Digital meets Culture

A dynamic investigation of common interest for the entire scientific network

Paris 8 University lunches the UNCHARTED project

The choice of Paris 8 to dedicate a page to UNCHARTED project in the university website is a key contribution for the promotion of the project among researchers and experts of the academic world.
The showcase has been included in the section reserved to the “actualités” and it is easily accessible by all visitors of the university website. The description, clear and precise, enhances the kick off meeting of last 7^thFebruary, presents the main topics of the research and identifies the members of the consortium highlighting the scientific and technical knowledge that will support the implementation and outcomes of the project.
Visit UNCHARTED project on Paris 8 website
Visit UNCHARTED website

the Digital Archive is an extraordinary example of common search system and user interface

More than 53000 photographs by the National Archives of Norway online

text by Caterina Sbrana.

“Na na na heyana, Hahiyaha naha ..”

This is how Frozen, the Walt Disney movie directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, begins. The film has no relevance to the National Archives of Norway but who wrote the opening music, Vuelie, is the Norwegian musician Frode Fjellheim, who inserts the Joik into the song. By doing research on Joik popular music, I have deepened, through this extraordinary archive, the Sami culture. Joik is the Sami folk music, one of the oldest traditional songs in Europe. It has particular vocal characteristics and it is performed as a dedication to a person or an animal. While in the mid-fifties of the twentieth century, the Joik was long condemned as a sinner and it was forbidden to use it in schools in the Sami area, today many young artists include Joik as an element in contemporary music. But this is not the most important topic. The Sami music was the pretext to tell you about this extraordinary photographic archive which, as I wrote, I discovered almost by chance.

Two reindeer Sami on Finnmarksvidda. The photograph comes from an album donated to the National Archive by Nurse Marie Lysnes. In the spring of 1945, she participated in the creation of a field hospital in Finnmark. Lysnes documented her stay in Finnmark through texts and images.

On the National Archives Digital Photo Archive, I found over 200 photographs depicting the daily life of the Sami people with the capture of reindeer, the festivals, the construction of sleds. Photos of the mid-20th century and contemporary ones.

As the project staff says, the National Archives use the Digital Archives as a channel to publish parts of their archive material, primarily that which is in highest demand. On the Digital Archives internet site, most of these source materials are open to all for searching and browsing. The Digital Archives present archive documents in digital form and are free to use and open to all; they are built around the notion that archive users should be able to access as much source material as possible, from one location, presented through a common search system and user interface.

Samelandsmøte, 1962. Photo taken on the occasion of a sightseeing trip to Finnmark for Billedbladet-ORA

From the home page of the Norwegian Digital arkivet, clicking on the National Archives Digital Photo Archive we are returned to the page “Fotoweb 8.0” from which you can start the historical-photographic search.

We find out that the photographs “originate from different archives, both private and commercial, as well as organisations and public sector entities. Some of the photos are taken by professional photographers, others by amateur photographers and individuals”.

I suggest you to read the instructions of the creators of the digital archive before beginning the research: in the middle of the page a search box allows you to write a free-text necessary to find a particular photo. The photographs include the information which has been provided in the archives themselves, are categorized geographically by region and country. “Identification of featured individuals is a time consuming process and for this reason, many photos will contain little or no such information, even if it could have been of great interest”.

Photo taken on the occasion of a Sami wedding; approximate dating 1962; maker Klaeboe, Lasse

People, institutions, as well as organizations can create his own albums, by registering a user account as volunteers in the photo archives. The group of experts working in Digital Archives has set as a rule the usability of the digitized material, and this means that it can be published for free usage on all pages.

The majority of photos in the National Archives Digital Photo Archive can be used freely, and without restriction, but some are restricted for commercial use. Every picture in the photo archives has a tab which says “Rules for reuse”, where we can find the usage rules that particular picture.”Rules for reuse” explains whether a picture is in the public domain; and if not, which licensing conditions apply.

