What have you been missing the most since 23 March? Eating out again in your favourite restaurant? A drink in your local pub garden? Other than the obvious – not seeing friends and family who are just too far away for a park date – I have been missing culture. And by that I don’t mean watching Normal People or Tiger King, as enjoyable as they are. I mean the kind of culture that properly moves and soothes the soul. Tragic as it sounds, at this particular juncture in the pandemic I’m much more excited about seeing one of Grayson Perry’s pots IRL than popping out for a socially distanced pint.
In today’s briefing, Boris Johnson announced that museums and art galleries can begin reopening their doors on 4 July – aka “Super Saturday” – along with restaurants and pubs. Some commercial galleries such as White Cube have already reopened, albeit with limited visitor numbers and even then only if you have had sufficient foresight to prebook an appointment. This Government announcement, though, is about the art-world biggies– the Tates, the Nationals and the British Museum.
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At the beginning of March, I was lucky enough to see two thought-provoking and mood-uplifting exhibitions in quick succession – Grayson Perry’s The Pre-Therapy Years at the Holburne Museumin Bath, and David Hockney’s Drawing From Life at the National Portrait Gallery.
Then, like the rest of the world, I was plunged into a cultural black hole. Sure, during lockdown, there were some fantastic events available virtually. You could take in the great galleries (from MOMA in Manhattan to Florence’s Uffizi), experience the great stages (the National Theatre re-showed popular classics such as One Man, Two Guvnors and Frankenstein), even hear great musicians live from their living rooms during the “One World: Together At Home” extravaganza (um, maybe not). But like many of us, having spent a day working on a laptop, I was suffering from a case of severe screen fatigue.
It feels we are still a very long way off from watching a spellbinding play in a cramped theatre or a gig in a sweaty stadium – I honestly feel I will weep when I hear an actual instrument or singing voice again; London is even devoid of buskers right now. But the thought of seeing real art in the foreseeable future fills me with genuine joy. Experiencing culture in an active as opposed to passive form can be life-affirming – which is why passively streaming TV from your sofa can sometimes leave you feeling flat.
There’s a science behind that feeling, too. ‘Experiencing culture “live” is certainly good for your mental health,’ says clinical psychologist Linda Blair. ‘It’s not so terrible to experience art, say, online if you are already familiar with the work – on a screen you will only see something in two dimensions, but if you already know the work, your mind can fill in what makes it truly satisfying, such as how the oil in a painting might undulate. But screens let us down when it comes to seeing something new or appreciating the whole experience – the setting, the position of one work next to another that the curator will have carefully considered; these are the aspects that will stimulate the whole brain as opposed to just the visual parts. Most importantly, though, the thing really missing from experiencing something virtually is other people – that shared feeling with like-minded people can’t be replicated.’
In other countries, galleries and museums are starting to reopen – the world’s largest art museum the Louvre, for instance, has pencilled in 6 July for its grand retour.
Not much is known about what’s happening in the UK but, for anyone art-starved who could do with a momentary break from the grim news-cycle, there’s one thing on screen that I would highly recommend. It’s Grayson Perry yet again with his “Art Club”, which started during lockdown as an exploration on how we’re all coping, and expressing ourselves, during this strange, strange time.All six episodes are still available on Channel 4.
As the great potter himself once said, ‘Art is not some fun add-on to life’. So get in line to experience some active art this summer – it will give your mind a welcome boost, if nothing else.