A fast moving musical journey made on 3 continents by a diverse team of actors, dancers, musicians, cinematographers, and regular folks sending their made in quarantine/social distance videos from around the world. Then assembled into a unique film. An incredible array of talent on display to raise spirits and bring a smile. Creative within science guidelines. Building community through art.
Additional Details
Directed by Ashley Maria Composed by David Raiklen Edited by Crystal Lentz Cinematography by Autumn Palen Produced by David Raiklen and Ashley Maria
(social distancing and PPE used during production and post)
In these days of quarantine, when a touch is a wave from six masked feet away, we turn again to language, to the essence of language, to the art of language, to poetry.
The “Poetry Is Like Bread” Ghazal is a collaborative poem created by a world of poets to nourish us all through the Pandemic and to envision the world After. We take our inspiration from Pablo Neruda: “On our earth, before writing was invented, before the printing press was invented, poetry flourished. That is why we know that poetry is like bread, it should be shared by all, by scholars and by peasants, by all our vast , incredible, extraordinary family of humanity.” This collaborative poem was created with the idea that each poet’s unique voice would join together as one, and that the result would be shared by all. There is no poetic form better suited to do this than the Ghazal.
“POETRY IS LIKE BREAD” GHAZAL.
If, as Neruda thought, poetry is like bread, Then let it leaven this dark time and be my bread. [ Christopher Merrill ]
Struggling (and losing) in this Antipoem, ghosted thread, Spreading cool butter, sweet jam on homemade toasted bread. [ Bob Holman ]
No one waits to forgive the dead don’t pardon the dirt, nor the psalm palms, this celebration of bread [ Mahogany L. Browne ]
Distracted by detonating deadlines and demonstrations, I couldn’t meet your request for peaceful bread. [ Sandra Cisneros ]
Offered an exercise for people to do at home, on invitation by galleria Milano in Italy.
Instructions
PURPOSE: to regain one’s path of attachment to the domestic place.
CONTEXT: Attachment to a place, was defined by Rubstein (1992) as “a set of feelings that refer to a geographical place, which emotionally binds a person to this place according to their role or as an experiential setting”. Awareness of our relationship with the place is essential to wellbeing. At this time for many, the home place has coincided with the workplace. For many of us, the home is also, as it was before, the workplace: that of taking care of oneself, and of caring. At this time the coordinates have changed, the referential paradigm is being reversed, the roles are often shared. The opportunity here is to welcome this shift in position, unhinging patterns and rules, including those of geometry and geography applied to measuring and controlling place. Let’s get rid of the specific reference of how the body occupies the physical space and follow the indications of how the soul reveals our own micro-geographies to us!
Covid-19 – I can’t live without you 36×36” Nihonga Pigment Painting on Kozo Washi paper wrapped on birch panel. During my quarantine days.
Additional Details
This painting is Japanese style distemper on paper. The colors are from organic dye and mineral pigments. The binding agent is collagen (glue) called nikawa, which usually comes from deer or rabbit, and then leveled with water. The paper surface is treated with alum and nikawa leveled with water and then as gesso, sun dried oyster shell white that is calcium carbonate is used to treat the surface before paint colors. The pigment gives its own personality. The colors are from velvet mat finish to dazzling sparkles, which are best seen under lights. Each color and texture is mixed with nikawa, by hand with fingers in small dish, and leveled with water to change its strength of luminance. This method has been traditional way in large area of Asia, but the method has particularly been preserved by Japanese art culture for over 1000 years. The substrate is durable hand-skimmed paper Kozo Washi. This Washi is made from mulberry bark, wrapped twice on a birch wood panel. If you wish, you can separate the art from the wood panel and use a different kind of framing.
