Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1234806
PHOTO BY JAMES BIANCHI 8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 APRIL 2020 INTERVIEW A recent social media 'meme' invited people to consider what isolation/quarantine would be like in a world with- out books, poetry, film, and the arts in general. On the ba- sis of that observation: do you think that this crisis may also lead to a reappraisal of our attitude towards the world of art? I'd love to believe that a cri- sis like this could lead to an overhaul in people's attitudes towards the arts. More likely, however, those who had al- ready invested time in the arts in the past will be able to invest more time in them now that they are staying home. At the same time, memes are actually a good place to start in order to understand the crucial role that creative work plays in our times. Memes bring to- gether several features that we love and hate about digital cul- ture: visual information, brevi- ty, remixing, parody, triviality, a shared repertoire of images and humour. The comedic side of 'social distancing' has been articulated in memes that borrow imagery from the history of art, espe- cially pastiches of Leonardo da Vinci and Edward Hopper. More relevantly, the biologi- cal and cultural connotations of the word 'meme' (in the 'ge- netic' sense Richard Dawkins originally gave to the word: an idea that is spread through imitation) echo the contagious effects of COVID-19. The sharing of memes is the digital counterpart of the vi- rus's infectious spread – con- cise enough to be virtually invisible, but sufficiently pow- erful to be transferred across borders with ease. Unfortu- nately, coronavirus-related memes disseminate racist ideas too, about the coughing Chi- nese kid, for example. Will the arts, like memes, emerge stronger from this storm? It's difficult to predict. Music, perhaps, has an edge in situations like this. Many of us will not easily forget those scenes of professional and non-professional singers and musicians on Italian balco- nies in the first week or two of lockdown, or live-streamed mi- ni-concerts on Facebook. The arts can bring people out of a sense of isolation at times like these. At the same time, though, the pandemic also threatens the very existence of many ar- tistic disciplines: especially those which rely on audiences (for example, theatre/cinema/ live music, etc). What are your predictions for the future of the arts scene in Malta? Can it even survive the current cri- sis? The economic consequences of the pandemic are very se- rious, with millions of people losing their jobs across Europe and the US as businesses close down. For artists around the world, this is an unprecedented crisis because the arts depend on social interaction. Malta is no exception, and cancellations of events have hit artists hard. This situation does not only undermine free- lancers' financial stability; it also affects the confidence, fo- cus and forward-looking spirit of artists. What do you plan for when life becomes so unpre- dictable? Having said that, the arts will definitely survive, as they al- ways do in times of crisis. But some artists may feel pressured to move on to other, more sta- ble, occupations or to sustain their arts activity with other part-time work like teaching. Many already do this anyway. In a recent press opinion piece (written before the pandem- ic), you made the point that art, in Malta, is regarded as a 'means to a commercial end'. This seems to be borne out by the government's econom- ic rescue programme, which clearly prioritises sectors on the basis of their direct contri- Will prolonged self-isolation result in an artistic revival, as more people turn to the creative arts to fill their long hours at home? For Prof. RAPHAEL VELLA – head of the Department of Arts at the University of Malta – the answer is uncertain… but no matter what, the arts themselves will certainly survive Home is where the art is… Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt I'd love to believe that a crisis like this could lead to an overhaul in people's attitudes towards the arts. More likely, however, those who had already invested time in the arts in the past will be able to invest more time in them now that they are staying home