Nowadays the Covid 19 pandemic has forced us to abruptly change our daily routine: new health security measures came into force all over the planet, replacing our ordinary habits and activities with isolation and new rituals concerning hygienic care.
Common sanitary objects such as gloves, masks and soap have been receiving new perceptions and meanings, while the social networks are the only channel of interactions allowed.
Concerns about our present lives are blending with the incertitude of the near future. And the same mixed feelings of trepidation, fear and hope are overwhelming individuals all over the world, in varying degrees but following a same pattern.
But such a context of globally shared emotions can reveal itself as a fertile soil for expression and connection.
The Covid Art Museum is an initiative based in Barcelona which started on the 19th of March 2020 and was generated by the minds three young advertising agents Emma Calvo, Irene Llorca and José Guerrero.
At the beginning of the lock-down in Spain, the creators noticed that creativity and artistic production were flourishing among their friends, bringing them to voluntarily set up a common platform of expression through an Instagram page.
But the purpose of collecting visual and artistic contents expressing feelings and fears had an unexpected follow-up: “We quickly realized that they were not only our friends; during the quarantine the art production was exploding”.
On an international level, artists and art amateurs started to share their personal contributions on the page until building a constant growing art collection focused on the Covid19. The page received 20,000 works from 50 different countries. It receives 500 works per day and gained over 2 million impressions on Instagram.
The Covid Art Museum represents the first online art museum of COVID-19, where quarantine pieces of art are displayed and emerging artists have the opportunity to exhibit their works.The success of the project should be interpreted not only as a valid window for artists, or as a hub to stay connected to the outside world. Rather, according to Irene Llorca, “It is something that we want to mark, the museum recalls the importance of art and culture in our life, especially during extreme situations like the present one”.
The 24 of April we interviewed Irene about the the Covid Art Museum project, its origins, scope and future evolution.
The interview
Let’s start off with a bit of personal history about you. Where did you meet the first time? And how did you decide to work all three together on this project?
Irene: “We met three years ago, at a creativity school in Barcelona. We were doing a creativity course and that is where we met! Actually, Emma is my colleague and we are working together at an advertising and marketing agency called Honest Barcelona. Josè is my boyfriend, he is a freelancer now and he is totally absorbed by the Museum.
Everything started one day when Emma and I were commenting that many different friends were sharing their works during the quarantine. And that is when we realized that there were not just them, but also many artists and people all over the world. It was turning in a sort of trend. So we came up with the idea of doing a online art museum about the COVID-19.”
How did a few young publicists become viral overnight? We’ve seen campaigns all over the world take off regarding COVID-19 19 art at this time, but what made yours so successful?
Irene: “I think what really helped us at the beginning was that three days after the launch we were successful in attract the interest of the media. We had some articles by the Time out magazine, a really well known magazine in Spain. And we also contacted a platform called Arte Informado, with whom we launched an open call for artists for an online exhibition. They helped us to reach the artists at the beginning, sending the open call call through the newsletter and reaching around 30.000 artists!
I believe the key for the success of the idea was the global sense of the phenomenon, putting us all in the same situation around the world. Artistic production is also a way of escaping for the artists and this is why the production has been so crazy these days. Being a positive news, the media were more than glad to show something encouraging and cheerful.”
What was your strategy to make such a strong impression on artists and other publicists?
Irene: “We were obviously focusing on trying to get as many artists in the world displaying their works. We also did a lot of interviews with TVs, radios and different media from all over the world. We are planning to develop a web page, making it more easy to join for people who do not have Instagram.”
Has this project become a full-time occupation for all of you? Because it seems you are growing so fast! But I am wondering what the average day looks like for your team.
Irene: “We are still working from home and are really busy until late afternoon... If we have an interview, we take a little time in the morning or late afternoon. We are doing a lot of interviews every day. José is dedicated full time to the museum. Also we have to look at the works of the artists using our hashtag. It is really intense but it is worth it.
I mean, we are getting so many comments and feedback from the artists and from the viewers... that really makes us happy. We even know that some of our artists have got job offers after being exhibited by the Museum and that makes us really proud”.
What do you think most artists and campaigns right now fail to understand about creating successful content and transmitting it to an audience?
Irene: “In my opinion it is relevant to connect with the public. People always do the same and the message does not stick. You have to be original. That is one of the main rules. And being honest, I think the reason our platform is successful is because the contents that it shows really connect with the audience. The art we display speaks about the experience of the pandemic and it is very easy for everyone to sit at home, look at the work of an artist coming from the other corner of the planet and empathize with the feelings and sensations which are represented, as you both are living the same situation
You mentioned that after the pandemic you would like to turn the Covid Art Museum into a ‘physical one and have a deeper social impact. What are the challenges and concerns of moving from a virtual museum to an established one? Do you have any ideas about where your possible future ‘physical’ museum could be located and why?
Irene: “Actually it is hard to think about a physical exhibition, due to the situation of pandemic... But yes, we really hope we will realize one in the future.. That would be such a beautiful ending! Even because we think that many of the art works that we are receiving really deserve a more concrete visual space. There are many projects which are important to read as a whole to better understand the artist’s conceptual vision. I think it will be beautiful once it is all over, to go back and to think and process what we felt, what we missed the most. I imagine going to the exhibition in one or two years from now and then remembering this period. Because it is such a period of reflection as well. I think it is important that we keep the testimony of what we are feeling right now. And art is a great medium to do that! We could settle the museum in Barcelona or, even better, make an itinerant exhibition and go to different countries. That would be amazing.”
Will this time of forced quarantine and social distancing establish the legitimacy and increase the popularity of virtual museums?
Irene: “Yes, totally. There are more people on social media because they have more time at home. They are more and more is a way to express your feelings, to communicate what you are going through. It is a way of escaping. I think it has been really useful. That is something that we want to mark. The museum recalls the importance of art and culture in our life because it is really helping us going through this moment”.
Do you think online platforms have proved to be a more useful visibility tool for artists, especially for less established ones? And what is the future of all the virtual museums we are currently seeing?
Irene: “Yeah, our main goal is to have a testimony of what we felt during this time but also to give visibility to the artists because of the upcoming economic crisis which will hit hard especially the artistic sectors. This is also our way to help them, and we really hope that it will increase their chances to find collaborations or job offers. That will be great. There is so much talent out there!”
Lastly, have you and your partners considered creating other museum bases in the future? Or is this more of a one-time project to do together?
Irene: “ I am sure we will do many other projects together, but right now we are just focused on the Covid Art Museum. It takes a lot of our time. But many people suggested us, for example, “why don’t you do a Covid Art Museum for kids?” That sounds like a good idea but right now we are are really to busy”
Some final thoughts for our audience?
Irene: “I would just like to incentive people to try to display their art works on the Covid art museum Instagram page, now that we have so much time in our hands. Further, you do not have to be an established artist to submit your work: you can go through the museum and you can see that plenty of the art we display is made by amateurs, but they did astonishing works.”
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