Pandemic Exposes the Crisis of Fiction in Art

Christian Caliandro argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has shattered the capacity for fiction in art and culture. The virus, as Ivan Carozzi wrote, 'unmasks and reveals the world,' acting as an amplifier for pre-existing processes hidden by routine. Time now feels both identical and different, forcing a confrontation with the present. The obsession with 'after the pandemic' is a defense mechanism, an illusion to mitigate inadequacy. Cultural objects that once thrived on display and ostentation now feel broken and out of tune. The old model—based on overload, rigidity, hierarchy, exclusion—belongs to the past. A new art embraces emptiness, the moment, and a different form of truth, sincerity, and intimacy. The fracture between art and context may widen, but reconstruction lies in investigating this ambiguity that persists.