In 2022, the arts will be focused on restoring our mental health. In the past two years, the vaccine was not the only thing to save our lives. During the pandemic, an estimated 12 million people signed up to one of the many streaming services available. The entertainment and distraction those platforms provided assumed a crucial role in helping us to endure the challenging times. In 2022, art, storytelling and the narratives we use to make sense of our world will all be key tools that will aid our sense of recovery from this period.
I am seeing this in most of the work I am being sent, many of which have been written in the past 18 months. The last thing that anyone is talking about in the work that I am seeing is narratives about viruses. Instead, what is at the core of this work is either a cry for help or, by contrast, an effort of active avoidance with a high quotient of joy.
All of this work will have a tangible impact on our everyday lives. The pandemic, for example, has given us an inherent fear of our fellow human beings. The avoidance of touch and unease around other people’s breath have tested our emotional bandwidth in almost unthinkable ways. This has been amplified by a greater awareness of the inequalities in our world, from insufficient medical infrastructure and paucity of housing choices, to an ever-diminishing support for the disabled community.
In 2022, art will – either subtly or directly – address this anxiety head on. There will be more female leads, more discussion about the struggle of the transgender community, more narratives from a Black and brown perspective, and works about connection and intimacy. On the basis that sunlight is the best disinfectant, the simple fact that art will be dealing with these topics will
be essential to the act of healing.
In 2022, museums, galleries and theatres – including the Young Vic, where I work as artistic director – will be putting on exhibitions and shows whose primary intention is to boost our mental health. In the US, the Smithsonian has already begun this process. It is currently collating a giant project called “Healing a Nation”, which will draw on the work of many artists, from all art forms, to help people recover from the trauma of the past two years. The museum explains that, “at a time when people are fearful, it’s the role of a museum to give comfort. At a time of pain, museums can remind us of beauty.”
We will see the power of art, not just to entertain, but to make us whole again as people. The art we consume will be driven by, but not focus directly on, our collective response to Covid. We will see dramas about the fear of touch and classics reinterpreted to reflect the trauma of our time. We will connect with storytelling about reparation and repair. These will be the unifying themes of the season. And, of course, there will also be big, bold, joyous distractions. What could be more healing than that?
Get more expert predictions for the year ahead. The WIRED World in 2022 features intelligence and need-to-know insights sourced from the smartest minds in the WIRED network. Available now on newsstands, as a digital download, or you can order your copy online.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
