How to gather out of a straight line?

Essay
Text: Seda Yıldız
Graphic Design: Ran Altamirano, Michael Schmitz
2020, Hamburg


This article presents a set of artistic proposals, ideas, and possibilities that blossomed during recent COVID-19 confinement days, which were particularly realised in physical spaces. Initiated by an art collective (ŠKART), an independent curator duo (Övül Ö. Durmusoglu & Joanna Warsza) and an institution (Kunsthalle Zurich); these examples enable a critical view on our current modes of production and display. They relate to time and space, to our very specific conditions while critically exploring the limits to the function of an art institution, social upheavals and pandemic conditions. They propose possibilities to survive in the long run in terms of building interconnections and collaborations—linking people, processes, locations and discourses in physical spaces, reaching a broader audience, under any circumstances—and therein lies their strength. Realised both in public and private spaces, they prove that art is not utopic; yet it can be realized under any circumstances. And such demystified approach to art production, social engagement, and maybe most importantly the element of inclusivity helps one develop consciousness to facilitate a rather meaningful encounter with one’s surroundings.

This publication has been supported by the aid fund "Art knows no shutdown".
read the full article here