London, March 2020: Already alarmed but still within my old set of shopping routines, I took notice of some coffee shops in my neighborhood closing their doors. First just a few, than finally all of them, and the restaurants, pubs and bars, cinemas and theatres. Bewildered and yet fascinated I feared this temporary measure to be marking the end of the world as we know it.

Big chains, small social enterprises, long established businesses, young and trendy meeting points: all gone. I gazed through their shop front windows. Each seat is ‘standing’ for a person, no longer sitting there. Each table marks a social network, forced into abandonment. No happy hour, no special deal today, tomorrow, or even the week after.

My shopping trips no longer followed any routine; I planned a different tour each time and visited new and further located supermarkets. Equipped with shopping bag and camera I penetrated through the glass barriers, hungry for socialising. I am wondering: what is going to happen to society?

We shall wait for a new way of being - whilst holding on to sanity from home.

More seating behind this link: UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Video link: UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE - VIDEO

London, July 2020:
The ban has lifted, let’s take to the streets,
Forgotten the times of Uber-Eats.
We are having a summer like never before.
There might be a risk? Let’s just ignore!

Out in fresh air and under the sky
There should be some distance, but no one is shy.
And masks may be useful, so they should think,
But certainly not when they’re having a drink.

They are only humans, we’re happy to serve
After the lockdown that’s what they deserve.
The only thing that is spoiling the fun
Is that in July there wasn’t much sun.

Inspired by not so distant memories and daily music.

Reality seems to be a matter of perception. Contemplating that we live NOW, not in the past and not yet in the future, let’s explore a different concept of TIME. What if time were not linear, what if time were instead cyclical – and (or) made of at least two parallel ‘lines’ of time? As if the future as well as the past were available to us, and everything were happening at once.

At the best of times, even in lockdown isolation, we can still ‘time travel’, right? Keeping distance is no reason for NOT experimenting with how far I can go!!! Well, this project started with trying to get rid of clutter, therefore going through my storage boxes. I found years’n’years of evidence that I was once physically traveling. In London, where I live, the travelcard in itself seems to be a thing of the PAST; we have prepaid cards now. Regardless, for some people the sight of those paper cards may spark memories of deadly daily routine, delays, overcrowding and expense within the public transport system. Not for me though, I had instant flashbacks of freedom of movement.

The experience of PRESENCE was fully felt when I listened to music: ‘Right now I just want to dance, or dream, or take off somewhere else!’ Music wasn’t just holding me together at times, it also marks this project. All images are named after the many songs I heard during lockdown, and all the chosen titles can be found on my Spotify playlist
‘My Parallel Universe’. Enyoy travelling with me.

Link to the viewing gallery of MY PARALLEL UNIVERSE, unedited at present.

Examples:

1) BLUE MONDAY / New Order

18th March: cancellation of my next freelance job booking – 5 days before the beginning of lockdown in the UK. No more ‘going to work’ for many of us. Office workers, especially clerks, are known as ‘blue collar workers’. However, for the time being the shirts stay nicely ironed in the wardrobe.

2) BIRTHDAY / The Sugarcubes

9th August: my birthday. During the summer I visit Regent’s Park Inner Circle. Inside I find the roses numbered and named. Discovering number 63, perfectly matching as my personal rose. And I’m lucky in August; restrictions are at ease and I am able to have a picnic with my friends, not far from that rose garden. Moments of freedom and plenty of spirit…

3) WHO AM I / Peace Orchestra

14th February: first week of the UK’s third lockdown experience. I am walking in and out of previously planned arrangements. Not far from my home are two corresponding iron cast statues by Antony Gormley from his worldwide project ‘Another Time’; one figure stands inside an office building, one is outside. Gormley describes these isolated forms as “an attempt to bear witness to what it is like to be alive and alone in space and time”.

4) DANCING WITH MYSELF / Generation X

Berlin – London – Sao Paulo in Brazil. Connected for a 12hour cross-platform DJ session via Zoom. It is still daytime in Sao Paulo when I join the party. On one of the tiny screens I can see a person jumping into a pool, then enjoying the event on an inflatable swimming pool lounger with a cocktail. Thanks for the reminder, guys!

5) NOW IS THE TIME / Nightmares On Wax

A vacant shop in Bond Street receives a clever makeover by an estate agent, which prompts me to explore the significance of TIME. Back in April 2020, the FT Weekend magazine published the article ‘The Pandemic is a Portal’. It argues that the pandemic presents us with an unparalleled opportunity to re-imagine our future. In Astrology, right now planet Earth is entering the age of Aquarius, which influences the rise and fall of civilizations and cultural tendencies. Promising!

6) KISS ME DEADLY (tonight) / Generation X

In between lockdowns I am visiting friends. My Goddaughter surprises me with a comment; she announces that she is worried about never being able to kiss a boy. She is 11 years old.
We try to talk that fear away, telling her about the 80s and what we learned from HIV, but deep down I have to admit, I have thoughts like this myself. 2020 has been quite a drought when it comes to producing Oxytocin. Do we need rapid tests before condoms from now on?

7) RELEASE THE PRESSURE / Leftfield

Nothing is straightforward these days. Buying a simple bra turns into frustration. Special offer: buy one, get a 2nd one half price! “You can try them on, if you insist,” the sales assistant says with a friendly smile. “But I would prefer if you don’t. We have to sterilize whatever you touch.” “Choosing a bra without trying them on?” “Well, yes, you can bring them back if they don’t fit”.
And then, the shops on Oxford Street are closing their doors again.

The official lockdown period in London started on 23rd March. Public life is shutting down; there was a lot of confusion at first. Nonetheless, ‘Keep Calm & Drink Tea’, they say over here in the UK, despite ‘fears of Corona’.

I learned to live with what surrounds me. No more coffee shops? Fine, I’ll brew my own. Known to be a tea drinker, I refuse to be threatened by the consequences of home isolation. I’ll intend to raise my own morale by celebrating each cuppa: “Cheers to Corona!”

Since then I consumed more teabags than I can document. I am counting the days, too, and the weeks, and my emotions. Each week seemingly differs, each day comes and goes, each drink calms; by now I need to stock up! “Here’s to Corona!!!”

Finally, in week 10 I had my first tea outside my home. Still not in a coffee shop, but on a friend’s roof terrace. Vanilla tea, imported from Mauritius! The world is coming back to me. Preparing for a picnic in the park, but with ‘beers, no Corona.’

4th July: Lockdown restrictions are easing this weekend. 15 weeks of brewing hot drinks, that's 330 cups of tea. Only 3 of them were shared with friends outside my flat. Now counting on hope and sending out blessings. Come what may, NO ‘tears for Corona’!

© Astrid Schulz (www.astridschulz.com/subject-to-availability)

For information behind the project, Subject to Availability has it’s own dedicated INSTAGRAM account. Click @subject.to.availability

For information about the project, such as ‘behind the scenes’, further development, awards or how it was used in public, SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY has it’s own dedicated INSTAGRAM account. Click @subject.to.availability or scan the QR code.