Digital meets Culture

webinar by CARARE project, 17th February h. 12 CET

3D reconstructions for storytelling and understanding

This webinar explored some of the ways that 3D reconstructions are being used for story telling and to aid understanding. Two speakers gave short presentations:

Catherine Anne Cassidy, Open Virtual Worlds team, University of St Andrews, ‘Dissemination methods for 3D Historical Virtual Environments’
Daniel Pletinckx, Visual Dimension bvba, ‘Interactive Story Telling in Virtual Worlds’

The video recording on CARARE’s Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/678728267

The slides on CARARE’s Slideshare channel: https://www.slideshare.net/CARARE/3d-reconstructions-for-story-telling-and-understanding

Abstracts

Dissemination Methods for 3D Historical Virtual Environments – Virtual reconstructions are valuable assets for academic research, heritage visualisation and immersive learning. With continual growth of digital literacies and capacities of personal technologies, methods of engagement are as diverse as the scenarios for deployment. Restrictions to heritage have expedited creative responses for continual interaction, extending the potential of virtual reconstructions as part of museum dissemination. Catherine will discuss methods of informal learning through use cases of virtual reconstructions within remote, museum-based and at home scenarios.

Interactive storytelling in virtual worlds – The current state of the technology allows us to create fully interactive virtual recreations of the past and walk through them and interact with those environments in a very natural way. These worlds can be used by educators and guides to create virtual guided tours through these 3D environments and tell the stories of these historical sites for groups of people such as school groups or tourists, in the context of a museum or site. As the guide or educator is free to walk the virtual environment and adapt their story at will, the storytelling can fit with the interests or background of the audience. For individual visitors or families, an alternative approach can be provided through interactive objects that tell parts of the global story when touched or picked up.

Bios

Catherine Anne Cassidy is a PhD candidate in the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She brings an interdisciplinary approach to the research group Open Virtual Worlds, which employs emergent technologies to create engaging interactive experiences for cultural and natural heritage organisations. Her doctoral research includes developing approaches to 3D digitisation that allows the value of digital heritage to be recognised while strengthening connections between heritage, its community and the museum through emergent technologies and their democratisation.

Daniel Pletinckx was trained as a civil engineer, with specialisation in information technology. He gained extensive experience in system design, quality assurance, digital image processing and synthesis, 3D and virtual reality through a career of 14 years in private industry, and has 25 years of international experience in 3D digital heritage. Currently, Daniel Pletinckx is the director of Visual Dimension bvba, an SME dealing with ICT based innovation in cultural heritage, education and tourism. Visual Dimension specialises in new, efficient ways for the creation of and interaction with 3D digital heritage assets. The company works for a wide range of European heritage organisations and is active in several European projects. Visual Dimension is a senior partner in 4CH, the new European Competence Centre for Digital Heritage, leading the VR Storytelling activities.

Craft-Hub: the EU project to investigate and document craft skills and processes

Craft in the context of cultural heritage

Craft Hub – the craft library, is a 3 years European project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme.

The project focuses on craft in the context of cultural heritage and its continuing relevance in contemporary practice.

The project activities involve investigation and documentation of craft skills and processes, and their different application in creative practice across Europe.

The goals of the project are:

create a digital repository in the form of a material library and multi-media content
address heritage concerns by exploring and documenting at risk and lost/ recovered craft skills and processes
identify cultural/transnational attitudinal differences to craft and to test the emerging repository

The program will be carried on through 42 transnational maker residencies, 305 days of outreach work, 1 festival, 7 exhibitions and 2 conferences.

The maker exchange residencies are a central part of the project. Between March and July 2022 Craft Hub will run a series of 5 day maker exchange residencies hosted by the project partners:

Carlow County Council – Ireland
UWTSD – Wales
Design School Kolding – Denmark
Universidade Nova de Lisboa – Portugal
Glasmalerei Peters – Germany
Materahub – Italy

Each residency will have a different theme inspired by the local cultural context, craft practices, expertise and techniques.

In order to explore the value of craft as a European cultural and artistic heritage and to underline the importance and the need to preserve skills at risk, the project has also developed the ‘talking about craft’ podcast series .
Here, podcasts on these topics will be progressively published; episode 1 is currently available where Craft Hub is presented.

Read more about the project at https://www.crafthub.eu/

registrations are open for this exclusive series of online events dedicated to cultural managers and heritage institutions

Europeana WEAVE events focusing on diversity and inclusion

A calendar of WEAVE events programmed for February-March 2022 has focus on capacity building. The effort is devoted to cultural heritage institutions and to cultural managers, professionals, students, researchers, and communities.

