The Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) has selected unique artworks from all over the world to be showcased in its “covidoscope” digital collection.
In the midst of a pandemic, the institute is opening a beautiful window that reminds us of our childhood. The preparation of the collection has been in the works since the beginning of the quarantine period.
The COVID-19 outbreak brought unexpected experiences to much of the world population. Threatening the health and well-being of individuals and societies, the pandemic also triggered various significant transformations in both the private sector and the way certain processes are carried out in the public domain.
While people spent more time indoors, they had a chance to look inward in this period. There was an accompanying increase in artistic expressions of how they felt. Through diverse inquiries, expressions and techniques, both common feelings born of a shared global experience, and personal responses to it shaped in unique settings, bore many varied fruits.
YEE brings together the creative output of people in its “covidoscope” project to form an emotive diary of life during a pandemic. It assembles a selection of the outpourings of feelings spanning from the very first days of the outbreak.
Many of us remember kaleidoscopes from our childhood that produced colorful patterns and beautiful images by reflecting the light in the mirrors. Inspired by the multifarious, shifting, harmonious reflections of vivid colors seen through a kaleidoscope, YEE’s project aims to create a global pandemic memory bank that includes both commonalities and subjective expressions. Tiffany Watt Smith, author of “The Book of Human Emotions;” historian and documentarist Saadet Özen and professor Kemal Sayar, a psychiatrist and writer, were the consultants for the digital memory project.
Interesting artistic initiatives and aesthetic narratives produced in different parts of the world were selected by a large research team, and a special collection of the most qualified and original works is set to be included in the gallery. One section of the digital "covidoscope" collection will be dedicated to widely acclaimed, outstanding examples of artistic works and aesthetic creations from around the globe. Other sections will enable the user to trace the works on world maps depicting emotions and themes. The collection will be open to updates as artists from all over the world continue to work on this subject.
Stay tuned to YEE’s social media to follow the project, which will be presented in various languages.
