How did the spanish flu influence artists? Author Elizabeth Outka wrote a book about exactly that („Viral Modernism: The Influenza Pandemic and Interwar Literature“). She says that the pandemic can be seen and felt everywhere, some authors dealing with it head-on, some just describing changed circumstances, in a subtle way. She sees a connection between the horror of the invisible disease taking over the world and the following trend for zombie novels, for example.
I wonder what will happen here? How will artists deal or have dealt with the plague, two years into the future? Will it all be forgotten? Or has the worst yet to come?
Since our „soft lockdown“, as our government likes to call it, I sometimes go out into the woods (since they are just a few feet away). It’s not spiritual, it’s not forest bathing like it’s called in Japan, it’s basically just stress-induced power-walking, elbows out and everything. But it always helps me deal with questions that right now, nobody can answer.
The piece is called „Follow Me“ which I first wrote in Singapore, for a string trio. I revised it this week, and due to a lack of passable strings, I used a guitar sample, but I’m saving up for some serious VSTs...
Konzert mit einem ad hoc-Streichertrio in Singapur (November 2013)
Aufnahme mit meinem Sextett AKO (Mai 2014)