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.
Macht die Theater zu – und fangt von vorne an . Theater als Gesellschaftslabor
Close the theaters - and start from scratch . Theater as social laboratory
by Björn Bicker (20 Jul 2020)
Original source: BR Kultur
Björn Bicker considers the slogan of the »crisis as an opportunity«, which is often used in connection with the Corona pandemic, to be one of the last possibilities to save the German-speaking publicly financed theater landscape. His analysis of the situation is unsparing: at the theaters, which are predominantly run by despots, plays are now only performed for a parallel society. The white, well-off middle class is having its theaters financed by an increasingly diverse society.
The compulsory pause, which was heralded by the lockdown, could have been used as a pause for reflection. The standstill was a chance to reflect on the conditions of their own work. But instead of devoting themselves to the question of what a theater of tomorrow might look like, many houses fell into a digital hyper-actionism. Readings, short scenes up to entire performances were put on the net. The opportunity is not yet gone. Instead of continuing to indulge in an actionism that does not reach society, performing theater should pause for a while. This time can be used not only to find a new togetherness in the houses, but also to seek dialogue with a diverse audience at round tables. In this way, concepts for a theater of tomorrow can be developed. The utopia that Bicker creates is that of the municipal theater as a prototype of social development. Whether it really remains a utopia is up to the institutions themselves. Read More Read Less
The compulsory pause, which was heralded by the lockdown, could have been used as a pause for reflection. The standstill was a chance to reflect on the conditions of their own work. But instead of devoting themselves to the question of what a theater of tomorrow might look like, many houses fell into a digital hyper-actionism. Readings, short scenes up to entire performances were put on the net. The opportunity is not yet gone. Instead of continuing to indulge in an actionism that does not reach society, performing theater should pause for a while. This time can be used not only to find a new togetherness in the houses, but also to seek dialogue with a diverse audience at round tables. In this way, concepts for a theater of tomorrow can be developed. The utopia that Bicker creates is that of the municipal theater as a prototype of social development. Whether it really remains a utopia is up to the institutions themselves. Read More Read Less
tag Theater Denkpause Krise als Chance Performing Arts/ Cinema Zwischenruf
Pro: Kunst ist Kulturverständigung - und deshalb politisch . Pro und Contra Kulturreisen
Pro: Art is cultural understanding - and therefore political . The pros and cons of cultural travel
by Nicolas Freund (05 Jul 2020)
Original source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
Cultural trips are more than luxury? Historically, art has long been reserved only for the ruling classes. If one follows the thesis formulated by the writer John Berger in his essay "Ways of Seeing", the consideration of art is not only a democratic act, but also a place of confrontation with the past precisely because of the detachement of the ruling caste. The change of perspective in the present makes art at the same time an ideal place for the negotiation of social discourses. Therefore, one should not recklessly give up the privilege of participating in a rt events, just because it is a little more difficult to reach exhibition cities at the moment.
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tag Bildende Kunst Kulturtourismus Original Demokratie Austausch Visual Arts/Design Diskussion
Solo-Selbständige: Unter Verdacht
Freelancers: Under suspicion
by Karin Finkenzeller (14 Jun 2020)
Original source: Zeit
The uncertainty related to the application for emergency aid is affecting many creative artists and cultural workers. As the regulations were initially all but transparent, it was not clearly communicated that it is not possible to apply for entrepreneurial salaries in every German federal state. Now, there hangs the accusation in the air, that artists are obtaining benefits from the state by fraud, which the state awarded far too carelessly. Rainer Bode, cultural advisor in Münster, and a few fellow campaigners have therefore sent an appeal for remediation to the B undestag Committee for Culture.
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tag Soforthilfe Solo-Selbständige Existenzangst Vera Klima All sections Bericht
Kritische Verteidigerin der hiesigen Demokratie . Neues Buch von Juli Zeh
Critical advocate of democracy . New book by Juli Zeh
by Andrea Gerk, Arno Orzessek (25 May 2020)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Juli Zeh's novel "Corpus Delicti" has already been published in 2009. So it is not a Corona novel, even though it fits perfectly into our time. In her dystopia, Zeh deals with the topic of health dictatorship by describing the seductive power of a health policy that promises everyone a long and healthy life. The bible of the system is entitled "Health as a principle of state legitimation" and establishes the METHOD, which in the novel legitimizes the primacy of the health of the individual and society in a purely logical way. In order to keep the promise of health, all possible data is collected from citizens. Zeh's criticism of people's self-subjugation in terms of health, fitness and performance optimization is unmistakable.
