The Illusion of the Pre-Pandemic Audience

Leonardo Caffo, philosopher and curator at La Triennale di Milano and professor at NABA, reflects on the concept of the audience in the post-pandemic era. He argues that the pandemic accelerated a pre-existing crisis of the 'public' as a genuine, uncontrollable encounter with the other. Caffo points to examples like RAI seeking couples as audience for Sanremo, Zoom and Instagram livestreams replacing live audiences in museums and theaters, football matches with simulated fan animations, and talent shows paying extras for applause. He questions the authenticity of pre-pandemic audiences, citing television audiences, the precarious art world's youth, and stadiums after fan cards. Caffo references Giorgio Agamben's 'When the House Burns?' (Moretti e Vitali, 2021) on the loss of voice and genuine relation in digital archives. He distinguishes between the controlled, surrogate audiences of today and the radical, unpredictable encounter exemplified by a heckler at a conference, whom he calls 'the fool' from Marseille tarot. Caffo calls for a conceptual rethinking of audience management in contemporary arts, beyond the return to crowded venues, emphasizing the need for the genuine, monstrous essence of public encounter.