The most memorable vaccination is the one that not only saves your life but also lets you enjoy art in historical environments.
A view of the observation area with ancient paintings, inside the vaccination centre in the pheasant room of the Capodimonte Museum, where people have to wait 15 minutes after taking the vaccine. Pic/Getty Images
In 2020, as cultural institutions shut their doors and the collective appreciation for art slowly dried up with restrictions imposed on public gatherings, people sought comfort in solitary creative pursuits. One of the important and continuing conversations of the year on social media and elsewhere has centred around how art has come to our rescue in a moment of extreme distress.
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This year, in 2021, the dominant conversation veered towards the COVID-19 vaccine. All its attendant complications and shortages notwithstanding, the idea of art’s enduring importance seems to have been literalised in the way spaces traditionally associated with artistry, entertainment and popular culture have been transformed into mass vaccination centres.
Here’s our pick of three centres of culture and creativity finding new purpose in a global crisis, so beautifully, it makes you want to say, poke me right now!
The 1,200-seater Audi for inoculation: The Helix, Dublin
The Helix, Dublin. Pic/Wikipedia
Owned by and situated on the Dublin City University campus, the Helix is a multi-purpose space hosting addresses by Nobel Laureates, stage productions, art exhibitions and TV filming and recordings. The Health Service Executive in Ireland approached the university about using the venue and one of its theatres, a 1,200-seater, was turned into a vaccination hub with its adjoining foyer areas allocated as the 15-minute post-vaccination recovery area. Inoculations began mid-February and the venue is presently in use every day with close to 2,500 vaccinations taking place, with immediate plans to increase inoculations to 4,500 per day. “The overwhelming response and reaction from patrons, university staff and the wider general public has been incredibly positive,” says Michael Brady, general manager of The Helix.
Inoculations taking place at its 1,200-seater auditorium, which was turned into a mass vaccination centre. Pic courtesy/Julien Behal
Shots at dracula castle: Bran Castle, Transylvania
Bran Castle, Transylvania
Popularly known as Dracula’s Castle, this fortress is a landmark in Transylvania, with guided tours taking visitors through its museum, which houses traditional agricultural machinery, as well as art and furniture collected by Queen Marie of Romania. About a month ago, the Medieval Customs House, located just beneath the castle was offered up as a vaccination site. “We saw our prime minister in the news expressing the intention of opening vaccination marathons and centres in private venues and that was the click,” says Alexandru Priscu from the castle’s marketing team. Operating on the weekends until the end of June, the centre has eight dedicated rooms, which includes spaces for waiting, vaccination, medical observation and emergencies, and administers up to 120 shots per day. “The main idea was not to cover thousands of vaccines daily, but to raise awareness and willingness in the public and to set a trend into opening such projects in other locations, such as cinemas, shopping centres, and football stadiums,” says Priscu.
Citizens are being given their shots at the Medieval Customs House just beneath the castle. Pics courtesy/Bran Castle
Under a towering installation: The Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
The vaccination hub inside the Pirelli HangarBicocca gallery in Milan where the monumental artwork, The Seven Heavenly Palaces 2004-2015, is exhibited. Pic courtesy/ Pirelli Hangarbicocca, Milan, Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Formerly an industrial plant in the Italian fashion hub of Milan, the Pirelli HangarBicocca, established in 2004, is one of the largest contiguous exhibition spaces in Europe. It presents major solo shows by Italian and other international artists, conceived specifically to work in tandem with its architecture. It has three exhibition spaces whose original 20th-century architectural features are still visible, and also includes an area for public services and educational activities. Currently on view at the Pirelli HangarBicocca are the exhibitions, Short-circuits, devoted to Chen Zhen, one of the leading figures of contemporary art, and Digital Mourning, devoted to French-Algerian artist Neïl Beloufa.
The Pirelli also permanently houses one of German artist Anselm Kiefer’s most important site-specific works, The Seven Heavenly Palaces 2004-2015, commissioned for its opening. Drawing its name from the palaces described in the ancient Hebrew treatise Sefer Hechalot, the installation consists of seven towers of varying heights, created from reinforced concrete using the angular construction modules of shipping containers.
From April 26, it is the area around this artwork that has been made available to carry out vaccinations. It is open daily, and signage guides people to the vaccination boxes, even as wall panels inform them about the permanent installation. In comparison to the centres in Mumbai, the numbers are tiny. The centre is administering close to 14,000 injections per week and will soon operate at full capacity, vaccinating more than 28,000 people each week. “We are happy to put the spaces of Pirelli HangarBicocca at the service of the Regional Government of Lombardy and the community to support the COVID-19 vaccine campaign,” says Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman of Pirelli HangarBicocca. “At this crucial moment in the fight against the pandemic, we wanted to contribute, making one of our symbolic spaces available to all.”
More vax centres worthy of envy
Westminster Abbey, London: In March, the NHS opened a vaccination clinic in the south transept of the Abbey, which is home to the world-famous Poets’ Corner where more than 100 poets and writers are buried or have memorials, including Geoffrey Chaucer and Edmund Spenser.
American Museum of Natural History, New York City: Starting in April, people have received their jabs under the famous blue whale sculpture at the museum. The whale has a bandage to signify that she too has been “vaccinated”.
Salisbury Cathedral, England: Operating till recently as a vaccination hub, the 800-year-old Anglican cathedral houses the world’s oldest clock tower. Organists played hymns and classical pieces by Bach, Mozart and Handel to help people relax as they received their jabs.
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