Indoor Culture and New Technology

Abstract

Although the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced or completely eliminated the manifestations of artistic life, human ingenuity and simply necessity made it possible to transfer many offline cultural events and events to the online environment. Free online broadcasts from concerts such as the Berlin Philharmonic, opera performances from the New York Metropolitan, as well as theater and music concerts have gained in popularity worldwide. Film production companies have begun to make films available online. The offer of video or VOD (Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, Showmax, Paramount Play) has increased (Upper, 2020). Because, at least in the first phase of the pandemic, the revenue from the cinemas fell, VOD services could watch hits, e.g. in the United States — Emma, and in Poland — Hejter. Virtual tours were offered by well-known museums, such as the Louvre in Paris and international cultural heritage sites, including the Roman Colosseum. Since the outbreak of the epidemic there has also been a rapid increase in online gaming traffic. Finally, after the total suspension, sports competitions, e.g. football matches, came back, but without the participation of the fans, albeit like stand-ups with played recordings of the stadium’s fans’ reactions. In this way, what we call entertainment or popular culture has been domesticated and is done through the media. In this article I review the possibilities that new technologies now offer for domesticated culture in new circumstances forced by a pandemic COVID-19.