Like the 1st-century sacred Buddhist text that inspired it, the latest project from renowned theater director Peter Sellars is a call to community to learn and heal together during a time of sickness. In the Vimalakirti Sutra, Buddha sends his disciples to the sickbed of an enlightened lay person to hear his reflections on the fragility of physical being and the liberation of conscious awareness. A foundational scripture of Zen Buddhism, it is the resonant center of this body is so impermanent…, a multi-disciplinary performance film born of a remarkable international collaboration between Sellars and a trio of acclaimed artists as COVID-19 washed over the globe. Working virtually across continents under quarantine, South Indian devotional singer Ganavya, master calligrapher Wang Dongling and improvisatory dancer Michael Schumacher engaged with the Sutra and each other in an ensemble act of creation and healing. Sellars orchestrates breath and brushstroke, movement and mindfulness into a visual poem of stunning power. At a moment when grief persists and hope seems more possible, UCLA Film & Television Archive is honored to present the world premiere of this timely work in collaboration with the producers and UCLA program partners. Digital, color, 79 min. Director: Peter Sellars. With: Wang Dongling, Ganavya, Michael Schumacher.
Going Viral is an interactive artwork that invites people to share COVID-19 informational videos featuring algorithmically generated celebrities, social media influencers, and politicians that have previously spread misinformation about coronavirus. In the videos, the influencers deliver public service announcements or present news stories that counter the misinformation they have spread. Viewers are invited to share the videos on social media to help intervene in the current infodemic that has developed alongside the coronavirus.
Going Viral was commissioned by the NEoN Digital Arts festival. It was created by Derek Curry and Jennifer Gradecki as part of their research into the spread of misinformation and neural networks.
Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at SAAM’s Renwick Gallery, has been collecting firsthand accounts of the dual pandemics, COVID-19 and systemic racism, from artists working with craft-based materials and techniques. In this series, “Making the Most: Craft Practice during the Dual Pandemics,” artists share personal insight into how they responded to the cascade of canceled or delayed programs, workshops, and exhibitions, as well as the demands of social distancing and social justice. Each account brings new understanding to the import of the studio as a space of reflection, creation, and collaboration.
We’re kicking off the series with Julia Kwon, an artist who sews interpretative bojagi—Korean object-wrapping cloths—and wraps figures with them to comment on the objectification of Asiatic female bodies. The museum recently acquired a face mask by Kwon from her series Unapologetically Asian. Kwon, whose studio is located in Northern Virginia, stitched a vibrant patchwork of Korean silk to honor her ethnic identity during the rise of anti-Asian racism in the United States, and emphasize the importance of public mask wearing to stop the spread of COVID-19. Unapologetically Asian is an extension of Kwon’s interactive art projects that facilitate solidarity and community in the throes of violent social and political unrest.
Lockdown Yields First Global Sound Map of Spring Dawn Chorus
The Guardian
Scientists and artists have used the drop in noise pollution during the coronavirus lockdown to create the first global public sound map of the spring dawn chorus.
Throughout May, people around the world have uploaded about 3,000 early morning bird recordings made on their phones to the Dawn Chorus website, where they are being shared to help conservation and to create public art.
The soundscape project is inspired by the pioneering work of the bioacoustician Bernie Krause and is led by Prof Michael John Gorman, the founding director of the Biotopia museum in Munich, Germany.
Gorman said the idea was created rapidly after Covid-19 led to lockdowns around the world: “Suddenly the natural world could be heard more clearly. It is a moment to stop and listen, to record and share the unique acoustic fingerprint of the bird species of your local area.”
The Covid-19 lockdown silences the noise of civilization around the world.
Rushing traffic, airplanes, industrial noise – all this has come to an almost full standstill and is bringing the otherwise often drowned out sounds of nature to the foreground. We are experiencing a historical moment that makes us stop and consider, feel, and above all hear!
Hundreds of bird species are welcoming the Spring sunrise with their songs every morning. Now is the time to listen to them.
Under the unique circumstances of this memorable spring of 2020, the idea for this Citizen Science and Arts project was born – inspired by the work of the American musician, bio-acoustician and artist Bernie Krause, the founding father of soundscaping.
