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.


 

Kultur ist kein Sahnehäubchen . Warum wir Theater, Kino und Buchhandlungen jetzt sofort öffnen müssen
Culture is not icing on the cake . Why we need to open theaters, cinemas and bookstores right now

by Alexander Skipis (23 Feb 2021)
Original source: FAZ

Applying the concept of catharsis introduced by Aristotle in his Poetics, Alexander Skipis, Chief Executive of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, goes back very far in cultural history to describe the impact of the pandemic on the population. The release of strong feelings through reflection and witnessing in art and literature is only possible to a very limited extent during the lockdown. Even as policymakers attempt to compensate for the economic losses suffered by cultural producers, they fail to provide the consumer relief functions paraphrased by t he term catharsis. Skipis therefore combines his plea for the rapid opening of cultural institutions and bookstores with a warning about the mental damage to society that the pandemic has already triggered and the extent of which cannot yet be foreseen.

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tag Lockdown Systemrelevanz Katharsis
All sections Kommentar

Ein Jahr ohne Werke . Was es für das Musikleben bedeutet, wenn Verlage um ihr Überleben kämpfen
A year without pieces . What it means for musical life when publishing houses fight for their survival

by Merle Krafeld (03 Feb 2021)
Original source: VAN Magazin für klassische Musik

Music publishers play an important role in the cultural ecosystem. Not only do they promote the work of composers, but they also produce well thought-out sheet music in individual parts, ensure good binding quality of the sheet music and produce new editions of historical works. To do this, they conduct study of sources and work with scientific precision. The publishers therefore generate income not only from the sale of sheet music, but above all from the lending of scores of mostly copyrighted works to orchestras and choirs. The rental fees are made up of various facto rs such as the length and instrumentation of the work, the number of performances and seats available for sale. Last year, the turnover from rental fees for music publishers collapsed by up to 80 per cent. In addition to lending fees, publishers and rights holders also lost income from distributions by the German Performing Rights Society (GEMA) and foreign collecting societies as well as the German Music Edition Society (VG Musikedition). Since royalties are usually only paid out in the following year, the loss of income will not be felt until 2021. Publishers who specialise in choral music are also particularly affected, as it is not foreseeable here when rehearsals can be resumed. In the lockdown, only the purchase of individual parts and chamber music with small ensembles boomed. Henle-Verlag, which serves this segment with an app, among other things, is the only publishing house that recorded an increase in turnover in 2020.
As long as there is no planning security in the cultural sector, the sale and rental of sheet music will not increase. The staff of the publishing houses are therefore currently on short-time work and at the same time working flat out to offer works with a small line-up.
Many publishers are currently falling through the cracks of the aid payments because they are either too small or too big. The Neustart Kultur programme can compensate for turnover losses from the rental sector, but only 30 per cent of the lost turnover from April to November 2020, against which aid already received, such as short-time allowance, must be offset. So in the end, the aid is just a drop in the ocean.

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tag Musikverlage GEMA Planungssicherheit Chormusik Leihverkehr Kurzarbeit Neustart Kultur
Music Bericht

Diese Normalität darf nicht zurückkehren . Am Sinn für tatsächliche Relevanz herrscht im Kulturbetrieb erschreckender Mangel
This normality must not return . There is a frightening lack of a sense of actual relevance in the culture industry

by Peter Grabowski (01 Feb 2021)
Original source: Politik & Kultur

With a persistently high incidence value, Yilmaz Dziewior, the director of the Museum Ludwig, expressed the assumption in a mid-January interview on Deutschlandfunk that the museums will reopen in mid-February. In his commentary, Peter Grabowski takes this statement as an opportunity to reflect on the overconfidence of cultural workers in Germany. Democracy is not in danger just because the public is not allowed into museums and theatres. These are leisure facilities. Central social issues have long since ceased to be negotiated in a leading role in cultural institutions . Social media and the mass media play a much more central role in discourse here. Therefore, Grabowski calls on cultural practitioners to leave their ivory tower, acknowledge the reality of the pandemic and think about how cultural institutions can regain more relevance in society.

