January-June 2021 Vol. VIII, Issue 1 ISSN: 2284-3310
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Conversations with a Stranger: The Role of the Artist in a Global Pandemic Lea Marks Abstract: This essay explores and questions both the role of the artist in a global pandemic and the role of suffering in the creative process. In order to do this, the myth of the suffering artist is deconstructed and reimagined. WHAT NOW WELL is a multimedia performance, in the form of a video project, that tells the story of 18 artists on lockdown in 18 different countries. At the centre of the project lies the footage from the conversations that were recorded with these artists via Zoom. Using this digital performance as a case study, the essay analyses the digitisation of art during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the aesthetics of empathy and the role of multicultural communication through a period of closed borders. Keywords: Multimedia, Digitisation, Intercultural, Performance, Storytelling, Pandemic, Global
Art.
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1. Introduction Everything humans do is the product of struggle. We invented clothes because we were cold. We built houses because we were getting rained on. We created laws because we were killing each other. You might ask why art should be any different. (Zara 2012: 7)
In December 2019, a new novel coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, China. By May 2020, there were more than four million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide leading to a total of over 300,000 deaths. Most countries in the world experiences some form of lockdown, limiting the movement of citizens. Many industries, including the performances industries were put on ice. This essay aims to explore the way in which artists were affected by the pandemic and vice versa. At the centre of this exploration, will be the case study of WHAT NOW WELL, a multimedia performance project. The main points addressed are:
Lea Marks Conversations with a Stranger: The Role of the Artist in a Global Pandemic
