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.


 

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

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

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

Kino in Corona-Zeit . Rückblick aufs (Katastrophen-) Filmjahr
Cinema in times of Corona . Review of the (disaster) film year

by Walli Müller (20 Dec 2020)
Original source: NDR

The annual reviews begin in mid-December. The film industry and cinema operators were particularly hard hit in 2020. While the start of the year with the 'Kangaroo Chronicles' still looked quite good, the Corona pandemic led to a 70 percent drop in sales for the year as a whole. The reason for this are not only the Hollywood blockbusters, which will not be screened until next year, and the competition from streaming providers, but above all the reduced space available and the renewed lockdown in November. German productions like 'Undine' and 'Berlin A lexanderplatz' reached only a small audience despite awards and good reviews. Only the children's film was able to show good attendance figures with 'Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13', despite the small amount of space available, November started promisingly.

On a positive note, 2020 saw the revival of drive-in cinemas and hybrid film festivals that made it open to more than just local visitors through online access. Nevertheless, the closures and the competition from streaming platforms are making it difficult for cinemas to operate. Three cinemas had to file for insolvency this year due to corona; whether these are the only victims of the industry will become clear in 2021.

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tag 2020 Kino Filmstarts Umsatzverlust Streaming Insolvenz
Performing Arts/ Cinema Jahresrückblick

Auktionshäuser sind die Gewinner in der Krise
Auction houses are the winners in the crisis

by Christian Herchenröder (17 Dec 2020)
Original source: Handelsblatt

The corona-induced shrinkage of 30 to 40 percent is distributed differently among the players in the art market. While 2020 art fairs and galleries with virtual art fairs and exhibitions were only able to score with the public to a limited extent, the auction houses recorded strong sales increases with online-only auctions. In particular, they were able to encourage first-time buyers, especially from America and China, to bid for high-priced art, especially in the contemporary sector.

tag Kunstmarkt Galerien Auktionshäuser Online-Ausstellung Kunstmesse Rezession
Visual Arts/Design Bericht

Place de la Bastille, la culture crie sa colère face au “mépris” du gouvernement
Place de la Bastille, the culture cries out in anger at the government's »contempt«

by Sophie Rahal (15 Dec 2020)
Original source: Télérama'

The French government's recent decision not to reopen cultural institutions on 15 December is leading to nationwide demonstrations by cultural workers from a wide range of disciplines, from street art to contemporary music and visual artists. The discontent articulated in Montpellier or in the historic Place de la Bastille in Paris is directed against the »contempt« articulated in government conduct. But it expresses also the financial precariousness that affects many of them despite state aid measures. The cultural workers are not asking for special trea tment but lamenting the injustice because despite all the health precautions taken to keep audiences safe, theatres and cinemas remain closed while commerce and churches are allowed to reopen. Actor Samuel Churin warns: »But [...] since the government has made a political decision, [...] we have to go into resistance. We will invade churches, shopping malls, auction houses.... And we will put on shows there«. He is one of the co-initiators of an emergency motion to be set up at the Conseil d'État on 16 December demanding the reopening of the venues.

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tag Widerstand Frankreich Gleichbehandlung Prekariat Theater Kirche Kino
All sections Bericht

Der deutsche Staat verachtet Selbstständige und Kreative
The German state is contemptuous of self-employed and creative people

