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For more than a year, the whole world has been almost at a standstill. This has had enormous repercussions on several fields, including art. In Switzerland, for example, most museums only reopened on March 1, 2021, after having been closed for a long time. It is the same situation for many European countries that have implemented different types of restrictions. Some museums have adapted to the situation by putting their collections online, like the MAH in Geneva or the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne (MCBA).

The virtual solution

Other institutions have literally taken the gamble of virtual tours to present their temporary exhibitions. As the Centre d'Art Contemporain de Genève did with the Chiara Fumai exhibition or the Kunstmuseum de Lucerne with the Marion Baruch exhibition.

Several exhibitions are expected to be held at this time; such as the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, which has opted for a digital alternative with an interactive file that gives the visitor an overview of the artist's artistic work and eventful career.

Under the sign of innovation

Despite the health crisis, some organizers have nonetheless decided to maintain their calendar while choosing to innovate for a while. Such is the case of the Brussels fair, which offers an alternative that allows galleries to propose a selection of pieces that they had previously planned to show at the end of January in their own spaces.

On the other hand, other fairs have decided to join forces with different market players.  Indeed, the contemporary African art fair 1-54 and Christies have planned for this year a new edition. It took place at the exhibition hall of the auction house in Paris by appointment until January 24. The auction houses are expected to continue the online auction again after 2020 due to the disruption of the Covid.

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The San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book festival where comic book, science fiction and animation professionals are awarded the Inkpot Prize.

Another virtual comic con

Like the 2020 edition of the major comic book festival, next July's comic con has been announced online by the event's organizers. In addition, the online experience will be reduced to a 3-day event starting next July 23.

While sharing the pain of comic book fans, the comic con organizing committee assures the holding of a three-day event with a reduced staff next November.

Very optimistic about the improvement of the health situation, the comic con committee assures that the 2022 comic con will be held as usual. That is to say, a comic con in person where all comic book lovers will be able to attend this annual festival.

Comic con nominations and awards

At this event, some participants are given awards. The Inkpot Award instituted in 1974 recognizes professionals in comics, science fiction and animation. Some famous winners of the Inkpot award are George R. R. Martins to whom we owe the famous saga from which the Game of Thrones series is adapted, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee.

About twenty people are awarded each year.

The Eisner Prize, is awarded to some personalities of the comic strip in different categories. It is usually for works published the year before the festival. The name of the award is that of one of its first winners, the writer Will Eisner. Alan Moore is the most awarded author of the Eisner Award.

To date, the comic con has had 52 regular and consecutive editions. It was only in 2020 that the event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The next in-person edition of the event will likely be held in 2022 after the coronavirus problem is fully resolved.

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How many books have you read entirely in the last two months? None, I suppose. Yet not so long ago, reading was part of our daily routine. So much so that the study of certain literary works was introduced into the school curriculum. This decision was taken by several states in order to raise the level of learners, but above all to force them to become cultured. Unfortunately, it has to be said that young people today have not stopped learning, but no longer through books.

The digital age

Since the arrival of digital technology and especially social networks, it has been noted that young people no longer read books. This is understandable, as in the past we were told that reading allowed us to sharpen our vocabulary and, above all, to keep abreast of what was happening in the world. Today, with the arrival of television, we can follow the news of the world live. Moreover, thanks to social networks, one can almost always get real-time information about the latest movements in the world. So why read, many young people ask.

Digital reading

It is true that another form of reading has emerged in recent times. This is digital reading. Gone are the classic literary works and in are the books carried by the media. This new way of reading, made possible by digital media, is more popular with young people, especially girls. But this does not seem to do the trick, as the level of French language skills in France, for example, continues to decline year after year. It is not only France that is affected. Several countries are now deploring the decline in the level of language in schools. One of the causes is of course the development of SMS technology, which has encouraged the use of abbreviations, which consists of writing a word with a sound to reduce its spelling for example. Such practices have contributed to the weakening of the language level in several countries.

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For more than a year now, the covid pandemic has not stopped wreaking havoc. The whole world is almost at a standstill and that many consequences in several areas.

What about the cinema

For several months now, movie theaters and festivals around the world have been closed or postponed. Film releases have also been subject to disruptions, between postponements and cancellations in some cases. It is therefore quite normal that the world box office has experienced a drop of more than a billion dollars. The stock of movie theaters has also dropped impressively. Several film productions have also been postponed or cancelled altogether.

In fact, The Eight Hundred, the highest-grossing film of 2020, earned $468 million worldwide. This is the first time since 2007 that the highest-grossing film of a given year has earned less than a billion dollars. That is how many times the crisis has had a huge impact on the film world.

Streaming

On the other hand, streaming has experienced a huge boom during this health crisis.  Due to the closure of movie theaters, more and more movies and series are being released on streaming platforms. In the United States, for example, Warner Bros announced the release of its 17 films including the blockbuster Dune and Matrix 4 on streaming.

What is streaming

To better understand the subject, let's know what streaming is.

Streaming is used to view or listen to online content. This protocol allows the instant playback of videos and music directly in the web browser without having to download it. Yes, Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney are streaming platforms.

This new trend may disrupt the film economy, which used to be based mainly on the sale of films and revenues from theatres, which have been closed for some time now.

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It has been 1 year since the young rapper Pop Smoke left us. Coldly shot at his home on February 19, 2020, the young rapper of 20 years was considered as the nugget of North American rap. However on February 7, Pop Smoke of his real name Bashar Barack Jackson had released his second mixtape album Meet the Woo 2.

Gone too soon

According to the major magazine TMZ, two armed and apparently hooded men infiltrated the young man's home in Hollywood and opened fire on the rapper. Died moments later from a bullet lodged in his chest, Pop Smoke was considered the successor of 50cent and one of the rising figures of the Drill movement in the U.S. Recall that the Drill is a musical subgenre characterized by violent, dark lyrics and an irregular rhythm.

Gone but still present

Although he is no longer with us, Pop Smoke is still talking about him and in the most beautiful way. Indeed, the rapper has just broken a new record. His album "Shoot for the stars, aim for the moon" released on July 3rd is the one that stayed the most at the first place of the Billboard Top Rap Albums. It stayed 21 weeks at the top, a first in the history of the chart. A remarkable performance that surely would have appreciated the rapper in his lifetime.

Let's remember that the Billboard ranking is the most prestigious singles ranking in the USA. Realized by the Billboard magazine, it faithfully reflects the sales to the public. Created on August 4th, 1958, it is necessary to say that this classification has seen a good number of artists. Among those who stayed the most weeks on top, we have Mariah Carey (16), Luis Fonsi (16) and Lil Nas (19) with his single Old Town Road.

Hats off to Pop.

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