A shepherd of reindeer. Photo by Koji Tsuda, taken from Samisk arkiv, 1974-1986

A few months ago, in September 2019, other Norwegian archives outside of the National Archives will be offered the opportunity to upload and publish their scanned archive material online on the Digital Archives.

I can assure you that in this digital archive we find photographs of extraordinary beauty and interest not only in the field of historical research.

Shortly, I’m going to show you a series of beautiful black and white photographs, from the middle of the twentieth century preserved at the Borgarsyssel Museum, Sarpsborg, and now digitized, concerning daily life and much more.

It’s in front of everyone how much digital technology allows a large number of people access to cultural resources. The researchers themselves claim that the Digital Archives are built around the notion that archive users should be able to access as much source material as possible, from one location, presented through a common search system and user interface.

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/

https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/

https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5001-Historiske-foto/

https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5001-Historiske-foto/Indekserte%20bilder/PA-0873_U1_1_160.tif.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5001-Historiske-foto%2F%3Fq%3D%2520reinsdyr

https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5001-Historiske-foto/Indekserte%20bilder/Fo30141604010042.tif.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5001-Historiske-foto%2F%3Fq%3Dsamisk

https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5001-Historiske-foto/Indekserte%20bilder/3119_026_8050248.tif.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5001-Historiske-foto%2F%3F80%3DTsuda%252C%2520Koji

Vau i Dejës, Albania, 18-21 May 2020

Call for registration is now open for the International Workshop on Heritage sites in the Balkans

Professionals and organizations involved in preservation, management and valorisation of Komani, of other heritage sites in the Drin Valley, Albania and the Balkan region as well as relevant speakers with an important experience in preservation of Balkans heritage are invites to join this three-and-a-half day exchange workshop about heritage sites sustainable management in the Balkans, based on case studies and shared experiences.
The plenary sessions will take place at Villa Franceze located on Komani site (Vau i Dejës municipality). There will be a full day on the field at Komani.The closing session will take place during an official event in Tirana.
Based on Komani case study and on the Grands Sites de France approach, the workshop intends to feed discussion about integrated management of heritage areas.
The seminar is co-organized by the Franco-Albanian archaeological mission of Drin Valley, the municipality of Vau i Dejës and the Réseau des Grands Sites de France (RGSF), in collaboration with the Grand Site de France Bibracte-Mont Beuvray, the French Embassy in Albania, as well as the partners of the RGSF’s International Francophone Centre.
The Grands Sites de France Network is an organisation, bringing together local authorities responsible for both day-to-day operations and long-term evolution of the most remarkable protected landscapes in France (50 affiliated sites, 32 million visitors per year : Pont du Gard, Cliffs of Etretat, Dune of Pilat,…). Since 2010, it manages the International Centre for training and exchange of francophone heritage site managers. The latter organizes trainings in integrated management of heritage sites under the patronage of UNESCO and field workshops. It coordinates an online exchanges network of 130 professionals from 35 countries and supports international cooperation projects between sites.
The Grands Sites de France Network with its national policy, it’s a remarkable point of reference for all private and public organization that are willing to take care of their national heritage sites.
It takes part in national and international reflection on the future of these areas of outstanding natural beauty and heritage site, facing their long-term conservation within the context of growing pressure from tourism.
Download the call for registration
Read more about The Grands Sites de France Network(RGSF)
Link to the International Centre for training and exchange of francophone heritage site managers

Save the date:18-21 May 2020,Vau i Dejës, Albania

International Workshop: Building together the future of heritage sites in the Balkans