by Sascha Lobo (09 Dec 2020)
Original source: Der Spiegel

Why do solo self-employed people receive so little support from the GroKo during the crisis? This is the question that author and strategy consultant Sascha Lobo addresses in his column. Based on an interview with the SPD politician and Lower Saxony's Minister President Stephan Weil, in which he pointed out that Corona aid is a means of solidarity. Since the self-employed have not paid into any unemployment insurance so far, they are now dependent on transfer payments from the state.  For this reason, he calls in the interview for compulsory insurance for the se lf-employed.
What sounds plausible at first glance turns out, on closer inspection, to be an attempt to curb self-employment in Germany. In principle, the self-employed make an important contribution to the community of solidarity. For years, one-third of the pension fund has been replenished with tax revenues, since the pension insurance would otherwise be bankrupt. In other words, the self-employed pay for a benefit that they themselves do not receive. Unemployment insurance for the self-employed has been discussed time and again since the turn of the millennium, but it has never been implemented. The failure to include non-permanent employees in social systems is now being used to the opposite effect, however, as the solo self-employed in particular are being accused of taking advantage of transfer payments - i.e. benefits without receiving anything in return. The fact that the self-employed are also taxpayers is tacitly passed over. Even the comment by Finance Minister Olaf Scholz that the solo self-employed, who have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, are being supported with all their might is no more than lip service. They are being offered a total of 5,000 euros until next summer to cushion their massive sales losses. November aid is only available to self-employed workers who are directly affected. But because the self-employed in particular are diversely positioned, they quickly fall below the 80 percent threshold, which means that if they have generated less sales with companies directly or indirectly affected by Lockdown, they will not receive any assistance. Yet it is precisely the solo self-employed who drive the economy forward with innovations and, under certain circumstances, lay the foundation for large companies. But it is only when the self-employed generate permanent jobs that they receive recognition from the state in the form of billions in aid, state loans or short-time work.
Lobo uses the example of author and director Anika Decker to show how little the work of creatives and the self-employed is respected. She wrote the book for the mega-successful film  »Keinohrhasen« (No Ears), but was not given a share of the success by the production company. The commercializing company has now been sentenced to pay for the author's creative work, but the example shows how little creativity is valued in Germany.
Why does self-employment still have the reputation in Germany of being unsound and somehow unserious? Permanent employment, on the other hand, is considered sacred? One important reason is that too many self-employed people could bring down our social security systems. From 50 percent tax contribution to the pension fund, the self-employed could overturn the pension system, since it violates the equal treatment system of the German constitution. Thus, they will probably not be offered a worthy instrument for old-age security in the future either, and instead they will have to accept accusations of unsolidarity.

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tag Festanstellung Stephan Weil Solidarität Solo-Selbständige Arbeitslosenversicherung Olaf Scholz Novemberhilfe Wertschätzung Konzerne
All sections Statement

»Unsere Politiker machen es sich zu einfach« . Harter Lockdown« für Kirche und Kultur
»Our politicians make it too easy for themselves« . Hard lockdown for the church and culture

by Christian Hillgruber, Michael Köhler (09 Dec 2020)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk

What about freedom of art and freedom of religion in the crisis? In an interview with the radio station Deutschlandfunk, Christian Hillgruber, an expert in constitutional law from Bonn, explains the relationship between the two and the protection of life, which is dominating the discussion in the Corona crisis. In principle, all fundamental rights must always be weighed against each other. None may categorically prevail and thus be used as a  ›killer argument‹.  Freedom of religion as well as freedom of art are highly valued by the Basic Constitut ional Law. Therefore, they must not be abridged arbitrarily. Limitless restrictions cannot be legally justified even with the protection of life. This plays an important role especially with regard to the Christmas season, because for the churches Christmas does not end on 26 December, but the Christmas celebrations continue in the Christian churches until 1 or 10 January. Especially in view of the impending ›hard lockdown‹, the question therefore arises whether the Basic Constitutional Law will be damaged if all other freedoms have to take a back seat to the protection of life.

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tag Kunstfreiheit Religionsfreiheit Weihnachten harter Lockdown
All sections Interview

Transformed by crisis, arts criticism may never be the same. And that’s a good thing.

by Philip Kennicott (29 Nov 2020)
Original source: Washington Post

The pandemic has freed critics from their usual patterns, opening new perspectives and insight. But the crisis also reveals the economic vulnerability of so many people in the arts field, which implicates also anti-elitist aspect: What becomes apparent is the geographical dispersion of the arts, so it breaks with the established conception of artists to belong to the so-called »coastal elites«. The author also believes that »one of the more rigorous of the old rules that is falling away is the church-state division between artists and critics, a red lin e that made them often seem to be antagonists.« Last but not least the crisis triggers a kind of disciplined essentialism: We concentrate on what really interests us and pay more attention to it. Consequently, criticism will be »more personal, more to the point, more empathetic, more open and less formulaic.«

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tag USA Elite Kunstkritik Empathie
Visual Arts/Design Statement

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The signet of facing arts joining the faces of STORM.

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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