Yesterday Maria Santto, one of my students in the full-time Photojournalism/Documentary Program at ICP back in the day, wrote in to share her lockdown experience:

“A State of Emergency was declared in Finland on the 18^th of March 2020. We haven't had a  situation this extreme since the Second World War. I think that since the COVID 19 crisis was declared a pandemic, life has been weird, lonely and isolated. We are all in this together, except we are not together at all. 

“Every isolation is so very different. My mother suffers from Alzheimers but still lives at home. Every day I try to make sure she stays in rather than escaping to the city. Finland is a country where solitude is regarded as something natural and “you must survive on your own” is unfortunately embedded in the DNA of most Finns. It's been a month since I've hugged anyone.

“A large group of Finnish photographers (me included) started a project called State of Emergency 2020. Photographers from all over the country document their every day experience. Every week a different curator makes a selection from the huge pile of photographs for the website. The most recent one is organized by the wonderful Arno Rafael Minkkinen, with a written commentary worth reading, here.

“I have gotten lost in two projects, both so personal that I don't seem to see the difference anymore. In one I am documenting memory loss and mental health; the other is my participation in State of Emergency. Everything seems to be in a state of emergency. Me included.” www.mariasantto.com / @msantto instagram Photos © copyright and courtesy Maria Santto

Studio Visit No. 1

Yesterday Frieze announced the debut of Frieze Viewing Room, an ambitious new digital initiative that will launch with an online edition of Frieze New York. The mobile app and web-based platform will be live May 8–15, 2020, with an invitation-only preview May 6–7, and will offer visitors the opportunity to enter over 200 virtual viewing room spaces.

The inaugural edition of Frieze Viewing Room will showcase a cross-section of artwork from emerging artists to pioneering figures of the 20th century. With the use of augmented reality technology, the Viewing Room will offer users the ability to virtually view artworks, such as paintings or photographs, to-scale and upon their own walls. 

The venture will present artworks intended to be shown at Frieze New York 2020 as well as digital versions of the fair’s curated gallery sections. 

To keep up to date on all the latest news from Frieze, you can sign up to their newsletter at frieze.com, and follow @FriezeArtFair on Instagram, Twitter and Frieze Art Fairs on Facebook. #FriezeArtFair #FriezeVR Editor's note: the arresting image above was posted on Fireze without attirbution/credit

Studio Visit No. 2

This week Gagosian features Stanley Whitney:Rhythm and Vision in its online Artist Spotlight. While preparing his first exhibition with Gagosian, in Rome, Stanley Whitney spoke with Louise Neri in his New York studio about how he arrived at his unique and intuitive approach to color and space in painting, employing a dynamic fusion of preordained structure and improvisation. Video by Pushpin Films

Breathe in. Breathe out…

Isolation has taken its toll on many people now in their fourth week of self-quarantine. This report yesterday from Dessane Lopez Cassal [Hyperallergic] might be a panacea. This Saturday (April 18) and next (April 25), Pauline Ione, with Claire Chase and fellow musicians Raquel Acevedo Klein [lead organizer of the program], Bridgid Bergin, and Ross Karre, will carry on Oliveros’s legacy by presenting a “World Wide Tuning Meditation” via video call. Above: an illustration by Kim Noce, inspired by the March 28, 2020 “World-Wide Tuning Meditation” (image courtesy of Raquel Acevedo Klein)

Requiring no musical experience at all, the meditation invites participants to take part in a “world-wide musical exchange” through a series of synchronized breathing and tonal exercises. The meditation is being presented as part of MUSIC on the REBOUND, “an online, interactive music festival designed to bring people together and support performing artists affected by the COVID-19 crisis,” hosted by the Brooklyn-based International Contemporary Ensemble.

Since its debut on March 28, the “World-Wide Tuning Meditation” has unfolded on screens internationally three times, with its latest iteration welcoming over 900 participants from more than 30 countries, according to lead organizer Raquel Acevedo Klein. One participant, artist and Hyperallergic contributor Anthony Hawley, who took part in an early test run in March, even remarked, “In our new endless Zoom, Google Hangout, FaceTime reality, I can say this was one of the most profound experiences I have had in this format.” Another, Ellen Pall, exclaimed during a session, “This is so beautiful I’m already crying!”

Visit MUSIC on the REBOUND for more details on how to participate

Artists Helping Artists

This just in from New York Foundation for the Arts [NYFA]:

NYFA has partnered with The Maurice Sendak Foundation (MSF), which has seeded a new emergency relief grant program for children’s picture book artists and writers who have experienced financial hardship from loss of income as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis. The Maurice Sendak Emergency Relief Fund, administered by NYFA, will distribute unrestricted grants of up to $2,500 apiece until the fund has run out. MSF has granted $100,000 to NYFA to begin the program. The initial goal for the fund is $250,000 with hopes that it will expand. Those interested in donating to the fund may do so here. 

The application will open in Submittable on Thursday, April 23 at 1:00 PM EDT, and will close once 600 applications are received. Funds will be awarded to eligible applicants in the order in which applications are received.

NYFA encourages you to visit our regularly-updated Emergency Grants page for more COVID-19 specific resources that may be available to you during this time.

Coping mechanism, left, just in from Bruno Bressolin, in Joinville-le-Pont, France. Bruno in DART

Arts Orgs Helping Artists

This week Andrew Durbin, Editor of Frieze, muses on isolation. He writes, "Who will write the history of touch?’ This phrase—a slight revision of a 1987 work by Barbara Kruger, who wondered the same about tears—keeps running through my mind. At this time, when touch, even proximity, can endanger ourselves and others, I am trying to remember as many of the hugs, brushed knees and rubbed shoulders as I can—an impossible task. Now, I recognize how elemental human contact is, and how precious. Until this crisis passes (thanks to the heroic efforts of our healthcare professionals), we will have to find new methods of holding our community close—often from a distance. Artists and art workers have organized mutual aid groups in the US, UK and EU (in English), for example, and these resources have proved essential for those struggling to cope in the crisis. I hope you will share them widely." 

Today Katie White, reporting for Artnet News, published a list of funding opportunities for artists that are still open. The recent global health crisis has left the art world in an uncertain lurch as galleries and museums shutter and artists see their exhibitions canceled or postponed. In this uncharted territory, many in the industry are feeling uncertain about their financial paths forward—particularly artists, who often work without the safety net of unemployment benefits or even health insurance.

Fortunately, there are resources available to help. Artists will qualify for the federal government’s CARES Act and a stimulus package will be making direct payments in the weeks to come. Plus, organizations are springing up to help connect artists to employment opportunities and grants every day. So if you’re an artist who needs help bridging the gap, here is a list of resources to help with rent payments, medical bills, and more (and a few for art writers, too). Info