With galleries closed and artists sequestered in studios and homes, 2021 continues an evolution in art begun in 2020, as the consequences of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement irreversibly changed the arts landscape.

We began with cacophonies of banging pots and pans, singing and applauding our health care workers who are risking their health and lives, and in the process, making homemade music standing on city balconies in a new form of performance. But the sounds stopped as the city silenced. No one traveled the streets; only emergency vehicles’ sirens permeated the quiet. Live concerts and theater ended, with live performance before physical audiences prohibited; physical distancing was impossible and loud voices threatened spreading COVID- 19. We relied on music and performance streamed online.

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