100,000: They Were Not Simply Names on a List, They Were Us
Anna Foer
collage A decision was made, as a first in “modern times” that there would be no picture on the front page of the New York Times on Sunday, 24 May, 2020. The significance of the moment was the number of Covid deaths in the United States reached 100,000. The list of names and brief descriptions represents only a one-hundredth of the deaths, as there are only 1000 names on the page. I obtained a hard copy of the front section of the paper to use for a collage. The use of newspaper copy to commemorate this moment connects my new work to the collage I made as a memorial to 9.11.01, also incorporating a newspaper list of the victims. In lieu of basing the composition on hand drawn interior spaces, I opted to work more directly on photos, a first for my approach to collage. The choice of photos represents the ubiquity of the coronavirus’ spread and those spaces that are off limits to the public; the New York subway, a morgue, a library and an art gallery. The upper floors are a home environment and at the top are hospital ICU units, complete with ventilators. The interior spaces we inhabit now are reflected with an overlay of virtual viewing commands, superimposed on those rooms. The commands of “Next”, “Previous”, “Read More” and “Share” take on new meaning and significance in these confines. At the time of this writing, six weeks after 24 May, the number of deaths in the US is 130,000.
I am doing two narrative responses. First is Vintage Card Tiny Stories. Being isolated and alone, I decided that mail was a way to give a unique narrative experience and for me to connect in a meaningful way to a reader. I found a bag of vintage postcards and I write a unique short micro story and mail it off to an audience of one. This unique story for an individual is akin to a message in a bottle both for myself and for the reader. The other project is the Exquisite Birth, which I have instigated as a collaborative narrative game based on the surrealist Exquisite Corpse game. Only this story goes from End to Start. I’ve recruited novelists and comics creators to contribute a paragraph or art panel to the story game. It’s a way of connecting creatively with colleagues in a time when we are flung apart. Collaboration and conversation are key to artistic nourishment.
I used the colors and patterns of flowers of this captured by my this year on my long pandemic walks to create energetic mosaics containing hundreds of images. I use the energy contained within these mosaics to merge with photographic portraits of people amidst the pandemic to help restore balance, calm and peace. This is a form of quantum energetic alchemy. The responses for those who have contributed their portraits have been incredible. I have used mostly those wearing masks, from all walks of life; homeless, local political leaders, protestors, and friends. I offer the service for free, but ask for a donation to the project.
How Artists Are Trying to Solve the World’s Problems
New York times
A cohort of 30 artists have received funding to find creative solutions to 21st-century problems like surveillance, digital inequality and inherited trauma.
AIDS Quilt and Masks for COVID-19: A Brief but Spectacular Take on Turning COVID-19 Grief Into Action
PBS News hour
Mike Smith co-founded the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in 1987. Now living through his second pandemic, Smith is finding ways to help out amid COVID-19 — and to inspire others to do the same. He shares his Brief But Spectacular take on turning grief into action.
The Magik Theatre is a professional theatre in San Antonio and one that is dedicated to youth and promoting literacy through the arts.
With our theatre closed due to COVID-19 and with many children at home due to school closures, Magik made the pivot to creating online materials for our young audiences. This has ranged from online story time and Madlibs to full-scale videos of our productions. On the 4th of July, we launched the premiere of “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Starting on 24th March 2020, I started writing a daily public diary logging the first 100 days of lockdown in Stirchley, Birmingham, UK. Guest posts have also become a regular feature offering different perspectives and experiences. The diary is an important part of my writing practice and rather than keep it in a private diary, I decided to write more publicly as a matter of social/historical record. The digital artefacts also included photos, video, collaged artworks and a walk map.
COVID-19 Time for Me is (Bebezy the Happiness Champion)
Kadambari Sahu, Viswatej Kurma and Sandeep Mulagapati
Bebezy: Bebezy is an empathetic happiness champion to fight negative contagion caused by Covid-19. She champions safety and emotional well being. She is a collaboration between Kadambari Sahu, Viswatej Kurma and Sandeep Mulagapati. Covid-19 time is unprecedented. A big part of this battle is fighting the ill effects of isolation. Modern technology has provided some means of coping with this. Art in this context becomes a solution where it can be used to create togetherness by giving a platform for expression and sharing the commonalities. It also becomes one of the effective channels which when used in the service of people can create positive emotions more infectious and break the negative contagion. In an article by HBR tilted The Contagion We Can Control “While medical and public health leaders are working as hard as they can to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, we, of course, listen to and heed their advice. But experts in emotional intelligence also have something powerful to offer” a way to help us manage a different type of contagion that, if we let it run rampant, will only make things worse. Stemming negative emotional contagion” and making positive emotions more infectious” will make us feel more prepared and in control during this frightening period.” [1] To fight this negative emotional contagion some of the methods described are to have empathy, gratitude, express emotions (art therapy), and help others. The “Covid-19 time for me is” becomes a social platform for people to send short expressions of their time which can be documented. It will also give people a chance to get creative and send us their time phrase which we will illustrate. The collection of such illustrations will create positivity, common global spirit to stay on this fight. It will become an archive preserved through illustrations. It will encourage people to stay safe and it will also spread common empathy and positivity. To create a positive, solidarity-based content we will filter the ones and create it emotionally intelligent so it can offer people to think on lines of empathy, gratitude, and positivity.
