Letter from the Editor, Issue 3
by:
Nando Alvarez-Perez
Published in May, 2020 in the early days of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Issue 3 of Cornelia was virtual only.
Socially distant and masks on for a walk. Photo: John Opera.
Dear Readers,
We hope that more good can come from the last seven weeks than aphoristic nuggets of meme wisdom drawn from Instagram, but one nugget we've been thinking about almost daily is Bertolt Brecht’s “Motto,”
“In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.”
This dark time has shown us how essential art is to our lives. Whether through an Instagrammed doodle lesson by your favorite local painter, or Andrea Bocelli’s Easter tearjerker, or the Tiger King’s inimitable hairdo, we have all, in more ways than we can count, depended on art high and low to get us through this time. And artists have shown us that nothing–not an inaccessible studio, not canceled gigs or exhibitions–will stop them from making their work and sharing it with the world.
Many changes are coming in the future, for the world and for Cornelia magazine. You might notice that you’re reading these words on your phone or your laptop instead of in the glossy pages of a beautifully designed print publication. Most of our sites of distribution are closed and uncertain when they might open, so for that reason and many others we feel that now is as good a time as any to begin growing our online presence. We (begrudgingly) started an Instagram, @corneliamagazine, and you can be on the lookout for some major updates to our website coming in early summer. One virtue of the shift online is that we’re able to allow our writers even more space for their thoughts, so we’re excited to present some longer form exhibition reviews as part of this issue.
Over the next six weeks keep your eyes on your inbox for Dana Tyrell’s review of the Albright Knox’s inaugural exhibition at their Northland space, Axel Bishop on Jake Kassay’s first exhibition in Buffalo since his UB days, coverage of two exhibitions at Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery by Kendall DeBoer and Emily Mangione, several pieces by new writers covering recent exhibitions in Toronto, interviews with people who are working with art to make an impact right now, and a whole lot more.
Of course, not all change is for the positive. Recently Buffalo has been hit hard by significant losses to our visual art scene. Nina Freudenheim, John Pfahl, Jonathan Casey, and others have all made immeasurable contributions to our lives over the decades and we will be sharing remembrances of them and their work throughout the next six weeks.
So here’s another bit of eminently memeable wisdom, from the patron saint of change herself, Ursula LeGuin,
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next. ”
At Cornelia we’re very excited about the opportunity to adapt to an uncertain future, to learn from what comes next, and to keep covering the visual arts in our region, no matter what new forms they must take.
Be well,
Nando & Emily
Cornelia is published by The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art
Editor-in-Chief:
Nando Alvarez-Perez
Producer:
Emily Ebba Reynolds
Copy Editor:
Emily E. Mangione