Since the novel is school reading, the author has now published a volume of interviews in which she answers the questions that students were asking her. The book is a self-portrait of the citizen Juli Zeh and allows for critical reflection on the Corona crisis. Zeh's statement - »It is really not easy to recognize the unreasonable in reason.« - can certainly be transferred to the present.
The critic Arno Orzessek appears to be very taken with Zeh's book, as he shares her »criticism of comprehensive preventive thinking, of reward systems for correct, i.e. conformist, systems of living«, as they can currently be observed in China. »Once you believe that life and politics are primarily about defending against any form of threat, then all other values fade away and I fear she is right about that.«
With regard to the Corona pandemic, Orzessek considers the book to be quite remarkable. He himself is very irritated by the at times »extreme authority of the virologists« in recent weeks and months. To reduce reality merely to the current case and death figures reported by the Robert Koch Institute neglects many important aspects of our everyday lives. The author and constitutional judge Juli Zeh, together with other philosophers and politicians, also pleaded in late April in »Der Spiegel« for the preservation of proportionality and made constructive suggestions as to how the rights of the individual could be preserved in the present. Read More Read Less
Since the novel is school reading, the author has now published a volume of interviews in which she answers the questions that students were asking her. The book is a self-portrait of the citizen Juli Zeh and allows for critical reflection on the Corona crisis. Zeh's statement - »It is really not easy to recognize the unreasonable in reason.« - can certainly be transferred to the present.
The critic Arno Orzessek appears to be very taken with Zeh's book, as he shares her »criticism of comprehensive preventive thinking, of reward systems for correct, i.e. conformist, systems of living«, as they can currently be observed in China. »Once you believe that life and politics are primarily about defending against any form of threat, then all other values fade away and I fear she is right about that.«
With regard to the Corona pandemic, Orzessek considers the book to be quite remarkable. He himself is very irritated by the at times »extreme authority of the virologists« in recent weeks and months. To reduce reality merely to the current case and death figures reported by the Robert Koch Institute neglects many important aspects of our everyday lives. The author and constitutional judge Juli Zeh, together with other philosophers and politicians, also pleaded in late April in »Der Spiegel« for the preservation of proportionality and made constructive suggestions as to how the rights of the individual could be preserved in the present. Read More Read Less
tag Corona-Roman Dystopie Gesundheitsdiktatur Grundrechte Corpus Delicti Juli Zeh Konformismus Literature/ Text Rezension
Hygieneregeln . Dem Publikum stehen keine leichten Zeiten bevor
Hygiene Guidelines . The audience is not facing easy times.
by Jörg Häntzschel (19 May 2020)
Original source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Jörg Häntzschel takes a critical look at the hygiene rules that the Ministers of Culture of the federal states have drawn up together with Monika Grütters, federal Minister of State for Culture, for theaters, opera houses and concert halls. The many interventions and specifications for the operation of the theaters make it clear that even the reopening will be associated with heavy financial losses if the distance rule of 1.50 meters distance has to be implemented. In addition, not only the air conditioning technology must be adapted, but also the health of the visitors and the distance of the employees - i.e. the artistic actors on stage and during rehearsals - must be kept in mind. Only a small ray of hope remains here that the regulations are to apply to the whole of Germany and that not every federal state will introduce its own rules. But what concerns Häntzschel more than the concrete hygiene rules is the way in which artists are currently treated in political discourse. On the one hand, art is transfigured to a kind of »secular universal religion«, which is supposed to be a »therapy against loneliness, a weapon against populism and the humus of democracy«. The author sees a form of »cultural war economy« in the very detailed recommendations as to how the houses should fill the time until the resumption of play. After all, the paper shows little confidence in the creativity of the industry, which is not only given the marching orders by the ministers, but also the way to go.
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