Q: How has the crisis affected your everyday life?
A: The exhibition that was to be my largest source of income in the first half of the year has been postponed indefinitely. I have been promised that I will be paid for (curatorial) work done to date, but nothing as yet. In the interim, I have some grant funded projects that I can work on to provide some income. I’m guessing that my income will probably drop by 30-50% this year.
Q: How has the crisis affected your practice?
A: It has definitely given me a great sense of urgency to start new projects and to re-start old ones. I find that there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do.
When it was clear that everything was closing down, my immediate reaction was think what projects I could ramp up, or begin. It’s a tiny part of the art economy, but it is good to be able to keep small checks going out to writers, editors, curators, etc.
Q: How has the crisis affected you economically?
A:
Q: What is the role of culture in a time of crisis?
A: One role that culture has in times like these is to keep people connected, communicating, and working together. We know that the (neoliberal) right uses crisis as an opportunity to impose austerity measures on society’s most vulnerable members, and also as an opportunity to remove environmental protections. This crisis may be particularly bad for that because of the increased social isolation. so this role is going to be especially important.
I also think that culture allows people to conceptualize, experiment with ideas, and reflect on what’s happening. These are all critical to using this time as a learning experience.
Then the creation and consumption of culture is a tremendous source of comfort to a lot of people, and that is not inconsiderable.
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