COVID19

Will there be a monument to the COVID-19 pandemic?

By Jaime E. Love 5 months ago

Editor’s Note: Dr. Emily Godbey is a professor of art and visual culture at Iowa State University. In this article, she discusses how plague monuments were used to commemorate victims of past disease outbreaks. She also looks at temporary memorials for COVID-19 and examines why plague memorials are not as prolific as war memorials.

Which disease outbreaks have been memorialized around the world?

Diseases like the bubonic plague, cholera, the 1918 influenza pandemic (“Spanish Flu”), AIDS, and even SARS have monuments, although some are more modest than others.

They are relatively uncommon, however, when compared with monuments to wars, political regimes, and more visible tragedies, such as 9/11 or the Holocaust. However, they are present in many places.

What are some notable plague monuments and what do they commemorate? 

The bubonic plague broke out several times in different parts of the world between the 6th century BC and the 19th

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What Will Monuments to the COVID-19 Pandemic Look Like? | Best Countries

By Jaime E. Love 5 months ago

Editor’s Note: Dr. Emily Godbey is a professor of art and visual culture at Iowa State University. In this interview, she discusses how plague monuments were used to commemorate victims of past disease outbreaks, temporary memorials for COVID-19 and why plague memorials are not as prolific as war memorials.

A short history of plague monuments.

What are some of the past disease outbreaks that have been memorialized around the world?

Diseases like the bubonic plague, cholera, the 1918 influenza pandemic or “Spanish Flu,” AIDS, and even SARS have monuments, although some are much more modest than others. They are more uncommon when compared with monuments to wars, political regimes, and more visible tragedies such as 9/11 or the Holocaust. However, they are present.

The Plague of Ashdod painting by Poussin. The subject of this painting comes from a story in the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Bible about the Plague of Ashdod.
Poussin, The Plague of Ashdod, 1630. Poussin painted this during a plague that took place in Italy from 1629 to 1631, which influenced his accurate portrayal of
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Smithsonian, National Gallery to close as covid-19 cases spike

By Jaime E. Love 6 months ago

Similar shutdowns were announced earlier this week in Philadelphia and Chicago, representing the start of a second wave of shutdowns eight months after covid-19 first prompted widespread closures.

National Gallery of Art Director Kaywin Feldman and Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III decided to take action after monitoring the recent rise in coronavirus cases being reported.

“We both expressed growing concern about the increased number of cases in the region and across the country and came to the conclusion that caution needed to prevail to protect our visitors and staff,” Feldman said.

“It can’t help but feel like a step backward,” Feldman said about the decision. “But what’s different this time is we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The prospect of a vaccine lifts our spirits. We have big plans for next year and lots to look forward to. We need to keep people

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COVID-19 is taking a ‘frightening’ toll on Miami-Dade’s arts and culture groups

By Jaime E. Love 8 months ago

For the Frost Museum of Science, the first of Miami-Dade’s major cultural institutions to reopen in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, a salvaged summer season was supposed to be something of a grace note in a lost year. It didn’t quite work out that way.

When the museum opened in June, administrators were hoping to recapture enough summer traffic, usually the highest of the year, to steady its capsizing finances. But a resurgence of infections in July and August, strict capacity limits and many families’ continued reluctance to risk exposure — even with well-publicized safety protocols — kept ticket sales at just a quarter of the level of the summer before, CEO Frank Steslow said.

Now, if Congress fails to approve a second hefty federal bailout along the lines of the multi-billion aid program that helped the Frost ride out three months of total closure, Steslow said, the

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