Visions of a Post-Pandemic Future
Lockdown Lessons

The modern Greek state has experienced many crises in recent years. How do its citizens deal with it? The dramaturge Gigi Argyropoulou and the historian Kostis Papaioannou talk about the corona pandemic, but also about the situation for refugees in the city of Athens during a drive through the Greek capital.

How do we deal with authority? Who is recognised as an authority? Andreas Urs Sommer, Philosopher from Freiburg, and Berlin based author Catherine Newmark discuss the understanding of democracy during the pandemic in Germany while boating through Berlin.

In a very personal contribution, 19-year-old student Luka Leonhard describes how the lockdown has affected her and her peers. What kind of social responsibility do under-20-year olds bear to protect older generations during the pandemic? How does she see the future?

The event industry, and especially live music events, was one of the first sectors of the economy to be shut down in Germany when the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020. Musicians and fans did not let this stop them enjoying shared musical experiences, however. Digital spaces offered refuge during a time of contact restrictions. Which future prospects do they offer?

The pandemic jeopardises not only everyone’s health, but also the well-being of whole societies, testing what solidarity means today. In this module experts ask how much solidarity is needed in times of crisis to keep society from breaking up. Who gets to be represented by whom? Who is legitimised to represent them?

Creative companies in sub-Saharan Africa, each in their own way, have helped to overcome the privations of lockdown, isolation and immobility. Their products reflect the added value of creative work for wider social questions. In the module “Creative Industry” such creative entrepreneurs come together upon invitation of the Goethe-Institut Namibia and discuss ways of collectively constructing a designable future.

The coronavirus has changed the social standing of scientists and researchers in the Global North. Researchers in various disciplines are helping us to understand what positive and negative effects the pandemic had on various social groups. The Goethe-Institut Brussels and its partners will address this urgent question and take the chance to look into the future: How do we want to live from now on?

This past year has made clear that while our lives are coming to a standstill in almost every domain, the dynamic of digital transformation is accelerating. We need new approaches to break out of the cycle of centralised data storage and surveillance technologies. Blockchain technologies allow new ways of working in the cultural domain, but cultural workers must be involved in order to explore and shape the future makeup and organisation of its institutions.

In ways we never imagined a virus now compels the world to keep its distance and regulates the closeness we are allowed to have with others. What happens with us when cultural practices of proximity are so fundamentally questioned? Which forms of distancing has the pandemic required in different social systems? The Goethe-Institut aims to explore these questions in Brazil, Korea, India and Germany. The focus will be on the future: How close to others can we be, and how close do we want to be?