Kirsten Ostherr (reported by Inside Higher Education)
In times of crisis, when we face complex challenges like global pandemics, we need a collaborative response that transcends disciplinary boundaries and offers novel approaches to vexing problems. In the current moment, biologists, engineers and others in fields with established pipelines for translational research have sprung into action, working together to create life-saving diagnostics and therapeutics to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet it isn’t always so obvious how scholars in the humanities can contribute to the front-line response.
Additional Details
Kirsten Ostherr, PhD, MPH is the Gladys Louise Fox Professor of English at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she is a media scholar, health researcher, and technology analyst. Her research on trust and privacy in digital health ecosystems has been featured in Slate, The Washington Post, Big Data & Society, and Catalyst. She has recently published research on medical humanities and artificial intelligence in The Journal of Medical Humanities, and her writing on COVID-19 has been featured in Inside Higher Ed and in American Literature. She is currently leading a multidisciplinary project called “Translational Humanities for Public Health” that will identify humanities-based (and humanities-inspired) responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, to document and help others build upon these creative efforts. Kirsten is the author of Medical Visions: Producing the Patient through Film, Television and Imaging Technologies (Oxford, 2013) and Cinematic Prophylaxis: Globalization and Contagion in the Discourse of World Health (Duke, 2005). She is editor of Applied Media Studies (Routledge, 2018), and co-editor of Science/Animation, a special issue of the journal Discourse (2016). Kirsten is currently writing a book called Quantified Health: Learning from Patient Stories in the Age of Big Data.
Rio de Janeiro Used Cutting-Edge Technology to Transform Its Giant Jesus Statue Into a Doctor to Honor Healthcare Workers
(reported by) Artnet
With churches and other houses of worship closed to maintain social distancing measures, Brazilian archbishop Orani Tempesta conducted an Easter service at the feet of the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro and projected a special message onto the 125-foot-tall statue. For the second time since the coronavirus escalated to a global pandemic, the statue appeared illuminated with images of the flags of countries hardest hit by the virus, including the United States, China, Spain, Italy, and Brazil, and the words “hope,” “thanks,” and “stay home” written in various languages. The statue, depicting Christ with outstretched arms, was also dressed up in a doctor’s scrubs, lab coat, and stethoscope as a tribute to the healthcare workers on the front line of the pandemic. Projected images of doctors and nurses also intermittently appeared on the figure, putting individual faces to that vital workforce.
The project is by design curator Paola Antonelli and design critic Alice Rawsthorn. Paola and Alice plan to publish a book on Design Emergency and are streaming weekly Instagram Live talks with leading figures in the design response to Covid-19.
Fase 0 took place from 2 to 10 May 2020. Confinement restrictions were partially lifted after 48 days of near-total lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic in Spain. Walks and other physical exercise were allowed from 6am to 10am and from 8pm to 11pm. Pedestrians aged between 14 and 70 could take a walk within a one-kilometer radius of their homes. I went out every morning. I documented each walk.
