The art of quarantine
Maybe 2 or 3 months into quarantine, self-isolation, or whichever mode of distancing one has been forced to acquire, it probably seems there is nothing new out there to help keep ourselves busy through the dull days. When this all began, I spent a great deal of time scouring through the Internet to get the latest news on the virus and its whereabouts. Then, just as things intensified and we all turned to the great indoors for shelter, I found myself trying to secure a good supply of activities and reads to keep the family entertained. I wish I could say “at pretty much the same rate as I filled up the pantry”, but I wouldn’t be totally honest—it actually took our family a while to get up to speed with the online grocery shopping thing so that we would never run out of supplies. But that’s a fun story for another time.
For those of us with an inclination for the arts, we may have found that some of the first activities to go with the big—and pretty much global—shutdown, were museum visits, art openings, screenings and other cultural events—oh how I miss those museum cappuccino breaks! Fortunately, we live in a day and age where nearly everything can be found online, and even more so these days. As an example, over the course of these past few months, every now and then someone would let me know that this or that museum or magazine had their collections or volumes available for download at no cost. I won’t lie and say I’ve had the time or the energy to check them out, but it’s uplifting to see that, for a change, cultural institutions or companies have been willing to forego their earnings for the greater good.
Now, I know it’s all too easy to get lost in the sea of information. I probably spend as much time trying to figure out what’s worth checking out, than actually going with one option and making the most out of what it has to offer. So I’ve decided to make a list of my favorite art related sites out there right now to help us get some much needed inspiration these days. While some help you hone your design skills, at least one of them touches on the art world’s response to the worldwide pandemic and others are simply all-time personal favorites.
1. DO IT
Do it is a collaborative project conceived in 1993 by art curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist and artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier. They invite artists to create instructions for people to make or perform on their own, rather than offer a viewable work of art. The evolution of the project, Do it Around the World, has been launched in partnership with the Serpentine Galleries and makes use of social media and digital platforms to bring artists’ instructions to a wider audience.
2. James Turrel
James Turrel’s work is especially meaningful to me. Back in 2016, I was amazed by his Meeting at MoMA PS1, one in a series of Skyspaces that can be found around the world. And although it is nearly impossible for a website to replace the experience of being face to face with a work of art, this one gives you a good glimpse into the artist’s universe of light. Roden Crater, Turrel’s largest-scale project, is set to become a naked-eye astronomical observatory in the tradition of other man-made structures the likes of Newgrange in Ireland and Abu Simbel in Egypt (if and when it manages to gather the funding it needs). In any case, it sounds simply astounding.
Method of Action has created a series of tools conceived to help you master specific design-related notions such as nodes in a Bezier curve or the idea of kerning (if you’re not familiar with the term, that’s the separation between letters in any given text). Although perhaps more design than art-related, it will surely sharpen your perception and add to your art appreciation skills. Be sure to try the color matching game, it’s quite addictive.
4. How Art Movements Tried to Make Sense of the World in the Wake of the 1918 Flu Pandemic
This essay from Time magazine by Anna Purna Kambhampaty addresses a lot of the things that have been on my mind since the pandemic began with regards to the role of art in situations like the one we’re experiencing. How did artists respond to previous pandemics? Did anything substantial come out? This might give you a clue as to where art might be headed afterwards, in case you were wondering.
5. The Broad’s family workshops at home
I looked around for family activities museums were offering in lieu of their onsite events and activities, and came across a series of videos posted by The Broad museum in LA. They teach kids how artists go about their creations by inviting them to do something of their own. I especially loved the video on how to make a tapestry like El Anatsui’s. Hope you check it out and enjoy it as much as we did!
Carolina
