Kirsten Alker and Elke Luyten - Corona Project
Stichting Beautiful Distress
Beautiful Distress - 2019
Life has come to a grinding halt due to the corona virus.
Beautiful Distress and the Fifth Season had to adapt to these difficult times as well and had to virtually stop all activities. The artist in residence programs in Kings County Hospital in New York, and Fukuroda Hospital, Japan are temporarily on hold. The Beautiful Distress House that we operate in Amsterdam Noord is closed and all the planned exhibitions there are postponed.
We hope to jump back into action once everything calms down a bit and it is safe to do so. In this time of social and physical distancing art can connect, give inspiration and the boost we can all use right now. This knowledge has inspired us and “our" artists to give a sign of life and our involvement to our mutual friends and followers by actively using our Beautiful Distress and Fifth Season social media platforms with the artists that have spent a residency period in Den Dolder (The Netherlands), Kings County Hospital, New York or Fukuroda Hospital, Daigo Town, Japan.
We asked the artists to make a small video of 1 to 2 minutes max and in the video (show) and reflect on the artwork they did in the residency, especially given the current times we are living in: What was their focus during the residency, keeping in mind the people they met and worked with in the hospital. Never before have so many people understood better how it feels to have your freedom curtailed.
We think it is important to share these videos, especially now, since our experience is that the vision of the artists and their artworks inspire our followers and sometimes also give hope. We realize everybody is having a difficult time. Please feel free to react on these videos. New York, and thus also Kings County hospital, has been hit especially hard.The patients and staff there can use all the support they can get, as can everyone else involved with -or following- Beautiful Distress: artists, patients, their families, health care workers, volunteers, we want to cheer up everybody.
We may be isolated, but we are not alone.
Beautiful Distress and Het Vijfde Seizoen