Lockdown in Lancaster and Morecambe (and Area): Walk, Run, Pedal, Push, Map by Louise Ann Wilson
Lancaster Arts at Lancaster University, UK and Louise Ann Wilson Company
Have you discovered new places and routes to walk, run, pedal or push due to the recent Stay at Home (Stay Aware) restrictions we are experiencing due to COVID-19? Places and routes that give you a breathing space – mentally, emotionally and physically. If so, can you record them so they can be added to a map/artwork: Lockdown in Lancaster and Morecambe (and area): Walk, Run, Pedal, Push, Map? Since the COVID-19 Lockdown, I have been running and walking every day from home. Gradually, I have found and followed new paths that have taken me to parts of Lancaster that I didn’t know were there and had not explored!! I am now becoming more aware of how the city connects; where tracks, streams, waterways, roads and the river meet and cross. I have found allotments, prisons and graveyards, followed narrow bluebell-lined tracks through woods and into high-up places where the view across The Bay or The Lakes open up and lorries on the motorway push past. I wave at Ingleborough Fell and glimpse Clougha and Pendle Hill in the distance. I’ve gained fitness, am running more regularly and a little further than usual. The pull of fresh air, warm sun or the whip of the wind is irresistible as is the need to stretch my legs and body, and clear my mind – and have some physical, emotional and mental breathing space. I am not alone in these findings and revelations – lots of others have told me they are doing exactly the same as me. Whether it be on foot or bicycle, with pushchair or wheelchair we are still venturing out from home. Those who can’t leave the house, move very far or easily are walking indoors, in yards, squares, gardens, streets and parks. So, can you start recording the route/s you are finding and share them with me? Walks from all parts of Lancaster and Morecambe AND the surrounding areas can be shared RECORDING AND SHARING YOUR ROUTE/S You can record and share your route/s via GPS, email or post. From hand drawn to digitally captured GPS, all maps are welcome! All of the mapped routes will be combined in to a single Lockdown in Lancaster and Morecambe: Walk, Run, Pedal, Push, Map map. This map will then become a bespoke artwork that abstracts and stitches the routes and paths into a made-at-home PPE intensive care gown. Please note, walks can be share from all parts of Lancaster and Morecambe (UK) AND the surrounding areas. Digital GPS maps and hand drawn maps can shared, please email: louise@louiseannwilson.com This project has been commissioned by Lancaster Arts, which was devised a support programme called ‘Breathing Space’ to connect people with each other and support the freelance arts community in Lancashire (UK) during the current pandemic.
Walks to Remember During a Pandemic: ‘With memory I was There’
Louise Ann Wilson
Is there a walk that you long to do but can’t due to the current stay at home restrictions we are experiencing due to COVID-19? If so, could you make a memory-map of that walk? Your memory-map could be of: a spring-time or a winter walk, a walk in a garden, a walk to a place you never thought you’d reach!, an every-day or local walk, a walk in a distant place, a once-in-a-lifetime walk, a work-related walk, a family walk, a friendship walk, a group walk, a celebratory walk, a pilgrimage, a solitary walk, a scientific walk, a creative activity walk, a therapeutic walk, a childhood walk, an indoor walk … It could include: stopping places, viewing places, picnic places, sleeping places, swimming places, narrow places, lying-down places, herding sheep places, orienteering places, grafting places, scattering places, recovery places … MEMORY-MAPPING The activity of drawing a memory-map is the most important thing – not the finished product. Through remembering you can be transported beyond the physical limits of a room or a house. Your memory-mapping can be undertaken alone or as a shared activity with others of ALL ages – family, friends, groups. It can be done in person or at a distance. I’ve done memory-mappings via Skype and at times people have drawn a map on behalf of a person unable to mark-make themselves. You can create as many memory-maps of as many walks as you wish – this could be a one-off or a daily or weekly activity. Your memory-map can include words, lines, symbols. It can be pictorial, graphic or abstract. It can be drawn in pencil, crayon, felt tip or a combination of materials. Please draw your memory-map on one side of a sheet of paper only – this will make it easier for me to upload, if you’d like to share it. PROMPTS Here are a few