Anne-Sophie Mutter on culture in times of Corona and war: "We now know our friends"

Created: 03/23/2022, 17:12

By: Markus Thiel

"You can't just switch art on and off": Anne-Sophie Mutter fears that cultural policy has learned little from the pandemic.

© The Japan Arts Association

"Social distance makes you sick," says Anne-Sophie Mutter - not just the Covid 19 pathogen.

She has never made a secret of her rejection of many Corona rules that prevent concerts and other performances and thus also endanger the existence of artists.

This is one of the reasons why the star violinist got involved in the Munich initiative "Stand Up for Art".

And now that the halls are allowed to be full again?

The 58-year-old remains skeptical and believes that politicians are still unaware of the importance of culture.

Some artists have protested massively against restrictions during the pandemic.

Now cultural life is picking up again and you hardly hear anything.

What about solidarity in art circles?

You have to differentiate between the artists who are employed by state institutions and have come through the pandemic quite well, and the freelancers.

A ditch opened up there.

In addition, we didn't get the really big names for our "Stand Up for Art" movement, for example.

Because you didn't want to bite the hand that feeds you.

But I think that in a democracy you should always make use of your right to freedom of expression - even if you are supported in your actions by the state.

And then came the war against Ukraine.

How did that affect the situation in the art scene?

I'm noticing a rush to the concerts, also from politicians who are now looking for this public space and suddenly - in contrast to the pandemic years - are becoming aware of the importance of music.

It's great to see what musicians are currently doing in their active help for humanitarian organizations.

My wish for the future is that politicians recognize that music is not just a fundamental right, but something that satisfies a need for closeness.

Especially in these terrible times it is clear: This is not a luxury item that you just get at 8 p.m.

Music is part of our liberal thinking, if you take the values ​​of the French Revolution.

The approach to the other, the dialogue, the expression of thoughts without regimentation - that is what

what is moved and expressed through music.

Take, for example, Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with its Israeli and Palestinian members and the actions of Zubin Mehta.

This importance of music, Covid or not, needs to be acknowledged.

Which means: You can't just lock us away, close the halls, without having scientific proof of the alleged danger of a concert.

Here we are at the heart of the problem of the superficiality of political decisions.

In principle, we are exactly where we were at the beginning of the pandemic in terms of the lockdown of art and the attitude of politics towards it.

At the same time, especially with regard to the current crisis situation in the war against Ukraine, we must

What was your biggest disappointment in the past two years of the pandemic?

I am a person who does not look back.

That's why I practically put all disappointments aside.

And yet: I found it disappointing that during the ongoing crisis there were and are organizers who saw and held concerts from a purely economic point of view or not.

Artists have good memories.

We now know where our friends are.

Where there are organizers who, even in times of need, give an artist the opportunity to play for an audience.

Always live according to the cash register, that can't be it.

There are certainly difficult times for everyone, including organizers.

But especially for the artists, they are still going on.

There were only a few stars who spoke out against the lockdown of art.

It was you, the jazz musician Till Brönner, but that was soon the end of it.

I can't judge that exactly.

Also: Not everyone receives an invitation to Maischberger.

Many don't get such a big platform because they are less well known.

To be fair, I refrain from making accusations.

There was a very large field of musicians, actors, dancers, writers and others who got into trouble and rebelled.

This is one of the reasons why we have our “Stand up for Art” initiative, which offers a forum.

Such initiatives and projects should not be underestimated.

They were active, but were not perceived as such in the media.

What will fundamentally and systemically change in the cultural scene after these two years?

The good news: There is no more coughing at the concerts, it is finally quiet.

But joking aside: It's amazing how the intensity of listening has increased.

I have the impression that the desire to share art with others has become even stronger.

Especially in the young generation.

There's starvation, wanting to get away from the stream.

Of course we lost an audience segment.

People who don't want to go back to the concert hall.

Because it's exhausting or supposedly dangerous, which isn't true.

Social distancing is making us sick.

I recently played a concert with John Williams in Vienna.

And anyone who hasn't experienced something like this, these reactions, doesn't know what music can mean.

It was unbelievable, a festival of encounters and memories.

It's like my favorite children's book "Frederick".

This mouse has it really bad in the winter, and then he starts raving about the sun-soaked fields, about the poppies swaying in the wind.

Because she lives on memories.

Please don't misunderstand me: I'm not a person who flees from reality.

But we are the sum of our memories and need these situations again and again.

It is always said that one has to find new forms of concerts and win new audiences.

Was that promoted by the music formats of the pandemic?

Actually, the only thing that has developed as a result of the pandemic is increased streaming activity.

This is of course great for someone who is traveling through the Brazilian jungle and wants to enjoy a concert from Carnegie Hall.

But in toto it is not what the music adequately translates.

In addition, it is in no way financial compensation for the participants for a canceled concert.

I think we have to look a little more intensively for new forms and how artists are paid for them.

In any case, the streaming platform does not offer that.

We need a community experience – and this in a wide variety of spaces.

So will everything flow back into the old ways?

Definitely not.

We lost a lot of freelancers who took another job to survive.

You can't just snap art on and off.

This is the great artistic tragedy of this pandemic, not entirely through the fault of the state.

He did too little too late.

It will be even more difficult for the younger generation to gain a foothold.

And that is precisely during this transitional period, at the end of which there will hopefully be some kind of normality.

There will certainly be demand for more popular artists and similar programs.

This is unfortunate because it leads to a further narrowing of the repertoire.

We must keep this danger in mind.

In this respect, we have to stand up for young artists and for works that people really believe in and that are perhaps far from mega-popular.

You got infected at a relatively early stage.

After the illness, were you still afraid of Covid, of encounters, of the performance?

My infection was actually in March 2020. But fear: no.

After all, the artists were locked away for so long – if I had been afraid, it would certainly have evaporated during this phase.

You're regularly tested, you wear a mask, you're basically careful - and otherwise: Life happens.

There is no such thing as absolute security.

There are truly more dangerous situations.

And that brings me back to Ukraine.

Our Covid problems pale in comparison.

The interview was conducted by Markus Thiel.