A series of Europeana WEAVE events is specifically focused to support a more diverse and inclusive cultural heritage sector. These are four exclusive capacity building events on the topics of diversity and inclusion, to get a better understanding and inspire each other on how cultural institutions can play their part in a more diverse and inclusive sector.

The four short events will be carefully planned and moderated by WEAVE partners with the support of Europeana Foundation. Dates are: 11, 18, 25 February and 10 March, h. 13 CET. The events are supported by a workbook that attendees can use for the entire series. The events series is an iterative process and, ideally, participants join all the events.

More information, details and registration available here: https://weave-culture.eu/capacity-building/

a WebGIS-based platform for the discovery and promotion of the cultural heritage in Emilia Romagna

Tourer.it expands with new itineraries about the city of Bologna

image sourced from tourer.it

Tourer.it is based on an interactive map of the Emilia-Romagna region, which localizes precisely architectural heritage and landscapes in the area, offering significant information on the sites that have been searched and pinpointed on the map. Thanks to the collaboration with CAI (the Italian Alpine Club), Regione Emilia Romagna (the Emilia Romagna Region), APT (the Office for Touristic Promotion) and the Atlante Nazionale dei Cammini (Atlas of Paths through Italy) it is possible to visualize the network of pathways throughout the region and discover which heritage sites can be found along a pathway or close by. There is also a selection of itineraries developed in collaboration with several associations active in Emilia-Romagna, such as the FIAB (Italian Federation of the Environment and Bicycle) and the TCI (Italian Touring Club).

The network of itineraries is constantly expanded with new proposals and pathways, such as the very recent itineraries named “Bologna Porticata” that promote a discovery on foot and by bike at the heart of Bologna city centre, and especially under the Portici, recognized as world cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2021.

image sourced from tourer.it

Tourer.it is an open system, a tool which aims at promoting cultural heritage by providing data that is constantly updated and can be enriched also by users who upload their comments, communications and photographs. In the very near future, travelers will be able to create their own itineraries based on their interests and favorite ways of travel (train, bicycle, on foot…). The platform has evolved from the Web based Geographic System (WebGIS) that was developed on occasion of the earthquake that shook Emilia Romagna in 2012 and has become instrumental for the day to day management of preservation of cultural heritage sites in the region.

Tourer.it has been developed by the Segretariato regionale del Ministero della cutlura per l’Emilia-Romagna (Regional Secretariat of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism for Emilia-Romagna) and has been made possible by the “Ducato Estense” project, a project financed by the Ministry’s Culture and Tourism plan (“Piano Cultura e Turismo”).

Discover: https://www.tourer.it/?lang=en

Agreement between Pompeii contemporary art platform and Serpentine Galleries in London

Back to Earth: interconnected research, interventions and activities

text by Caterina Sbrana.

I proposed months ago to DIGITALMEETSCULTURE readers an article referring to a series of artistic initiatives at the Serpentine Galleries in London in which technology meets art, entitled “Arts Technologies at Serpentine Galleries“.

In Spring 2020, Serpentine and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii’s contemporary art platform, Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters launched a collaboration inviting three artists involved in the Serpentine’s Back to Earth project to share insights from their ongoing research which intersects with questions connected to archaeology, archaeobotany and archaeozoology.

To understand the importance of this collaboration it is first necessary to describe the Back to Earth project.

This is a screenshot of the Back to Earth Project, in the What’s on section of Serpentine home page: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/

As we read in the presentation of the project: “Back to Earth is a new multi-year project that invites over sixty leading artists, architects, poets, filmmakers, scientists, thinkers and designers, to devise artist-led campaigns, protocols and initiatives responding to the environmental crisis, with the support of partner organisations and networks”. https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/back-to-earth/).

We can consider Back to Earth at the same time a program about change and a catalyst for change. Through art, exhibitions, discussions not only on climate change but to what is happening to the environment of which man is an inseparable part, Back to Earth becomes a complex web of interconnected research, interventions and activities.

Even if faraway in terms of physical-geographical space, Back to Earth and Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters are close to each other in their aims.

Within the virtual space of its platform, Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters does not physically introduce us to Pompeii, but aims to go beyond, uniting archaeology and modernity through finds that reveal the succession of civilizations with a common origin and the same destiny. What most interests me is the invitation for each individual to take an attitude not only of awareness through knowledge, but of constant commitment to the defense of cultural heritage “not only as a legacy of the past but also as a responsibility in the present”. (https://pompeiicommitment.org/en/portal/)

With this premise of intent we can immediately understand the sense of the agreement between Serpentine and Pompeii Commitment around the project Back to Earth.

