Lowercase Interviews The COVID Art Museum Creators

You would think that art would take a pause during this global pandemic that has us cowering in our homes stuffing our faces while watching Netflix. Far from it, creators are creating and the rest of us are consuming, maybe more than we have before. In a previous article we mentioned some online art galleries you can visit to feed your addiction to ideas and aesthetic. One of them was the CAM, the Covid Art Museum. We were so interested by their project we decided to interview them.

image courtesy of @acondieresis

First of all, who are you guys? Where are you based? Have you been involved in galleries (physical or online) before?

We are Emma Calvo, José Guerrero and Irene Llorca. Three Spanish art directors based in Barcelona and working in advertising. As the project grew a copywriter (and friend) joined the team. Dilay Yaman, she is based in Cologne (Germany) and is a project manager in a digital consulting agency. It is the first time for all of us that we get involved in galleries as curators.
 
Was there a moment or a piece of art that made you think a COVID art museum would be a good idea?

Yes, few days into the quarantine in Spain, we realized people were sharing artwork they created during the isolation. Lots of artists, well known and unknown, started pouring out their feelings, perception and point of view about Covid 19 and being in quarantine, into their art. We could sense a movement here and asked ourselves what would happen with all of this art. We didn’t want these artworks to be forgotten, so we came up with the idea of a digital museum, to make it more accessible for people all over the world.
 
We think what people express through their artwork is an important testimony about the pandemic, because it gives you an insight to how people lived through it, how they felt and how their reality has changed.
 
When/what was the moment that helped you guys gain traction?

It helped a lot that right after the idea was created it was shared by several media in Spain (Yorokobu, Timeout) right away and we did our first collaboration with Arteinformado (a platform for Iberoamerican art) the first week we launched. Then we started to receive plenty of submissions. But the peak moment was the day we appeared in the TV News in Spain and also that same day we were shared by Stefan Sagmeister.

image courtesy of @pleasetalktomyhand

What have you learned? Is there an overall theme or message that unites us in these times?

Art helps keep us in good spirits and working through anxiety and fear. Expressing our thoughts, feelings, worries and grants us an escape from our current reality. Going through the process of creation and having a creative vent, stimulates our thought pattern and entertains us. Most of the messages the museum receives from artists have a positive note. They urge everyone to stay home, to maintain social distance ... Their icons are masks, soap, toilet paper ... They are messages that intend to reassure, entertain and amuse.
 
Do you think COVID will affect art for years to come? If so how?

We think culture will be affected for years to come. We suppose it will be digitized, then it will complement the physical experience. Because, during the quarantine digitization has shown being really useful and it will remain after quarantine for sure, the cultural industry could expand its business due to it.

image courtesy of @kamcolour

Do you have anything planned with the account post COVID? Are you planning on having an exhibit or physical gallery?

We are evaluating possibilities in terms of formats to make it more accessible. We think it might be interesting to hold a physical exhibition or a digital book, but it's still early to define anything. Right now we are focused on doing a web page, on compiling the works that are being produced and creating an awareness for the project.
 
Do you interact on a personal level with the artists? If so what has the response been?

Since we have two ways of art curation there are different levels of connecting or interacting with artists. However we do personally interact with the artists in the sense of chatting about their artwork and working out a few lines to go with the art. That way we understand the sometimes not so obvious thought behind the artwork and can transport it to our audience.

There’s a photography that comes to my mind by @cristi141095. The story behind it is, that a small community founded a WhatsApp group of 60 people in their neighbourhood. They live in the same complex and help each other with purchases or other needs during quarantine.

One of the neighbours had lots of balloons in her storage, so she left a balloon to all her neighbour‘s doorsteps. Every one blew them and participated on decorating the complex. Everyday of quarantine they come up with fun activities such as playing music together, applauding, taking challenges together or staring contests in between neighbours. After the pandemic is over they will create a neighbour association with regular meetings to get to known each other better in person and keep the bond that emerged during the crisis.
Looking at the picture one wouldn’t see such a deep meaning in it, that’s why we love to chat about the artwork with the artists. (you can see the image here)

Check them out @covidartmuseum

cover photo courtesy of @atelieaflore