The municipality of Vau i Dejës is committed to a project to create a regional natural park in order to enhance the diversity of Komani heritage resources (landscape, archaeology, vernacular heritage, etc.). Based on Komani case study and on the Grands Sites de France approach, the workshop intends to feed discussion about integrated management of heritage areas. It will also discuss the experience acquired within the Grands Sites de France national policy (coordination between preserving heritage value of sites and managing tourist flows, stimulating a socio-economic impact on the area, urban sprawl, etc.).
The workshop offers the opportunity to share experiences and case studies about heritage sites sustainable management in the Balkans and will count on the participation of Professionals and organizations involved in preservation, management and valorisation of Komani, of other heritage sites in the Drin Valley, Albania and the Balkan region as well as the relevant contribution of speakers with an important experience in the topic of the workshop.
The seminar is co-organized by the Franco-Albanian archaeological mission of Drin Valley, the municipality of Vau i Dejës and the Réseau des Grands Sites de France (RGSF), in collaboration with the Grand Site de France Bibracte-Mont Beuvray, the French Embassy in Albania, as well as the partners of the RGSF’s International Francophone Centre.

Download the call for registration

OMM – Odunpazarı Modern Museum in Eskişehir, Turkey, presents Karina Smigla-Bobinski latest artwork.

ADA, interactive kinetic installation inspired by Ada Lovelace

OMM by Kengo Kuma and Associates. Fotoğraf_Photo ©NAARO

OMM – Odunpazarı Modern Museum in Eskişehir, Turkey will play host to an interactive kinetic sculpture named after Ada Lovelace, one of the world’s first computer programmers.

ADA by Karina Smigla-Bobinski is a huge, free-floating interactive drawing tool that unearths the hidden creative talents of machinery, controlled by humans but producing its own autonomous language in charcoal marks across the white walls, ceilings and floors of the gallery space.
Advancing OMM’s mission to promote projects that combine art, design and technology, the installation will be in motion at the museum from 15 February – April 12 2020, marking its inaugural appearance in Turkey.

Karina Smigla-Bobinski, “ADA”, OMM 2020, fotoğraf_photo by Doğan Kayacık

The daughter of renowned poet Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace developed the very first prototype of a computer in the 19th century together with Charles Babbage. While Babbage provided the preliminary computing machine, she wrote the first software. Lovelace was the first to recognize that the potential of computers lay beyond mere calculation – she set out to create a machine that could paint and write poetry. Similarly, ADA extends the possibilities of automation into a realm of creative generation.
Influenced by the mechanical sculptures of Jean Tinguely, ADA is a post-industrial creature that channels the spirit of biotechnology with its organic, self-determined output. Smigla-Bobinski’s kinetic sculpture takes the form of a transparent, membrane-like globe filled with helium and studded with charcoal spikes. Activated by visitors, the sphere revolves around the room with relentless energy, leaving indecipherable charcoal traces on the surfaces it encounters. As the white walls of the exhibition area begin to fill with markings, a complex structure emerges.

Karina Smigla-Bobinski, “ADA”, OMM 2020, fotoğraf_photo by Doğan Kayacık

Although the visitor can control ADA’s trajectory, the form of the composition cannot be calculated in advance; the autonomous movement creates an evolving series of patterns and signs which become its own symbolic language. ADA is movement experienced visually, as if witnessing a computer produce a surprising output upon entering a command.
As Lovelace’s poetic vision for the computer reached past basic command execution, so Smigla-Bobinski’s ADA is a machine that acts as an independent artist, whose spontaneous output can only be decoded through the human power of association.

Odunpazarı Modern Museum | www.omm.art | @ommxart | info@omm.art
Şarkiye Mah. Atatürk Bulvarı
No:37 Odunpazarı – Eskişehir/ Türkiye

Hilversum (The Netherlands), 5-6 March 2020

Europeana XX Century of Change: kick-off meeting

img. credits: Fortepan via Europeana.

A new CEF funded project has just started, and the kick-off meeting was celebrated in Hilversum on 5-6 March 2020, hosted by project coordinator the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. It was a lively and productive event with presentations, discussions, planning, and various groups activities, in the lovely Institute’s building. Some of the partners representatives could not travel to Holland and a direct streaming was therefore set up, which guaranteed inclusive participation.

In this project, 5 Domain and Thematic Aggregators join forces with technology and educational partners, to stimulate reflection and debate on European recent history, and to improve and enrich Europeana.eu, the European digital library. Overarching theme: the 20th century as a gamechanger, whose impact on society is extensively documented in photographs, audiovisuals and other types of media.

