Coronavirus Brought Art Home

The cultural and touristic activities nearly came to an end with the measures taken to prevent the coronavirus pandemic

In the countries affected by the new type of coronavirus, the restrictions on the public and social life brought social distancing to a whole new level. The cultural and touristic activities nearly came to an end due to the measures taken to prevent the coronavirus outbreak. Many festivals, activities and movie screenings around the world were cancelled and museums were opened to virtual visitors.

THE WORLD WILL ACCESS ART IN THEIR HOMES

Regarded as one of the best orchestras in the world, The Berlin Philharmonic shared its live concerts and archive for free on “digitalconcerthall.com” for a while. The Vienna State Opera also had to cancel all the performances due to the pandemic and decided to share the records of all its opera and ballet performances on “www.staatsoperlive.com” through “Wiener Staatsoper”, a platform that provides free broadcast. And the Paris Opera stated that they would bring many classic works such as “Manon”, “Don Giovanni”, “Swan Lake”, “The Barber of Seville” and “Carmen” to the homes of art lovers on “operadeparis.fr”. As many film festivals planned for March and April were postponed, “The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam”, the world’s largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam, was also cancelled. 300 documentary movies planned for screening in the festival were shared for free at the address “www.idfa.nl”.

Held in Basel, Switzerland every year, the international “Art Basel” fair also opened nearly 2 thousand works of art to virtual visitors in rooms in “www.artbasel.com”.

MOVIES HIT THE CORONAVIRUS WALL

Two of the biggest comic book festivals in the world, San Diego Comic-Con and Washington Comic-Con were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Movies like No Time to Die, Fast & Furious 9 and Matrix 4 postponed their dates of coming to the theatres to follow the social isolation rules.

CULTURE AND ART WILL #STAYATHOME IN TURKEY

Immediately after the first case emerged, all museums, theatres, movie houses and exhibition halls were closed, and culture & art activities were postponed in Turkey. As the country resumed the health measures earnestly against the pandemic, many arts, culture events and museums were carried to the virtual environment.

As such, the operas prepared with the slogan “The Excitement of Art is in Our Houses” of the T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and live concerts of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra and many theatre plays meet the viewers online and on TRT 2 Channel.

Arkas Art Center in İzmir and Gallery Soyut in Ankara are expecting their visitors on their websites with their 3D tours. Even if Pg Art Gallery in Beyoglu, Istanbul closed its doors to visitors, it continues to hold online exhibitions. In this scope, the gallery has held the new exhibition of Ayla Turan Tehlikeli Oyunlar (Dangerous Plays) since March 21 on “pgartgallery.com”. Additionally, Istanbul Modern and Rahmi Koç museums also opened their doors virtually for art-lovers who cannot leave their houses because of the virus.

Article Gültuğ Erdöl