Art in Times of Corona

Digital Art Exhibitions

It is hard to stay informed what happens these times in art world. That is why I decided to write an article about art in times of Corona. This text has it’s focus on digital art exhibitions, luckily most of the curators reacted and started to develop these digital formats. I did some research, please find some links below for the digital experience of current art exhibitions. I’ll launch some more essays about art in times of Corona, with other focuses, for example art in public spaces. Feel free to comment what you would like to read or have some research about.

March 2020: We cannot longer ignore that a destructive virus is spreading all over the world. Not only in Germany the politics react with a lock down with massive consequences for our all day lives. After WHO shouts out a world wide pandemic at 11th of March not only shops, schools and restaurants are closed. The cultural sector needs to close all its pleasureful exhibitions, theater plays and so much more. It seems our whole free time activities came to an end. As a based in Cologne gallery manager I needed to close the exhibition and was forced to stay at home. After a few months in many parts of the world the infections went regressive, but many exhibitions stay closed. Full of hope end of summer 2020 some new exhibitions in Germany were reopening, just to close them a few weeks later again.

Many entrepreneurs and persons engaged in the cultural sector cry for financial help. Our cultural heritage stays locked up behind closed doors. The virus extends, starts to evolve more aggressive mutants. A lot of health systems collapse. Hard times for humanity. But most of us fight united against the virus and stick to the rules. The restriction of contact makes an impact, but not only for the corona rates, also solitude becomes a problem in our society. After one year living under these circumstances we all got tired of these hard limitations and want this pandemic come to an end.

End of 2020 first Corona vaccination licenses were given. We still need to be patient to live a normal life. The first thing I am going to do after the current lock down is to visit an art exhibition, that’s for sure. There is nothing comparable to stand in front of an art piece with all its materiality.

Art exhibitions are planned in a long term. Precious paintings are on loan in museums of art, for example Caravagio’s “John the Baptist” from the Musei Capitolini of Rome in Dresden. The loan already is given back while the museums are still closed. Unbelievable that no visitors could see this painting while every transport is a risk for old art works. Apart from that the insurance of these old paintings are exorbitant.

A lot of art work cannot be seen currently. But journalists still have the permission to visit art exhibitions behind closed doors. In Germany for example the ZDF makes a lot of contributions about cultural happenings in times of Corona. You can therefore visit : https://www.zdf.de/kultur

Avantgarde Fashion Designer Thierry Mugler currently has an exhibition at Hypokunsthalle Munich. For centuries he is inspired by versatility of nature. You can also visit this exhibition online: https://www.kunsthalle-muc.de/en/exhibition/details/thierry-mugler/.

Another very promising exhibition in terms of current art photography is based in Pinakothek der Moderne Munich: https://www.pinakothek.de/en/resistantfaces. Subjects like digitization, artificial intelligence and public surveillance are more timely than we sometimes wish for.

Another very powerful exhibition in Munich: In May there will be hopefully the opening of Sheela Gowda, one of the most promising woman artists world wide. Please see the German contribution of Bayrischer Rundfunk: https://www.br.de/kultur/sheela-gowda-104.html . Her sculptural art works have to be seen in context of the area it is exhibited. With the change of perspective, the art work evolve. The materiality of her sculptures are so spectacular that you have to see her art works in real life. A digital exhibition not always works and is often just a substitute.

An exhibition what recently opened in Cologne started digital right away and is designed for that format. A very positive example for digital art exhibitions. It is about a critical view on colonization. “RESIST!” is out of the perspective of the colonized people, what makes so much more sense. The content is very impressive, contemporary artists meet colonial history. Please necessarily visit: http://rjm-resist.de/en/exhibition/

All the links of my research, mostly digital art exhibitions in English:

Anselm Kiefer – Kunsthalle Mannheim, Max Beckmann Female-Male – Hamburger Kunsthalle

Felix Nussbaum – Museumsquatier Osnabrück – https://digitalekunsthalle.zdf.de/index.html

Computable Incomputable – ZKM Karlsruhe – https://zkm.de/en/exhibition/2020/10/computable-incomputable

Thierry Mugler (Avantgarde Fashion Designer) –

https://www.kunsthalle-muc.de/en/exhibition/details/thierry-mugler/

Resistant Faces (young art photography) – https://www.pinakothek.de/en/resistantfaces

Video report about Sheela Gowda – https://www.br.de/kultur/sheela-gowda-104.html

RESIST! – Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Cologne (colonization meets contemporary art) : http://rjm-resist.de/en/exhibition/

König Galerie current exhibitions – https://www.koeniggalerie.com/exhibitions/current/

ART@Berlin – https://www.artatberlin.com/en/

Online Magazine about digital culture every day up to date – https://www.digitalmeetsculture.net/digital-art/

one heART berlin (every day another project) – https://oneheart-berlin.de/en/

Some more online contemporary art exhibitions – https://www.artconnect.com/events