prompts designed to help you think about your ‘walk to remember’ and things you could include in your memory-map: • Where (place, region, country) is your walk to remember? • Where does your walk begin and end? • What route does your walk follow? • When and how often do you walk your walk? • Is there a specific reason or a purpose for your walk? • Do you walk alone or with others – if so, who and why? • Are there any specific landmarks along the way that are important? • Are there any particular stopping places on your walk? • Are there any actions/activities/jobs associated with your walk? • What sights, sounds, smell might you notice on your walk? • Why are you no longer able to walk your walk? • Do you have any photos relating to your walk? • Do you have an object associated with your walk? SHARING YOUR MEMORY MAP Your memory-mapping can be a private exercise. However, it would be great to create a collection of Walks to Remember During a Pandemic: ‘With memory I was there’ So, if you are happy to share your walk please scan/copy it and upload it to a Drop Box folder I’ve created. Just email me (louise@louiseannwilson.com) and I’ll invite you to that Drop Box. Please include a short 80-word description of your ‘walk to remember’ (the prompts could help with this). Plus, if you have them, photo/s that relate to your walk (3 photos max.). Before you upload it, please title your ‘walk to remember’ in the following way: [Name/s of the walker/s] [place] Walk: [A few words to describe the walk] e.g.: Margaret Crayston’s Upper Eskside Walk: ‘As a Child, I walked this valley everyday’ Please write this title on the memory-map itself and on any files and the Drop Box folder. I will then add your walk to remember memory-map, description and photo/s to the website page that I’ve created. See, https://louiseannwilson.com/work/walks-to-remember-during-a-pandemic-with-memory-i-was-there BACKGROUND Walks to Remember During a Pandemic: ‘With memory I was there’ is inspired by a ‘surrogate’ walking project I’ve been working on over the last few years in which I re-walk walks people can no longer do but long-for – a process that involves participants drawing a memory-map. That project is inspired by Dorothy Wordsworth who, when living at Rydal Mount, became bedroom-bound, relying on memory to transport herself back into the landscapes she once walked: No need of motion, or of strength, Or even the breathing air: – I thought of Nature’s loveliest scenes; And with Memory I was there… Extract from the poem “Thoughts on my Sick-Bed” by Dorothy Wordsworth. See, https://louiseannwilson.com/work/womens-walks-to-remember
Artist Sarah Ronald, based in Port Coquitlam BC, Canada writes, “I am an animal artist, I focus on creating educational artwork about human behavior and our treatment of wildlife. With the Covid-19 pandemic, I began reading a lot about potential causes, and learnt about Zoonotic viruses – that this virus is thought to have come from bats, to pangolin, to humans via the wet markets. This has inspired a whole new body of work, which I have titled Pandemica. The work is (so far) focused on bats and pangolin, but after absorbing Merlin Tuttle’s talk about covid-19 and bats, the arc of this work has shifted and will soon include humans (we will find deadly viruses wherever we decide to look, including humans), and will eventually include other host animals that have been thought to pass viruses onto humans. My entire message with my art practice is to re-present wild animal information in an effort to educate and bring self-awareness to individuals, and the fact that we are all part of nature, not separate from it. I embrace the concept that when we fight with nature, we are fighting with ourselves (ref. GA Bradshaw’s book ‘Talking With Bears, Conversations with Charlie Russell’)”
Pangolin (II), 2020, Pencil crayon on drafting film, black paper backing, 17″X22″ digitally enhancee contrast
A narrated short film of a walk I took on the day the UK Government announced Lockdown. It was a beautiful spring day and it really didn’t feel like The Apocalypse but there were some signs…
the AHRC funded ART/DATA/HEALTH Project /Dr Aristea Fotopoulou at the University of Brighton
“Shielding” explores the impact of the the COVID-19 quarantine on women facing domestic abuse and the paradoxical meaning of home as shelter. News stories around the world have highlighted the significant upsurge in violence and the need for increased support for victims of abuse from both governments and the charity sector, a time when support has been much harder to access because of infection control measures and reduced capacity, especially in the early stages of the pandemic.
