What if the halls no longer fill up, even if the measures have been abolished?
What if, in particular, those areas break away that had survived before the pandemic, mainly from the momentum of their own history and continuity in the audience?
What if the pandemic creates a rift between culture and audiences — because the latter has felt isolated in some ways?
What if politics has learned during the crisis that it works without culture?
Black painting is an all too easy exercise. But even apart from this, it is worth considering whether more is happening in and with culture than a temporary interruption of a normal state. After all, in addition to the health and social crisis, we are also experiencing a crisis of shared experience and a crisis of beauty. From the last two there could be something left in the culture that will not go back to “normal” anytime soon.
This thought is reinforced by the fact that the culture looks strangely awkwardly at Corona. Some strengths that otherwise characterize culture seem to snap into the opposite in these special times: For example, that works and cultural workers see themselves more committed to the timeless than to life out there. If this life is currently accompanied by many, very existential challenges – but the culture mainly provides answers to completely different questions, there is a risk of atmospheric alienation.
The great operas have less to do with the now than they have for a long time.