We’re heading for…

a new Thematic Collection in Europeana.eu with compelling editorials
100.000 new high quality records
smart tools to support curators
machine translation and semantic enrichment to hundreds of thousands of Europeana records
an online and on site outreach strategy

Download a presentation by Sofie Taes (KU Leuven), Berlin 19/2/2020 – PDF, 6 Mb

Photo credit: Max Peters, Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.

Partners

Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
Istituto Luce Cinecittà
Filmoteka Narodowa Instytut Audiowizualny
KU Leuven
DFF Deutsches Filminstitut Filmmuseum
Catwalkpictures
European Fashion Heritage Association
PHOTOCONSORTIUM
Europeana
NTUA National Technical University of Athens
Pangeanic
Noterik
Technische Informationsbibliothek
ThinkCode
Jewish Heritage Joods Historisch Museum
Anacode

The project Europeana XX is co-financed by the European Union in the framework of CEF Connecting Europe Facility Programme under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1932087.

Understanding, Capturing and Fostering the Societal Value of Culture

Successful kick off meeting for the UNCHARTED project!

Last 7th February, the UNCHARTED partners held their first meeting in Paris.

10 partners, from 7 EU Countries, presented their work packages and they worked in a positive and functional way going through the main technical and logistic issues and preparing the floor for a future profitable cooperation.

The occasion was good also for planning the first UNCHARTED workshop that will be held in Porto, on April 22-24 2021 and will be used to hold several further organizational meetings.

Photo gallery:

[Show as slideshow]

application deadline for international Theatre, Art and New Technologies Festival in Sardinia: 15th May 2020

THE WONDERS OF POSSIBLE – open call for artists

In November 2020, Kyber Theatre organises in Cagliari (Italy) the 7th Edition of the International Theatre, Art and New Technologies Festival called “The Wonders of Possible” – LMDP Le Meraviglie Del Possibile.

LMDP Festival is the first of this kind in Italy. Its aim is to promote the interrelation between artistic and technological languages. Kyber Teatro – spin off of L’ Aquilone di Viviana (theatre and new technologies company, LMDP Festival creator and manager), addresses to Italian and International artists an Open Call to submit their projects about “Interaction between arts and technology”.

Who can attend
The participation is open to artists of every nationality, working individually or in a group of maximum 5 people.
Eligible projects
– Theatre and new technologies plays
– Art and new technologies performances
– Installations that explore and realize the interaction between artwork, exhibition space and observers with the contribution of technology.

Application (deadline the 15th of May 2020)
The theme of LMDP Festival is the interrelation between theatre, arts and new technology.
The application must contain:
• Artist’s CV;
• Detailed description of the project (in PDF);
• Technical rider;
• Selection of max 5 photos;
• Link audio / video material (Vimeo or Youtube).
The result is going to be notified only to selected projects by the Month of June 2020.

Economic conditions
Full coverage of all the costs for the artists’ mobility to and in Cagliari (international travels, board and accommodation), and the compliance for safety standards of the space is guaranteed by Kyber teatro. Subject to agreements with our technical director, also any material required for the presentation of the performance/show/play/installation can be covered.
The Open Call winners will have the opportunity to present their work twice (performance not paid, the participation it will be free) and to hold a workshop with entrance tickets for the audience (workshop proceeds will go to the artists).

Publication
Applying for the call, artists agree that the projects should be represented at the Festival. Selected artists must provide a short biography and an abstract of the project. They also agree that the material related to the project could be published on the Festival website and/or presented to the press for promotional purposes.

Archiving process
Artists authorise Kyber Teatro – L’aquilone di Viviana to present their work, to store the material and make it accessible through the Festival’s website. All rights to the artwork and images will remain to the artist. The Organization is also entitled to document the event in all its phases through audio recordings, video or images.

