CON_ACT — Arts For Illinois

CONTEXT: Streets in downtown Chicago, 9 hours before the shutdown, 03/21/2020.

This is an artistic reaction on the ‘social distancing’ rule during COVID-19 pandemic, 2020. The paradoxical situation ‘if you care — stay away’ brought us to the idea which reflects on the new circumstances. After communities all over the globe urgently adopted ‘social distancing’ as a new recommended behavior, all social rules have dramatically transformed: it became polite and thoughtful not to get close, not to engage with each other—generally stay away from everyone not to harm. Each human became a potential source of danger for one’s health. Those who do not follow the new rules become the targets of people’s aggression. This piece is a reflection on new behavioral patterns, an attempt to adopt them, to sense them through our bodies.

CREDITS

Performance: Maria Plotnikova, Simone Whiteley-Allen, Jakob Wirth, William Zeng

Camera: Ryan Greenlee

Submitted by Jakob Wirth