Art Activities During the Pandemic

Our Virtual Studio
Aug 30, 2021
3 min read

Author: Hannah Brigitta, 21st of August

It has been almost two years since the first Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) case was reported. Since then, this pandemic has changed all of our activities and behaviours: from working and studying at home, wearing masks, intensively using hand sanitiser, to washing our hands way more frequently than we usually do and so on.

Covid-19 has affected the way artists have used to present their way of expression. We have seen an increase in online art exhibitions, workshops, webinars and more. If you have been to one of the following events, did you notice some differences?

As a visitor to these digital art venues, I feel like I have lost touch with the artworks themselves. It felt like I was watching videos on Youtube or seeing 2D pictures on Instagram. Although there have been several events that were created as interactive online exhibitions, the experience just does not feel right with these online substitutes.

There is a loss of physical interaction where we could examine, handle, compare, see, hear, smell and experience the artwork. Now, with everything online, the connection is just flat. You can not sense a thing and are unlikely to find satisfaction in the artwork itself. There are certain unique emotions that we experience when we are physically present at the art space in real-time, as it is natural for us as living creatures to sense positive and negative emotions from an artwork.

Despite the lack of physical interaction, there is a bright side in that we get the chance to visit online art exhibitions worldwide. We do not have to buy any airline tickets to visit several countries to be able to see foreign art exhibitions, just use our phone and go.

With the ongoing pandemic requiring everything to be done online, artists are also forced to adapt to the new practices involving technology. You might have seen 360 cameras being used as a tool for online art exhibitions. With the use of such a thing, you, as an artist, must know how to work with it when being featured in these online spaces. How will it display your work? Do 360 cameras work for your exhibition? And more.

There is also a possibility that technology can create a new kind of art form. You can see artists who adapt with technology mix both art and tech to be one divine element e.g. Neri Oxman and Olafur Eliasson.

Other than 360 cameras, there are also interactive online art exhibitions on Instagram and even on an app called “Artsteps”. What is more, is that you can see the exhibitions for free.

As an artist myself, there is this one thing that I miss the most. It is the interaction between the visitors and me. Nowadays, I can only see the visitors’ reviews online without meeting them in person, where we might likely have a conversation about the artwork itself. Having a conversation online is not as pleasing as a direct conversation in real life.

Sometimes, I realise that visitors may have misinterpretations on the meaning behind my artworks, which I tend to only discover when the visitors and I are talking about the artwork itself. It is tough to talk about details of the artwork when we are not physically present in the art venue because not everyone has a strong visual memory. In spite of this, artists are fortunately getting more exposure from the increased use of these digital platforms. Artists need to get exposure for their dedication and hard work, as they deserve the recognition.

We do not know when this pandemic will be over. All we can do today is to take care of ourselves and our families. I hope this will end soon, so that we can do things normally as we used to before that first Covid-19 case. Thank you for reading my first blog on OVS. See you next month!