Capturing the Intangible was a two-part event taking place at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, in London, on the 29th May and 5th June 2014, at 6-8pm.
A unique panel of speakers attended each evening. The panel consisted of four speakers and the evening begun with each speaker taking approximately ten minutes to introducing their relevant area of expertise in relation to the evening’s theme. A discussion session followed, including the opportunity for members of the audience to put questions to the panel.
The theme of the 29th May was The Heritage of Performance and Performance of Heritage.
A recent shift can be identified in the wider field of heritage discourse, which challenges materialist approaches to heritage and re-conceptualises heritage as a cultural process. No longer universally accepted as being inherently contained within the physical and tangible fabric of historic sites, buildings and objects, heritage is now being re-defined as the practice and discourse which take place at sites and with objects. Some might even suggest that all ‘heritage’ is, in fact, intangible.
One of the topical discussion areas which have emerged from this relatively new debate centres on performance – and performativity – in heritage:
Heritage wasn’t only about the past – though it was that too – it also wasn’t just about material things – though it was that as well – heritage was a process of engagement, an act of communication and an act of making meaning in and for the present
(Smith, Laurajane (2006) The Uses of Heritage, Oxon, Routledge, p. 1).
The aim of the panel discussion was to introduce the notion of intangible heritage and its relationship with performance. From this starting point, it focused on specific examples of the use of performance within heritage practice.
The theme of the 5th June was The Relevance of Memory to Creativity and Cultural Development in the Digital Age.
The evening consisted of guest speakers presenting/interpreting the title of the talk from their own discipline perspective. There was then space for discussion, debate and audience participation.
This studio talk engaged with new media narrative and investigated how new connectivity is changing cultural interpretation. The focus was on how increased digital connectivity is changing common notions of memory, identity and culture.
Memory was explored through the developing relationship between material and virtual culture, considering why the storing and reconstitution of memory is relevant to cultural development. The talk explored the evolution of creativity, communication and the new order of declassification.
Keynote speakers from the fields of Creativity, Science, Technology and Education were invited, with the aim of developing networks and fields of common interest. The event organisers are interested in expanding the potential of transdisciplinary research in Art & Design History, Material Culture, Memory, Narrative, Simulation, Identity, Technology, Curation and Education.
The aim of the panel discussion was to discuss the relevance of material knowledge to virtual culture, whilst considering the future role of the Cultural Institution.
For more information visit: http://capturingtheintangible.wordpress.com/home/
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A nice presentation by Emanuela Sesti of Fondazione Alinari highlighted to the present audience the progress of the project, and disseminated about the exhibition 
The first day was occupied with an interactive brainstorming session, facilitated by partner and WP4 leader iMinds, that saw 12 consortium members being busy with imagining future scenarios and visionary applications for the 6 pilots.
From 15 to 17 May 2014, in Belgium, at the Troubleyn Theater (15-16 May) and the Royal Conservatoire (17 May) of Antwerp, it was held the colloquium Thinking bodies – Moving minds, which is a collaboration between the European platform Labo21, the Research Centre for Visual Poetics of the University of Antwerp and CORPoREAL, the research group of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerpen. The project is supported by the European Commission.
Visual Poetics is a research group in theatre, film and related artistic media at the University of Antwerp, divided in 4 areas of research: performative, intermedial, artist’s and textual poetics.
In Bulgaria the whole month of May is a period when literature and culture in general are celebrated in a series of cultural events. This year one of the events in this series is the exhibition “Writers through the photographers’ lens“. It is organized by NALIS in the scope of the EuropeanaPhotography project.
In order to enhance the work and the role of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Directors of the universities of the region, since early 2011 the Information and Communication Technology Directors Network of Latin American universities has built a collaborative space that seeks to contribute to the continuous improvement of its institutions.
If you have interesting news and events to point out in the field of digital cultural heritage, we are waiting for your contribution.
