We are living in extraordinary times. Have you got used to the new normal yet?
People coming together, apart. When applauding the NHS and key workers once a week is the most real-life social activity we are experiencing. When passing people on the street at an increased distance and a smile is almost ALWAYS shared - what used to be a little thrill of intimacy with a stranger, now it’s an expected and a recognised essential moment. Activity and Change...
Ipswich is pulling out all the stops to share, care and be generous. Local organisations like the TeaPot Project , Ipswich Anti-Loo Roll Brigade , Ipswich Makerspace, Sew Scrubs for Ipswich Hospital, and Bangladeshi Support Centre among others are working flat out to make sure everyone is protected and cared for. New organisations are springing up to fill emerging gaps.
People are digging vegetable gardens, learning meditation and listening to the bees. Neighbours are looking out for each other, everyone is concerned for the elders and vulnerable people. Likely new connections and reconnections are being formed, friends and families are staying in touch, pulling together, and perhaps also separations are finally crystallising.
The quiet streets and the solitude alone or within households, the experience is enabling us to review our situation on many levels. The relentless post-industrial capitalist treadmill has slowed beyond comparison to anytime since the Victorians. Yes there is fear, there is also togetherness in an awareness of each other’s aloneness. It's a time both of stretching ourselves beyond what we thought was possible, and allowing ourselves to go within to reflect and dream. Polarity has progressed to an internal state. An Online Cultural Explosion!
Those of us who have had less options to go out at weekends - due to financial, physical or family circumstances - those of us who spend evenings indoors ordinarily, with less options to go out and seek culture are all of a sudden able to access it from our own homes, right now social life is pretty exciting online. Art is exploding on the internet. Technology is coming into its own. Where would we have been 30 years ago in this situation? Communicating just by telephone? We’re sharing photos from last year’s celebration on all our channels as well as DJ sets and dance workshops on facebook. Big up Daniel Lee Harvey , Tallulah Goodtimes , DJ Chris Tofu, Rosy May Dancer, Sadie Mac. Please keep it coming, we are on the lookout for more, as Daniel says you are keeping the dance floor warm! We are sharing as much positive and exciting art as we can find, as well as new opportunities for artists as they occur. In this time of social distancing and self-isolation Art Eat would like to wish you all good health in body & mind, strong relationships and an attention to all the tiny, positive, wonderful changing details, we wish you peaceful quietness and rowdy fun in the perfect measures that you need.
Stay posted, stay safe and be well, in body and soul xx