thoughts and work in times of corona

(c)franzjakk

Dear friends and artists,
World changed. Universities, rehearsal rooms and stages are closed. We are physically distanced. We do not know, how long. We live in strange times, but, hey, WE LIVE.

Many of us were working on projects that are canceled or postponed now. We are in an empty space, we are confused, we are worried – about ourselves, about others, about the world. And many of us have the feeling that there is nothing to do but waiting – waiting, until stages and rehearsal rooms will open again, until we can work, as we did before.
But what is „before“, what is „after“? What is „now“? Lockdown? … No! We are still alive, guys! We are not machines with a reset- or newstart-button that has to be pushed in a few weeks or months, when „everything is over“.

So. As we so often discuss: Art is not pure entertainment. Art should give impulses for thinking, for exploring the world, for understanding the world.
Artists are the voice of the times they live in.
The times we live in are pandemic now. And this is not just a break, cause the world is not standing still. It works – differently. It works on change: political, economical, financial, ecological, psychological, social, cultural.
We as artists (and humans) are urgently asked to not go into a lockdown. We have to keep our minds open. We have to train our skills. We have to be awake. We have to find new forms of working. We will have to face new structures and probably big problems in the future. But a lot of possibilities as well. These possibilities are not only depending on politics, but also on us.

When we look back to crises humankind was in until now, art always had a maybe not so visible, but important role: it gave hope, it gave consolation, it gave impulses, ideas, feeling of humanity, of community.
That is the entertainment that we need. It´s not about „being entertained and staying passive“. It´s about „wanting to think and be alive“. As artists, as people in all other professions, as humans.

Art is not relevant to the system. But it is relevant to souls.
The future world needs souls as well, not only systems.


Why are we working as artists? Do we just want to be on stage? Or do we have something to say? We can do a lot while stayingthefuckhome.
We have to think about what we want and then find our way to try it, do it.

So. My idea. What I can offer.
I own a puppet-shadow-whatever-theatre, as you can see on the picture. That can be your rehearsal stage. I have a lot of music instruments. I have skills in directing, conceptual working, coaching, combining ideas, distance-working, creating things out of nothing. I have a big network of talented people with more cool skills.
You can contact me and say: I want to write a story. OR I want to record something. OR I want to do stage design. OR I want to make a film in my kitchen and combine it with your puppet theatre. OR I want to be puppet-theatre-director via Skype. OR I have a strange thought and don`t know what to do with this, let´s talk. OR whatever.
We can try out project ideas and prepare something for analogue stages, when they are open again. We can do artistic experiments. We can do everything what comes to our minds. For now, we will probably not earn money by that. But we will train our artistic skills and create something new.

So. Contact me. Or contact somebody else. Or do your stuff alone.
But stay awake, stay a voice of your generation and don`t go helplessly into a lockdown. Your thoughts are important. So, work on them.

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