantage of the event dates on offer. If a checkerboard pattern could be offered to the audience, then the sense of community that is created at a concert could also be re-established.
As a long-term consequence for the concert business, she sees that the belief in planning security - both in terms of performances and for tours - has been permanently shaken. The long planning cycles that existed before the crisis will no longer exist after the crisis. There will also be increased attention to the fact that events where many people come together in small spaces will not take place for a while. In Dresden, for example, the concert introduction will no longer be offered as a face-to-face event, but as a podcast.

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tag Lockdown Öffnung Programmplanung Schachbrettmuster Dresdner Philharmonie gemeinschaftliches Erlebnis
Music Interview

Beendet den kulturellen Notstand! . 100 Tage Kultur im Lockdown
Stop the cultural emergency! . 100 Days of Culture in Lockdown

by René Schlott (08 Feb 2021)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk Kultur

Cultural institutions in Germany have been closed for 100 days. The representatives of the interests of those working in the cultural sector are barely succeeding in making their voices heard. Emergency decisions such as the closure of all Berlin theaters until Easter are hailed as a victory for planning security, rather than a loss of cultural participation. Instead - as historian René Schlott notes with surprise - statements that fuel the closure of the theaters are increasingly heard in the media. For example, the cancellation of the Leipzig Book Fair was greet ed with hope in a Berlin newspaper as a sign that other major events will soon be canceled.Positive examples such as the successful staging of the Salzburg Festival are no longer mentioned.  On the last weekend in January, the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, declared a »cultural state of emergency« as part of the »Théatres Ouverts« initiative. This must also be ended as quickly as possible in our country.

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tag kultureller Notstand Lockdown Theater Museen Planungssicherheit Benoît Payan Théatres Ouverts Berichterstattung
All sections Appell

Kulturaufstand in Frankreich . Eine Stunde Theater trotz Lockdown
Cultural Uprising in France . One hour theatrer despite lockdown

by Eberhard Spreng, Eckhard Roelcke (30 Jan 2021)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk Kultur

The mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan, together with other cities and independent theaters, has called for civil disobedience: Theaters should play for one hour in the afternoon. The initiative »Théatres Ouverts«  originally comes from smaller theaters. The mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, took up the initiative and thus ensured a large public. In Avignon, where the initiative originated, the short-term opening of the theater was prevented by the police. In other places, poems were read or tango danced.
The contribution of Beno&i circ;t Payan is the announcement of a manifesto that advocates the opening of theaters. The idea is to play mainly outdoors in the south of France to minimize the risk of contagion. The »hour of disobedience« is directed primarily against the government in Paris and here above all against President Emmanuel Macron, who currently pays little attention to culture. However, the attitude of Benoît Payan is very ambivalent, since in the middle of the week he was still urging to follow the rules to contain the pandemic due to the increase in infections.

 

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tag Theater Freie Szene ziviler Ungehorsam Théatres Ouverts Benoît Payan
Performing Arts/ Cinema Interview

Die Literaturszene verliert ihre Foren . Absage der Leipziger Buchmesse
The literary scene loses its forums . Cancellation of the Leipzig Book Fair

by Helmut Böttiger (29 Jan 2021)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk Kultur

The Leipzig Book Fair will not take place in 2021 either. Even the postponement to the beginning of May seems untenable for a major event. For the industry in transition, the cancellation is a painful loss, not only financially, because what is currently understood as literature and how it is talked about has changed noticeably. Today, literature is a small market segment of the so-called culture industry and is no longer a place of debate about aesthetic standards and socio-political issues.  An indicator for this is the announcement of the WDR to go new ways in li terature reviews. The book fair would have offered publishers and authors a forum to exchange ideas about this structural crisis.