In the portal pompeiicommitment.org it’s declared the purpose of the twelve months programs : “The proposed method of work connects the testimonies of catastrophes which have already occurred with contemporary scenarios of risk and regeneration, producing an episteme that practices the act of caring for cultural heritage not only as a “legacy” of the past but also as a “responsibility” in the present, and therefore as a “perspective” towards the future”.

Screenshot image from the Pompei Commitment that shows the sections; https://pompeiicommitment.org/collectio/

This new approach to archaeology, together with the opportunities offered by digitization and the internet can be a stimulus for the research of existing heritage and for the “creation of new possible and future scenarios, in a context which supports dialogues across generations, backgrounds and disciplines, and that is able to respond critically to the effects of a globalized and digitized society divided by lasting conflict, exposed to the multiple risks of self-destruction, and to the dynamics triggered by social inequality and discriminating access to both material and educational resources.” (https://pompeiicommitment.org/en/portal/)

Starting from these premises we can realize the topics around which Serpentine and Pompeii Commitment decided to collaborate, and among these it is possible to highlight the necessity to respond to the environmental crisis as well as to respond critically to the effects of a globalized society. To reflect on these important issues related to archaeology, archaeobotany and archeozoology, three artists have been involved: Tai Shani, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Tabita Rezaire. The projects of the first two artists were presented on 11 February and 18 February while the Rezaire project from 25 February to 3th March.

Screenshot image that opens the work of the artist Tai Shani titled “Untitled Hieroglyphs”; https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/tai-shani-untitled-hieroglyphs/

Tai Shani project’s first release, Untitled Hieroglyphs, is a film emerging from a conversation between the artist who lives and works in London and Serpentine Curator of General Ecology, Lucia Pietroiusti, developed on the occasion of a collaboration between Serpentine and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii’s contemporary art platform, Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters. So we have the opportunity to see the film in which the artist explains her research project into psychedelics, feminism and myth but also to read questions and answers of the interview by Pietroiusti. Tai explains her work: “The story is that in Alicudi there was a continuous outbreak of Ergot that lasted for four hundred and fifty years, because the only kind of source of grain available on the island during that time was an Ergot-infested rye which had been milled into bread, and that subsequently people were tripping for four hundred and fifty years. But the thing is of course that this would be impossible. The conditions for Ergot are quite specific, in order for the fungus to emerge – it’s not as common as one might think, so I really don’t think it can have lasted all that time. But those are exactly the kind of histories I’m interested in; ones that are a little bit contested, and that have this sense of flight or excessiveness within them. So I was immediately really drawn to that.”

The artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg examines our relationships with nature and technology. Her work explores many subjects such as artificial intelligence, conservation, evolution, synthetic biology, and investigates the human impulse to better the world.

Screenshot image that opens the as-yet-untitled project by the artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg; https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/alexandra-daisy-ginsberg/

Even in this case, due to the collaboration between Serpentine and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii’s contemporary art platform, Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters, the artist Ginsberg and Rebecca Lewin, Serpentine’s Curator of Exhibition and Design, talk about a subject: the survey of biodiversity and the decline of pollinators. This artistic research of Ginsberg will end with a new outdoor installation commissioned by Eden Project in Cornwall.

Rezaire, the third artist involved in this project, explores spirituality together with space. His work Mamelles ancestrales, 2019 undertakes an exploration of knowledge about megaliths, ancient stone monuments, often in the shape of a circle, found all over the world.

Screenshot image that opens the project by the artist Tabita Rezaire, Mamelles ancestrales, 2019; https://pompeiicommitment.org/commitment/tabita-rezaire/

Thanks to the agreement between Serpentine and Pompeii Commitment, the works of the three artists were published in parallel on: www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/back-to-earth and on www.pompeiicommitment.org.

Once again, digital technology is able to facilitate the dissemination of information, the knowledge of art, of historical events and, while not replacing our experience of viewing modern works of art as well as archaeological finds, the digital access can certainly enrich our experience.

www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/back-to-earth

www.pompeiicommitment.org

presenting and discussing the WEAVE LabDays methodology for engaging vulnerable communities and promoting social innovation

WEAVE goes to ECQI, the European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry

text by Marie-Louise Crawley (Centre for Dance Research [C-DaRE], Coventry University).

On 3^rd February 2022, WEAVE’s Rosa Cisneros and Marie-Louise Crawley (Centre for Dance Research [C-DaRE], Coventry University) organized and facilitated a Dream Team session at ECQI 2022.

