Architects and designers are not the only ones reacting to the changes associated with the pandemic-induced quarantine. We can assume that even at this moment sociologists and anthropologists are debating the future of societies and the effects of the current situation. In addition to them, artists are also doing their research. Contemporary art reacts like a seismograph to the problems arising from the consequences of isolation. House facades are becoming spaces for artistic expression.
At the invitation of the confederation of museums L'Internationale, a dozen artists: Babi Badalov, Osman Bozkurt, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Ola Hassanain, Sanja Iveković, Siniša Labrović, Rogelio López Cuenca and Elo Vega, Kate Newby, Daniela Ortiz, Zeyno Pekünlü, Maja Smrekar, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina, Guy Woueté, Akram Zaatari and Pawel Zhukovsky began a conversation about the current conditions of their work and life, as well as the spaces and places in which they take place. Their reflections offer new insights into what public and private space is, the notion of solidarity and social critique inherent in the current situation.
On the day President Tito visited Zagreb in 1979, artist Sanja Iveković performed an 18-minute performance entitled Triangle (1979) on her balcony. She went out on the balcony with a book, read and drank whiskey and moved as if she were masturbating, until the security forces showed up and ordered her back inside the house. Do domestic spaces, like Sanja Iveković's balcony in the late 1970s, still carry subversive potential and allow for public speaking?
Artists speak out
In a time of global isolation, virtual space, as well as the windows, balconies and facades of our homes, have acquired the function and importance of street squares for expressing community content and emotions, thus blurring the line between public and private space. In their own modest way, artists in quarantine join the conversation on the effects of the pandemic, rethinking the channels of communication that have influenced current perceptions and consumption of information, and trying to rethink the potential of existing spaces.
Beginning April 21, 2020, artist statements will be made available online through L'Internationale, @internationaleonline and MSN Warsaw social media, as well as the websites and social media of individual members of the confederation. Artists' proposals will be published twice a week: on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