The artwork is inspired by Virginia Woolf’s feminist essay “A Room of One’s Own” (1929) which states that women need their own safe space in order to flourish and be creative. This notion of a safe space is set against the stark image of the hastily constructed temporary hospital ward that has become such a familiar image in the news stories of 2020. Those locked down with abusive partners have no safe space in which to escape. Movement restrictions aimed to stop the spread of COVID-19 are making violence in homes more frequent, more severe and more dangerous. “Shielding” has become a familiar term for protecting those vulnerable to COVID-19 who are asked to stay home but the reality is for those at risk of domestic abuse the home is not a place of safety and care, and helplines globally are facing an increase of up to one third. The final installation combines traditional feminine crafts such as sewing, embroidery and natural dyeing with healing plants (such as turmeric), with 3D printing based on digital reconstructions of hospital beds from the first temporary hospitals in Wuhan with their rows of identical beds, often with a bizarre jumble of colourful makeshift bedding sourced at speed from nearby factories. The doll sized beds also remind us of Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” (1879) which deals with the fate of a married woman in a male dominated world. In the context of Dumitriu’s BioArt practice the aim is also to safely incorporate biomaterial related to the pandemic in the work. This Art/Data/Health commissioned artwork by Anna Dumitriu is particularly relevant in the current crisis where numbers of domestic violence cases have been rising globally, while under-resourced civil society organisations struggle to remain accessible to those who need them most. The commission initially aimed to represent and creatively explore data around domestic abuse through hands on art workshops with staff from Brighton-based charity RISE, but has been adapted to respond to the global pandemic situation in light of the limitations that social distancing has brought. Since the creative workshops planned by the ART/DATA/HEALTH project were cancelled due to the pandemic, Dumitriu prepared an art kit for the participants instead, which they were able access online. The creative activity prompted them to imagine an ideal a room of their own or a safe and cosy space for a service user, reflecting on Woolf’s writings. It is hoped that in due course participants can work with artist to create miniature bedcovers to be incorporated into the artwork with embroideries that bring their own meaning to the piece. Dumitriu said in an interview for SENSORIUM in March 2020: “An important aspect is to let this situation inspire work and I am relieved that I have been able to adapt one current art commission to explore the impact of self-isolation and quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the issue of domestic abuse and violence from a global perspective.” This work is commissioned as part of the AHRC funded ART/DATA/HEALTH Project led by Dr Aristea Fotopoulou at the University of Brighton 2018-20. Anna Dumitriu’s project is inspired by the work of community domestic abuse and violence charity RISE.
This selfie, done in Cai’s signature style using gunpowder was posted by @caistudio instagram account.
Cai Guo-Qiang (b. 1957, Quanzhou, China) was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and his work has since crossed multiple mediums within art including drawing, installation, video, and performance. Cai began to experiment with gunpowder in his hometown Quanzhou, and continued exploring its properties while living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, which led to the development of his signature outdoor explosion events. Drawing upon Eastern philosophy and contemporary social issues as a conceptual basis, his often site-specific artworks respond to culture and history and establish an exchange between viewers and the larger universe around them. His explosion art and installations are imbued with a force that transcends the two-dimensional plane to engage with society and nature.
Alexandre Valentim is a digital artist Rio de Janeiro – Brazil. He writes, “In times of seclusion, I realized the great opportunity that I was given to pay a visit to my interior. A trip inside, another angle of observation (multidimensional, maybe …). Sometimes pleasurable, sometimes painful. Sometimes enlightening, sometimes disturbing. Reflect on the act of observing more and talking less. To be more attentive to perceptions, to the information that arrives via our intuition. Allow our connection to the Universe to guide us in our actions.”
Reimagine Hope With Music: Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky – Multimedia Artist, Composer, Author
Direct Talk
Reimagine Hope With Music: Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky / Multimedia Artist, Composer, Author. Spooky writes, “Japanese National TV did a documentary on me where they hung out with me in NY at the height of the Pandemic to see how artists and creatives were coping with the situation (socially distant, of course…)”
Video poem & music “What flavors here? What scents now …” Nostalgia for the days before … Carelessness, freedom of movement, human warmth, nature … which the Coronavirus deprives us cruelly. This new video-poem by Tamara Laï whose images were filmed in various places and countries (Belgium, China, Scotland, Italy, Netherlands) was finalized in residence at her home in Liège, during the lockdown period. Video and poems: Tamara LAI Music: Caroline BOE
Production : Thalamus Prod. With support of Transcultures & Pépinières européennes de Création