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tag Buchmesse Literaturkritik Verlage Event Quo vadis ars
Literature/ Text Kommentar

Leipziger Buchmesse abgesagt
Leipzig Book Fair canceled

by Martin Hoferick (29 Jan 2021)
Original source: Kulturzeit

A major event is currently hardly plannable and so it is not surprising that the director of the Leipzig Book Fair, Oliver Zille, announced this week with a heavy heart the cancellation of this year's fair. Precisely because Leipzig relies on so many forms of encounter, the fair is hardly safe to hold this year. A shift to the digital is out of question for the organizers, because here the personal encounter as a central element of the Leipzig fair cannot be adequately implemented. The format itself will definitely be retained in the coming years, the situation on th e book market is good despite the cancellation. Nevertheless, Andreas Rötzer from the publishing house Matthes und Seitz demands that support for the industry must be considered if other major events are cancelled in the course of the year. A vaccination center will now be set up in the exhibition halls this far.

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tag Buchmesse Buchbranche Digitalisierung Begegnung Großveranstaltungen
Literature/ Text Bericht

Unterschätztes Schwergewicht in EU . Kultursektor mit 199 Milliarden Verlust
Underestimated heavyweight in EU . Cultural sector with 199 billion loss

by Stefan Weiss (26 Jan 2021)
Original source: Der Standard

That the cultural sector makes an important contribution to value creation in EU countries is no secret, nor is the fact that it has been hit disproportionately harder than other sectors of the economy in the Corona crisis. The »Rebuilding Europe« study commissioned by collecting societies now provides the figures on the crisis for the first time. Looking at the industry as a whole, there is a 31 percent drop in revenue in 2020 compared to 2019. In individual sectors such as theater or opera, with a minus 90 percent (37 billion euros), and music, with a minus 76 percent (18 billion euros), the losses are even more dramatic. This means that the cultural sector has been hit much harder by the crisis than, for example, tourism (minus 27 percent) or the automotive industry (minus 25 percent). Not only is there currently no end of the crisis on the horizon, but the industry is also concerned with the question of whether the public will quickly regain its trust in cultural institutions after the crisis. The demand is therefore that the current support programs should continue to run generously after the crisis.

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tag Rebuilding Europe EU-Studie Bruttowertschöpfung Kulturbranche Umsatzeinbruch
All sections Bericht

Here’s the first Africa-wide survey of the economic impact of COVID-19 on cultural industries

by Ribio Nzeza Bunketi Buse (28 Dec 2020)
Original source: The Conversation

This report refers to a study on the effects of the pandemic for the creative industry in Africa. Quantitative data from Senegal, D.R. Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia and South Africa are compared, but also qualitative data from further African countries evaluated.  The most affected subsector within the cultural industries in Africa was the performing arts whereas the non face to face media are more resilient. Predominantly the informal sector appears to be hit. Similar to reports of the effects in OECD countries a significant number of freelancers and very small siz e of companies are affected. Above all, precarious employments or short time jobs are disproportionately impacted.

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tag Afrika Prekariat Wirtschaftsfaktor informeller Sektor
All sections Bericht

»Es wurde zu viel abgesagt« . Kultur während Corona
»Too much has been cancelled« . Culture during Corona

by Axel Zibulski (26 Dec 2020)
Original source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Already after the spring lockdown, it was clear to many concert organisers of smaller events that they would be better off financially foregoing performances. The few places that could be allocated did not allow for cost-covering events. Nevertheless, many of them spared no effort to be able to offer events again, to bring artists on stage. The audience gratefully accepted the offer. The tickets for each concert were quickly sold out. Karl-Werner Joerg, who is in charge of several subscription series in the Rhine-Main region, criticises the fact that many organ isers have cancelled concerts in anticipatory obedience. Especially with the smaller concerts, hygiene concepts could be taken into account very well, which is why - unlike with a big rock concert - a cancellation did not seem necessary. This also shows the support he has received. Subscribers have largely supported him, some concerts could be made possible with special public payments or private donations.

For a freelance concert organiser who does not have his own venue, the emergency aid and bridging funds were not available during the lockdown. On the one hand, he has few fixed costs, on the other hand, he also had income from subscriptions during the lockdown, which he was, however, not allowed to use to finance the new season until the autumn.
In the current situation, he demands above all that smaller events be allowed to take place again and that the industry show more solidarity. If large spaces were opened up for smaller organisers, this would not only help them and the musicians, but would also send an important signal to the »culture industry«: As in agriculture or retail, it should be about promoting smaller initiatives so that in the end it is not only the big chains that survive.

