The First ‘Covid Art Museum’ Is Created

The Covid Art Museum is an online museum that can easily be found on Instagram. It was founded by a group of creative publicists from Barcelona who want to exhibit the art produced during quarantine and show how people feel about this situation. The museum is also a way of transmitting messages of encouragement, reflection and support.

From a Mona Lisa holding toilet paper rolls to a boy with a surgical mask made of a basketball… These are some of the works of art on display at the Covid Art Museum, which is the first online museum that can be easily found on Instagram (@CovidArtMuseum). In it, artists from all over the world express their feelings about the situation we are currently experiencing, such as hope, fear, and humour. They do so through photographs, videos, paintings and drawings.

Covid Art Museum

The virtual gallery was the idea of Irene Llorca, Emma Calvo and José Guerrero, a group of creative publicists from Barcelona. They claim that “the idea of the Covid Art Museum emerged during the very first days of quarantine in Spain” due to the many people creating art at their homes. The group thought it would be significant to keep all the art produced to explain, both now and in the future, how people are currently feeling.

Share Your Art

Since their first publication on 19th March, the Covid Art Museum has been receiving lots of artworks via email (covidartmuseum@gmail.com) or on Instagram with the hashtag #CovidArtMuseum. “We receive an average of 50 works a day. There are days in which we receive more than 100. In addition, they [the artworks] come from more than 50 countries around the world. And apart from Spain, it is in the various American countries where they [the artists] have been most enthusiastic about the idea and have shared it: from Buenos Aires to New York”, explain the founders.

Besides, the artists who send their works have two completely different views of the situation. Some of them are optimistic, while some others are more pessimistic. The Spanish owners of the museum are surprised by the fact that there are artists from different parts of the world, and therefore customs and cultures, who coincide in their view.

In the artworks, you can see elements such as hand sanitizer, surgical masks, soap and toilet paper. Nonetheless, the founders express that some other elements also appear on the artworks, for instance, balconies, windows and video call screens.

Covid Art Museum 

Art by @karencantuq

The Covid Art Museum not only aims “to collect artistic testimony in the context of the COVID-19,” said the founders, “but to inspire people in their homes”. It also aims to spread messages of support and to give visibility to the artists. Actually, one of them had his artwork published in the Covid museum bought by a magazine for its cover!

Screenshot 2020 04 14 CAM The Covid Art Museum on Instagram by mel artanddesign Follow for more CovidArt...

This pandemic might bring serious economic problems. However, it is more important to show and understand how people feel about it. In general, the feeling which is present the most in the artworks is hope. Artists want to transmit that, in spite of the gravity of the situation, we will recover as a society.  We will value things we didn’t before, such as the importance of communication, health services, and nature in our lives.

Stay Safe

In order to defeat the COVID-19, we have to be responsible, take care of ourselves, and read information only from official sources, such as the World Health Organization. Calvo, Guerrero, and Llorca suggest the worldwide community to respect the restrictions, though it could be a difficult task. “At least, they could walk around the rooms of our museum from their homes. We are open 24 hours and it is free!”, said the founders.

The Covid Art Museum, an iniciative of a group of Spanish publicists, has uncountless works published on Instagram. This virtual gallery is a good place to exhibit the art created during lockdown. Also, to convey messages of support, reflection and encouragement and to show how artists feel about this situation. What do you think of this way of exhibiting works of art? Tell us in the comments section!

Lucía Ramírez
Lucía Ramírez

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