Online Instagram Concerts and Changing Perception of Space During the Pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 (coronavirus), which emerged in Wuhan, China, spread all over the world in a short time. World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020, when the first case was seen in Turkey. According to the data of the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 virus has been seen in 114 countries and 4,291 people have died so far. Strict measures began to be taken in our country after the case was seen. First of all, schools were provided for online education transition. Later, entertainment venues were closed, and sports matches were suspended. As a result, during the pandemic period, various events, especially concerts, were broadcasted online on different platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. In this study, online Instagram concerts in the period of April-May 2020, by the time the cases first increased in Turkey, will be examined. The transformation of the concept of space has accelerated with the pandemic period. This transformation acting based on the assumption that music concerts, where concrete space is significant, are separated from time and space with new media technologies. Henri Lefebvre's concept of space is emphasized, and the decentralization of concert venues is explained over the concept of time, and space of flows proposed by Manuel Castells. In the study, a focus group study was conducted with 8 people who attended Instagram concerts in the specified time interval, and the data obtained were compared with the theoretical level and tried to be verified.