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tag Konzertveranstalter Lockdown Planungssicherheit Solidarität Kulturindustrie
Music Bericht

Technik statt Theater? . Über das Bezahlmodell Streaming an deutschsprachigen Bühnen
Technics instead of theatre? . About the streaming payment model at German-language stages

by Barbara Behrendt (22 Dec 2020)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk

During the first Lockdown, the theatres mainly offered internal recordings of performances in streaming, but since November there has been an increase in plays that were explicitly developed for live streaming. These productions are linked to online payment models. Here, the audience can only watch a live stream after having purchased a ticket. This is increasingly important for theatre professionals. Not only does it prevent viewers from switching from theatre to theatre, as in the case of television, but above all the ticket purchase valorises the cultural experience. In addition, the theatres can cover at least part of their expenses. If, as in Leonie Böhm's  ›Leonce und Leonce‹ at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, the director Leonie Böhm herself directs the six cameras and thus guides the view, then the theatre evening also promises an artistic concept. Pure documentaries with rigid camera work, on the other hand, fail the critics. The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is still cautious about live streaming, as audience numbers for productions that have to be paid for have dropped into the mid-three-digit range. The Sophiensäle in Berlin were also quite positive about live performances by the group Interrobang. However, even for events in the theatre here, the attendance figures are very reduced compared to streamings. Experimentation with streaming and hybrid forms, the theatre-makers agree, will continue to develop its own forms of presentation after the lockdown. In the crisis, streaming seems to offer theatre-makers a welcome field of experimentation to creatively find answers to the closed houses and to keep in touch with their audiences.

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tag Theater Streaming Bezahlmodelle digitale Expertise Hypridmodelle Quo vadis ars
Performing Arts/ Cinema Bericht

Theater in Sachsen-Anhalt bleiben dicht: »Das ist eine Katastrophe« . Corona-Beschränkungen werden verlängert
Theatres in Saxony-Anhalt remain closed: »This is a catastrophe« . Corona restrictions are extended

by Luca Deutschländer (26 Nov 2020)
Original source: MDR

Cultural workers across the country are frustrated: Lockdown light will be extended into December as well. Janek Liebetruth, independent director and artistic director as well as chairman of the State Centre for Independent Theatre in Saxony-Anhalt sums up the significance of the further closure: »This is a catastrophe«. For theatres in particular, December is the month with the highest turnover. The houses can hardly compensate for the loss of income. Actress Kerstin Dathe, who works in puppet theatre, would have had about 30 performances until Christmas. Wo rries about the future and, above all, the question of whether the state-promised aid will actually take effect are on the minds of the cultural workers. It is uncertain when they will be allowed to perform again. Optimism is increasingly difficult in this situation.
Liebetruth demands that the economic losses suffered by cultural workers be compensated. Programmes like »Neustart Kultur« have the task of preventing a cultural death by offering a perspective for the coming year. What the cultural sector also needs is planning security, because only this can alleviate the frustration somewhat.

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tag November-Lockdown Theater Planungssicherheit Advent Kultursterben Neustart Kultur
Performing Arts/ Cinema Bericht

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Facing arts is a non-profi project. Feel free to support it and get in touch with us!

The Team

Facing arts is a projet by STORM.

STORM is an acronym playing with the initials by Miriam Seidler & Tim Otto Roth, who are hit both by the Corona crisis. Dr. Miriam Seidler is a scholar in German literature and currently works as specialist in public relations. Dr. Tim Otto Roth is a scholar in art and science history and works as a conceptual artist and composer. He is known for his huge projects in public space, cooperations with leading scientific institutions and his immersive sound and light installations. Miriam and Tim collaborate regularly for years. With facing arts they reaslize their first common art project.
You find more informatin on both initiators on www.miriamseidler.de and www.imachination.net.

Special thanks to Paco Croket for the tag cloud programming!

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