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tag Kulturszene Relevanz Selbstüberschätzung Yilmaz Dziewior Quo vadis ars Lockdown
All sections Kommentar

Schauspielhaus-Intendant Stemann: «Uns ist die Fähigkeit abhandengekommen, mit anderen Menschen mitzufühlen»

by Julia Stephan, Nicolas Stemann (22 Dec 2020)
Original source: Tagblatt

Working creatively and productively with the resistances that the Corona crisis means for theater professionals, that is the trademark of Nicolas Stemann, the co-director of the Schauspielhaus Zürich. Already last spring, he accompanied life during the pandemic critically and humorously at the same time with columns for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the 'Corona Passion Plays'. In his home office he wrote songs for the Passion Plays, as it was not possible for him to discuss developments during the suspended rehearsals. Nevertheless, he also sees the nega tive sides of the pandemic. Workflows have to be rethought, premieres postponed, casts minimized, schedules rescheduled - of course, this also means a great burden. On the one hand, this increases the workload for many, and on the other hand, it is extremely stressful, especially for actors, if they cannot rehearse with a goal in mind. This is one of the reasons why the Schauspielhaus Zurich very successfully offers a live-streamed performance once a week. 
It is important for Stemann to emphasize that the theaters consider the closure of the houses to be an important contribution to the fight against the pandemic. His only concern is that it may have too little impact by placing too few restrictions in other areas. With regard to the concerns and problems of people during the pandemic, he considers art and culture to be extremely important in order to negotiate the open questions together in a discussion space and to find an outlet for emotions. The fact that this is not available at the moment, but that instead emotions such as hatred and incomprehension are acted out in social networks, is for him one of the major problems of the theater closures.

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tag Theater Tod Streaming Arbeitsalltag psychische Belastung Quo vadis ars
Performing Arts/ Cinema Interview

Herbert Grönemeyer will die Reichen schröpfen
Herbert Grönemeyer wants to fleece the rich

by Rainer Hank (15 Nov 2020)
Original source: FAZ

In the business section of the FAZ, Herbert Grönemeyer's suggestion to millionaires in Germany for a solidarity contribution in the Corona crisis is critically examined. Already the reasoning does not convince the journalist Rainer Hank. To pay a contribution for the victims of the crisis solely because of family resemblance is not a conclusive argument. In addition, one has to consider, the musician is quoted as saying, that 75 percent of the previous year's turnover for the month of November is not enough to support the artists. Only a permanent monthly ba sic income can get them through the crisis.
Is an artist like Grönemeyer, who is certainly one of the Corona profiteers because of the royalties for streamed songs, allowed to rise to the position of »lawyer for the disenfranchised«? Especially since the profits are likely to continue even after the crisis. Aren't artists suffering in the pandemic rather from the fact that they cannot perform their art in front of an audience? Shouldn't we therefore stop stylizing art and artists as victims of the pandemic and ask the rich to pay for it? Doesn't this turn cultural workers into a "special-purpose and employment society of the nation", a subdivision of the public service for which the state has to provide?
Looking at the political decisions of the last few months, cultural workers are not only protected by compensation payments from Corona Aid, but also have a lobbyist in the government in the person of Monika Grütters. Tax money for culture is permanently secured. And, according to Hank's argumentation, more than 50 percent of it is borne by the rich. It is therefore not possible to ask them to pay once again.
If the creative artists claim more and more state for themselves, then they regard it as "artist's pension fund". This contradicts the idea of the artistic avant-garde, which propagated an entrepreneurial existence of the artist. For this reason, artists should do without lawyers like Herbert Grönemeyer, who, instead of emphasizing creativity, ingenuity and curiosity, degrades the creative industry to a "public fun industry".
Even though Hank is quite agreeable when he emphasizes that there are winners of the pandemic in the cultural industry as well, it should be remembered that Grönemeyer is not concerned with himself when he calls for the support of the rich. He speaks for the many cultural service providers, e.g. light, sound and event technicians, concert organizers, caterers,....., who have lost their income for months and whose reserves have been used up after 8 months of pandemic. A flourishing industry, which normally does not need any support from the state, but was robbed of its income by the prohibition to work and now needs bridging assistance.

