Karine Laudort Being stuck indoors may make you feel like you are lacking in cultural events you are so used to attending. It makes us value things differently and appreciate what we have, and I hope ultimately it makes us better for it.
If you are a creative person looking for inspiration to fuel your excess energy, find art inspiration from the safety of your own home. With virtual art galleries and tours. Don’t miss out on any art exhibition or gallery opening you were once looking forward to before lockdown halted your plans.
The arts and culture sector is braving these unexpected circumstances with creative innovation, securing a renewed digital presence that will be here to stay. Coronavirus could make IRL (In Remote Life) relevant to a wider audience because before an event “only mattered if it was around you but now with In Remote Life, the content has no geographical limitations”, says IRL co-founder and CEO Abe Shafi. There is a need for exponentially greater innovations and technology as everyone’s routines have been shattered and normality is in need of restoring. Maybe not in the traditional way, but the new and improved digital age of normal.
Thanks to Google Arts & Culture, we can wander around art exhibitions from over 1,000 international institutions from our sofa, missing out on nothing and gaining much needed cultural richness. Indulge in some inspiring virtual tours of tropical sculpture gardens and artists’ homes. Explore augmented reality apps such as Expanded Art, which showcases AR (Augmented Reality) sculptures by KAWS in locations around the world.
Travel the world and discover the most inspirational virtual exhibitions from around the world. No need to break any rules during the lockdown and move from your comfy sofa. Visit The New Museum in New York, ahead of its time it has been launching monthly virtual exhibits since 2013. The most recent exhibition, WE=LINK: TEN EASY PIECES, showcasing a web platform that links to work by a variety of artists, commenting on the anxiety surrounding Covid-19. Take time to delve into the newly launched Online Interactive Victoria and Albert Museum, examine the vast online archive to view interiors and fashion inspiration in detail. Then take a trip across to the other side of the world to Beijing to explore M Woods’s virtual exhibition ‘A Hypothetical Show for a Closed Museum’. It focuses on lockdown-related themes such as isolation and kinship, featuring an inspiring mix of artworks including video, photography and poetry. To keep you hooked, the museum has weekly content updates on Weibo and Instagram to keep your creative mind racing.
Social media is even more so at the front of our minds with the increase of posts and live streams. Social media is truly changing the creative industry landscape, serving as a platform to nurture art. For some fun inspiring artwork look at Covid Art Museum, the first Instagram museum devoted to art created during Covid-19. Get educated at #IsolationArtSchool and be inspired by #metanywhere and #tussenkunstenquarantaine. With an increase of influencers and artists flocking to live streaming seeking some sort of face to face recognition. It has become the new normal for creatives to interact with their audience virtually. To join in on this craze and feel a sense of community with one another, follow Club Quarantine, the virtual dance club that hosts Zoom parties daily for clubwear inspiration. Stay alert for virtual festivals like the successful Room Service Festival and Lockdown Live.https://www.instagram.com/clubquarantine
Surround yourself with creativity and immerse yourself in the new world of virtual exhibitions, don’t let COVID-19 stop your cultural calendar. Expand on your original calendar and use this time to explore the world of art and culture.
