Infected Cities #4: Moscow

The LIVECAST was broadcasted on Thursday May the 28th. Watch the registration here:

The COVID-19 pandemic has an enormous impact on cities worldwide vital areas such as employment, health care, social services and the economy, both now and in the coming period. Since the coronavirus has begun to hit urban areas, we see cities changing from vibrant places into epicenters of the corona crisis. In the fourth episode of the Infected Cities series we will look at how the Russian capital Moscow is currently dealing with this pandemic. During this LIVECAST, we will have conversations with different experts and thinkers in art, architecture and culture about the current and future impact of this crisis in Moscow. Also, together with Pakhuis de Zwijger, we will listen to voices of different ‘city makers’ such as artists and creatives and their situation. In particular, experts in Moscow with a connection to the Netherlands. The speakers will give us an insight into their daily works and explain how they commit to making a positive impact during this pandemic and what kind of support there is needed for those who currently suffer the most.

As the coronavirus continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most infected country. By far most of the infections and deaths due to the pandemic have been reported in Moscow. The inequality within the city that has existed for years is now clearly exposed. While most Russian stay at home in lockdown, you see migrants and people with little income on the streets as taxi drivers, couriers and construction workers. One part of the population can enjoy a comfortable lockdown with deliveries at home, while the other part of the population lost their jobs and needs to go out to make these deliveries.

As art and cultural organizations and projects have been impacted by the coronavirus, a lot of creative initiatives have been launched. Freelance artists are stuck at home without income, but keep coming up with creative ideas. Museums and other cultural organizations opened their doors online, which makes art and historic places in Moscow now accessible to groups who normally cannot access them. But the questions are whether art and culture are really accessible to all groups of the population, and how the cultural sector will come out of the crisis.

The LIVECAST will be moderated by journalist, media educator and writer Zoë Papaikonomou. Among the speakers will be:

- Step Vaessen, journalist and Al Jazeera correspondent

- Anton Belov, director of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

- Elena Tupyseva, founding director of the Centre for Contemporary Dance and Performance TsEKh and director of Moscow Ballet Theatre

- Maria Ionova - Gribina, photographer

- Sergey Ponomarëv, photojournalist

- Katerina Brudnaya, founder of Izoizolyacia

- Anastacia Uspenskaya, manager of extracurricular programs in MARCHI (Moscow Architecture Institute) and Founder of WASA

The series Infected Cities is developed in collaboration with Pakhuis de Zwijger.