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tag Novemberhilfe Millionäre Tantieme Corona-Gewinner Herbert Grönemeyer
All sections Kommentar

Mathe im Museum . Corona und die Künste
Mathematics at the museum . Corona and the arts

by Catrin Lorch (11 Nov 2020)
Original source: Süddeutsche Zeitung

With the partial lockdown in November, solidarity in society begins to crumble. Politics is not innocent in this, since many cultural workers cannot understand the reason why cultural institutions in particular have to close, due to the excellent hygiene concepts. Instead of stylizing herself as a victim, the director of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld turns the tables and offers her spacious and well air-conditioned premises to schools as classrooms. Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek does not seem to be averse to the proposal to use out-of-school rooms for lessons, since in many places there are not sufficiently large and well air-conditioned classrooms available to give lessons.
The creativity with which the cultural sector is responding to the challenge of the crisis is still lacking in the political arena. This is how Catrin Lorch describes the New Deal, which provided artists and cultural workers in America with commissions during the depression of the 1930s and thus saved them from the crisis. She names artists such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, who became successful over the course of the century and would not have made it through the economic crisis without this support. Another advantage of government commissions at that time in the United States was that art and culture were received by a broad public and thus contributed to a national identity. Thus, a gesture of solidarity by the art institutions could not only encourage the state to become more sovereign, generous and creative, but at the same time counteract the current distribution struggles.

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tag New Deal Schule im Museum Künstlerförderung Solidarität Christina Végh Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen
All sections Bericht

Kunst und Care-Arbeit . Fragwürdige Juryentscheidung
Art and Care Work . Questionable jury decision

by Brigitte Werneburg (09 Nov 2020)
Original source: taz

The Neustart Kultur program also offers scholarships for artists* with children under 7 years of age. The awarding was carried out by the Stiftung Kunstfonds, which also awards annual project scholarships. The benchmark - artistic quality in a nationwide comparison - also applied to the awarding of the scholarships in this special program of the German State Minister of Culture. Now the outcry is great, because more men than women were awarded this scholarship, although more women than men applied. Brigitte Werneburg, editor of the newspaper taz, asks if the awarding of the scholarships is now an expression of the fact that gender-equitable distribution of tasks has already been introduced in the visual arts. This does not seem to be the case when you have a look at the number of applications, in which women are far ahead with 60 percent. The feedback from the Stiftung Kunstfonds was disappointing for many, as the foundation referred to its statutes and the standard of artistic quality, since the grants awarded are not economic subsidies but project funding.
This raises the question of why women artists cannot compete with their male colleagues in terms of quality and whether the fact that one has a child under 7 years of age is an artistic criterion. According to the analysis of the taz article, the Kunstfonds Bonn Foundation does not seem suitable to award the scholarships within the framework of the rescue program Neustart Kultur, since they are now explicitly intended as economic aid.
However, the concluding considerations of the article are particularly worthy of consideration. Artists currently need economic aid. After all, they are not unemployed, but are engaged in gainful activity, which, however, is not permitted on the market at present. Hartz IV is in this situation no adequate offer - not only because the artists are getting into a bureaucratic wheelwork, in which they must attack their old age provision, participate in further training offers and must accept job offers. Much more important is that they are thus excluded from the artists' social security fund (KSK). This unique German system - in which the artists contribute like employees to health and pension insurance, while the employers' contributions are paid by art and culture companies and the state - is fundamentally endangered in the crisis, because when art and culture facilities are closed, there is no income.

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tag Neustart Kultur Stiftung Kunstfonds Stipendien Wirtschaftsbeihilfe Künstlersozialkasse Hartz IV Geschlechtergerechtigkeit
Visual Arts/Design Bericht

Geld ist im Übermaß vorhanden . Corona-Hilfen für Künstler
Money is available in abundance . Corona aids for artists

by Herbert Grönemeyer (04 Nov 2020)
Original source: Zeit

The musician Herbert Grönemeyer reevaluates the »Unterhaltung« as German expression for entertainment,  interpreting  the term as "holding from below". Here people find help and confidence when they are sad or frustrated. But they can also express their joy. Due to the absence of live performances, the audience is deprived of this valve. No more refuge or substitute world. Reality remains and with it spaces for stupidity and crude theories. The soul of the society is endangered and consequently the social cohesion as a whole. The impa ct on the existence of the many workers who make live events possible in the first place is in this understanding only a symptom of the erosion of society. How to counteract this process? How to ensure that live events are possible again after the crisis? This is where Grönemeyer now becomes very concrete: These people must not be forced to touch their old-age provision. Help must be available to them quickly and without complications.
But how could this help look like? In this case Grönemeyer is not asking the state to help, but is suggesting an alternative: Just as in a natural catastrophe the family helps a person affected, so in the current crisis a sign of solidarity is needed. According to the musician, this should come from the 1.8 million millionaires in Germany.This gesture would not only help the cultural workers whose existence is threatened, but it would also strengthen social cohesion and counteract the division that has been observed for decades.
Interestingly, Grönemeyer's statement lacks a convincing argument: He would have to set a shining example of solidarity by making a generous donation - he too is one of Germany's millionaires....

