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-Sofortprogramm: »Das reicht nicht aus«
Immediate Action Program for Culture: »This is not sufficient«
by Olaf Zimmermann, Jürgen Deppe (25 May 2020)
Original source: NDR Kultur
For small and medium-sized cultural institutions, the resumption of their program in compliance with the rules of hygiene entails expenditures. For this purpose, support can be applied for from the "Neustart" emergency program launched by the federal Ministers of State for Cultur, Monika Grütters. Last week, Grütters announced that the originally budgeted funds had to be doubled because of the high demand. Olaf Zimmermann welcomes this initiative of the Ministers of State for Culture and the gradual return to normality in the cultural sector, but also points out in an interview with the NRD that this program is not sufficient. On the one hand, it merely involves reallocated funds from the State Minister of Culture's budget that are currently not needed elsewhere, but on the other hand it also requires a specific culture pool to support the industry. Here he sees the federal government as having a duty. In the individual German states, the freelance artists have received support in very different ways, but this support will expire at the end of June. Here it is urgently required to think about new concepts, because the crisis is far from over for the cultural sector.
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tag Kulturförderung Monika Grütters Neustart Kultur All sections Interview
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
Zurück aus dem Netz: Theater unter Corona-Auflagen
Back from the Web: Theatre under Corona Constraints
by Susanne Burkhardt, Elena Philipp (22 May 2020)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk Kultur
In the »Theatre podcast« by Deutschlandfunk, Susanne Burkhardt and Elena Philipp, theater critic Cornelia Fiedler and actor Matthias Wuttke investigate the limitations of the crisis and the opportunities that the reopening of houses can bring. Few houses have found ways to show current productions under the conditions of the lockdown. It turns out that theaters in Germany have developed many formats in recent decades that now enable corona-compatible forms of theater.
tag Theater Theaterformen Onlineangebote Hygieneregeln Cornelia Fiedler Matthias Wuttke Performing Arts/ Cinema Podcast
Wenn der Atem nach Freiheit dürstet . Endlich wieder im Konzert
When the breath thirsts for freedom . Finally in concert again
by Manuel Brug (20 May 2020)
Original source: Welt
For eight weeks and two days, Manuel Brug, the feuilleton contributor to the German newspaper Welt, did not attend any more cultural events. For the first live concert in Corona times he is travelling to Wiesbaden for the slimmed-down May Festival, which opens with the world-class bass and Corona rebel Günther Groissböck. Even though it was painfully experienced during the Corona era that culture is not relevant to the system and that politics is merely settling between gambling and brothel, this field report encourages the belief that the cultural industry can slowly reboot.
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tag Klassische Musik Konzert Systemrelevanz Günther Groissböck Hygieneregeln Wiesbaden Music Erlebnisbericht
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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tag Theater Kino Oper Hygieneregeln Universalreligion Monika Grütters kulturelle Kriegswirtschaft Performing Arts/ Cinema Bericht
Aus der Zauber . Arbeiten in Corona-Zeiten
When Magic runs out of gas . Working in Corona Times
by Sarah Schaschek (15 May 2020)
Original source: Zeit
tag Zauber Event-Branche Großveranstaltungen Berufsverbot Performing Arts/ Cinema Bericht
Schwer zu lesen . Keine Messe, kein Amazon, keine Aufmerksamkeit: Corona hat den Buchmarkt hart getroffen.
Difficult to read . No trade fair, no Amazon, no attention: Corona hit the book market severely
by Christoph Schröder (12 May 2020)
Original source: Die Zeit
tag Buchbranche Verlage Buchmesse Herbstprogramm Umsatzeinbruch Jo Lendle Grusche Juncker Andreas Rötzer Literature/ Text Bericht
Tanz auf Distanz . Choreographie und Corona
Dance with Distance . Choreography and Corona
by Dorion Weickmann (12 May 2020)
Original source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
Dancers need a studio to stay in halfway good shape. Unlike with actors or musicians, the physical body is their working tool. Since the body has become a source of danger in Corona times, it is viewed with suspicion. The prospects for next fall are highly uncertain. Most probably only very reduced dance performances can be realized. This new minimalism, however, could comprise also a chance, if choreographers concentrate again on dance as art in the sense of craft, aesthetics, vision, idea, attitude.
tag Tanz Choreografie Probe Minimalismus Repertoire Krise als Chance Körper Performing Arts/ Cinema Bericht
When Will We Want to Be in a Room Full of Strangers Again? . Theater, an industry full of optimists, is reckoning with a heartbreaking realization.
by Helen Lewis (12 May 2020)
Original source: The Atlantic
Theatre matters to Britain not only in economic term being a drive of tourism. As Helen Lewis underlines commercial run theatres are more interconnected with the subsidized theatre sector as expected. Especially smaller theatres function as percolators for the future careers of actors and directors. This ecosystem is no under threat: The state funding distributed by The Arts Council spent £160 million ($200 million) as crisis grants to organizations and individual workers in need. This helped indeed theatres to survive. But the question looms large what will come after when these funds will be exhausted this summer. Above all the economic but the hygiene restrictions will reduce the program and the size of the paying audience. But the author fears in the context of the pandemic also a shift in quality from “excellence” to “relevance.”
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