Application materials must be sent by the 15th of May to: info @ kyberteatro.it
Website: http://www.kyberteatro.it

Tokio (Japan), 22 February - 22 March 2020

ACT (Artists Contemporary TOKAS) Vol. 2 Stasis Field

Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) has supported artists in a multi-career-stage and continuously supportive program through endeavors such as open call exhibitions, exhibitions of contemporary artists, and international fellowships. In the Artists Contemporary TOKAS (ACT) series launched in 2018, exhibitions will be held to introduce artists who are worthy of attention now, centered on those that have taken part in TOKAS programs. Introduced at this second installment, titled ”Stasis Field,” are works by three artists/pairs: TANAKA Shusuke, HIROSE Nana & NAGATANI Kazuma, WATANABE Go.

“Stasis field” is a term that has been used in science fiction novels and games, to refer to an area in which time seemingly stands still or is significantly delayed, and contents appear motionless. Due to the standstill and crystallization of time in a stasis field, objects in that area are in a state where they can be closely observed, or slowed down to such an extent that their shapes appear distorted.
In their works, the three artists featured in this exhibition stop or delay time in order to make it observable from their own respective points of view, and produce works of art in which they actively respond to and creatively express the differences, shifts and distortions that result from such temporal stagnation. In times when social life is increasingly dominated by the acceleration and quick processing of all kinds of matters. Experiences we make in such special kinds of situations “Stasis fields” may function as turning points that changes existing ideas and previous perceptions.

Full press release available HERE

Web: https://willap.jp/t?r=AAAJGIO267Ep56jSFpTuyNbfQO_KxJTUiCdCpQ

e-flux: https://willap.jp/t?r=AAAJGIO267Ep56jScRcs8OR3zISKxJTUiCdCpQ

Artists/ About the work

TANAKA Shusuke (Born in 1986): Tanaka draws paintings based on inspirations encountered in daily life which bring him fresh sensations and experiences that make him feel scared or uncomfortable. The sceneries he illustrate contain a single element depicted in unusual size or highlighted in a certain way. This approach causes distorted spatial perception and a strange sense of reality. At this exhibition, Tanaka presents several new works showing sceneries he encountered recently.

HIROSE Nana (Born in 1980) & NAGATANI Kazuma (Born in 1982): The artist duo moved to Germany in 2007 and continues to produce artworks there. They transform and catabolize daily commodities and objects which we encounter on a daily basis. They explore how exactly viewers perceive the subject-matter of their works. At this exhibition, they present an installation “Still life”, consisting of fruits, vegetables, cups, and other objects – about 300 in total – molded by a special kind of porcelain compound. The objects in their works show distortions. These appear to be intentionally deformed by some kind of external force, and are in fact produced by a chemical reaction triggered by the heating of porcelain. These numerous white objects transform the entire space which they are placed in. This encourage viewers to reflect upon familiar perspectives on things.

WATANABE Go (Born in 1975): Watanabe recreates real sceneries and objects around him by 3-D computer graphics and creates video works which gradually transform in ways disconnected from physical and optical laws. Based on the experience of spending a year in Finland in 2017, he produced a work in which he emphasized the perception of light in Finland which he found to be different from that of Japan. At this exhibition, he presents a new video installation that questions material, spatial and temporal characteristics by reorganizing the temporal order and angles of light falling onto books and a pile of laundry.

The cleanliness of Fuente de los Caños, Almería (Spain)

Participatory activity of Rural Heritage pilot

Saturday 15 February 2020 in Sorbas, Almería (Spain), MEMOLab, REACH project and local associations had collaborate in the cleanliness of Fuente de los Caños.
This monumental fountain, abandoned decades ago, gave water to the town and was used as a laundry. Here, much of the social life of the community developed.
The importance of this source is that it is supplied by a water mine, now practically lost.

University of Granada, leader of REACH Rural Heritage Pilot, conducted the participatory event in which more than 100 volunteers took part.
This activity has led, in addition to dissemination and teamwork, the empowerment of several groups that are acting to find the mine and put it back into operation.