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tag Kulturbetrieb Solidarität Millionäre Seele der Gesellschaft Zusammenhalt Liveevent Quo vadis ars
All sections Kommentar

Stille mit Vorsatz . Verbale Aufrüstung schlägt nötige Differenzierung: zur Kritik der Kulturbranche am zweiten Shutdown
Silence with intent . Verbal armament beats necessary differentiation: on the culture industry's criticism of the second shutdown

by Hartmut Welscher, Christian Koch (04 Nov 2020)
Original source: VAN Magazin für klassische Musik

The fact that the November lockdown hits art and culture hard, even though excellent hygiene concepts were developed to protect the public, divides the cultural world in Germany. The displeasure was expressed in open letters and articles in newspapers and social media. Only a few balanced voices can be heard at present. Federal and state governments are not innocent of this situation, as they have caused displeasure by failing to provide adequate justification as to which cultural and economic sectors are to be closed and which may remain open. As was already the case in March, many cultural workers feel offended by politics being assigned to professions that are not systemically relevant. So they feel that their function for society is not valued. Many now joined the statement of the trumpeter Tim Brönner, who complained that the cultural industry had no lobby, and tried to make themselves heard. The verbal armament, however, conceals the fact that the pandemic constitutes a twofold threat to artists: in addition to the material threat, many of them increasingly find themselves in a crisis of identity when they are no longer allowed to perform or interact with an audience. And so artists are currently making themselves heard loud and clear, but are still unable to find their way around.This applies not only to culture, but also to politics, which is currently more likely to stumble forward than to steer the processes in a targeted manner.  And so the authors feel uncomfortable when Finance Minister Olaf Scholz keeps granting new aid programs. Public funds are limited, and the first municipalities are already making cuts.
For the cultural industry, the question now is where the development is heading. There will hardly be a return to the status quo-especially since it was not a good one before the crisis. At the beginning of the pandemic, many musicians were happy to have escaped the »hamster wheel of global competition and competitive pressure«. Can't quantity leave the field to quality? In this way, the cultural sector could at the same time make its contribution to solving the ecological question.

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tag Klassik Musikbranche November-Lockdown Lagerbildung Lobby Sinnkrise Existenzkrise Quo vadis ars Stille Hamsterrad
Music Bericht

»Wir brauchen mehr Klarheit« . Theaterintendant über Lockdown-Folgen
. Theater director about lockdown consequences

by Christian Stückl, Sabine Leucht (02 Nov 2020)
Original source: taz

Ten Bavarian theaters sought dialogue with the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder last week. They did not receive an answer to their letter - whether this was only because the lockdown light was already in prospect remains open. Apart from Munich's Head of Cultural Affairs, nobody has reviewed the hygiene concepts of Munich's Volkstheater, as director Christian Stückl reports in an interview. Stückl sees the problem of the new lockdown on the one hand in the fact that the facilities which are not among the drivers of infection are now being close d. In contrast to the retail trade, culture is probably not loud enough when it comes to defending its interests. On the other hand, politicians seem to be relying on the fact that it is precisely the large institutions that are subsidized by the state and will therefore be less affected by the crisis. The fact that the many solo self-employed and the entire independent scene are in danger is often ignored.
The Munich ensembles have now asked the decision-makers for a debate on the proportionality of the measures. Whether this offer of discussion will be accepted is still open. But Stückl is already thinking aloud about whether otherwise a lawsuit would not be the right way forward.
As yet, the houses are not yet short of visitors, partly because of the reduced quotas. However, Stückl fears a de-familiarization effect if the facilities remain closed for longer. What is much worse, however, are the effects of the crisis on the artists. He reports on a conversation with a dancer who has only a few years to practice his art. If he can't dance in front of an audience now, there's no making up for it.

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tag Theater München Dialog mit der Politik Markus Söder November-Lockdown Verhältnismäßigkeit Lebensrelevanz
Performing Arts/ Cinema Interview

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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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