The Dream Team session used the case study of WEAVE to underpin the exploration of the project’s innovative methodological framework for capacity building for Cultural Heritage Institutions (CHIs) to work with cultural communities and with Digital Intangible Heritage. This session specified hands-on methodologies for such capacity building, building on the model of the LabDay methodology that Cisneros and Crawley used in the CultureMoves Europeana Generic Service project (CultureMoves [2019] D3.1 White Paper: Dance in Tourism, Research and Education [p. 89-91]).

The session was supported by the use of an interactive enviroment based on a MIRO Board. View the WEAVE session MIRO board HERE.

The LabDay methodology has enabled WEAVE to create social, digital and artistic platforms and to set up and maintain various spaces that include vulnerable communities and promote social innovation. This participatory and collaborative has allowed for multicultural communities to join forces towards excellence in Cultural Heritage and social transformation. Through its LabDay methodology, WEAVE allows participants to create and explore connections to Europeana and its collections, as well as to other European heritage professionals. The LabDays also allow for the direct, active participation of all participants as an entirely experiential process during which each participant’s creative involvement extends to the point that he/she decides. Further, the constant interaction between the participants throughout the whole process has enabled the participation of multicultural communities and individuals to freely express their attitude and cultural values through dance, art and cultural heritage activities. Finally, the methodology allows participants to re-evaluate their personal experiences within an emotionally supportive framework of trust and acts as a self-aware exchange process of knowledge, culture and experience.

The Dream Team session took itself the form of a ‘LabDay in action’ examining the methodology in terms of capacity building for digitising intangible cultural heritage and dance. It offered an open space for discussion around key themes related to the methodology with a collective writing output responding to and developing from thinking explored during the session.

after the validation meeting, marking the project's end, more editorials are being published to showcase interesting stories and beautiful Chinese heritage

PAGODE project lives on

On the 2nd December 2021, the validation meeting of project PAGODE – Europeana China took place with participation of HaDEA Project Officer Ms. Kyriaki Tragouda and representatives of European Commission DG CNECT Ms. Katerina Moutogianni and Mr. Fulgencio Sanmartín.

The validation meeting had the scope to assess the correct and complete achievement of the project’s objectives. All project partners were invited in the meeting, together with a number of colleagues from Europeana’s various areas, to present to the reviewers all the work done across the project’s activities to improve, enrich and enhance user experience with Europeana content.

Normally, the validation meeting marks the project’s end; but in line with the sustainability efforts that the PAGODE consortium committed to, some more work is continuing even beyond the end of the funding period.

In particular, few more blogs were recently published on Europeana to enrich the Chinese Heritage feature page:

About the Chinese Garden

In China, spirituality has historically been a crucial aspect of arts and architecture. A specific part of art and architecture where the spiritual and the real meet is garden design and horticulture, as in facts traditional Chinese garden design and cultivation is an activity associated with deeply intellectual and artistic practice. Not intended to be discovered at a glance, but hoping to continuously incite and surprise, the Chinese garden is laid out as a road of discovery. The surrounding garden wall, ponds with lotus flowers and other water plants, lacquered bridges, bamboo groves, pavilions, temples and pagodas make for inspiring scenery. The goal of these gardens is to connect the realm of the physical with that of the ideal, to express the harmony that should exist between humans and nature.

Read the full blog about the Chinese garden, authored by Sofie Taes on Europeana website >>

image: Stairs, pathways, pavilions, pond, rocks and exquisitely varied vegetation, depicted on a black lacquer tray with inlaid mother-of-pearl decoration, s.d. CC-BY-SA United Archives / WHA via Europeana.

About the history of Jesuits in China

The Society of Jesus, better known as the order of Jesuits, was a society founded in 1539 by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) with the aim to convert the world to Catholicism. In the 16th century, the first Jesuits arrived in China settling in the port-city of Macao in South China, at that time owned by Portugal. From this base, the Jesuits entered the Chinese hinterland and began their work of conversion. While establishing churches at different locations, they even started fostering the dream of converting the Chinese emperor himself. During their stay in China, the cultural exchange between Jesuits and Chinese would result in advances in astronomy and mathematics, beautiful works of art, and shining beacons of architecture. But there was also intrigue, spying, and political and religious opposition to Jesuits.

Discover the stories and history of Jesuits in China in a two-part blog authored by Julien Ménabréaz on Europeana website >>

image: Church in Beijing , c. 1860-1900, United Archives / WHA, CC-BY-SA via Europeana.

Five will be selected to enjoy the benefits of a NEMO membership for free

New opportunity for museums! Call for applications for the one-year trial NEMO memberships

News from UNCHARTED Community!

NEMO, the Network of European Museum Organisations, recently launched a call to select five museums or museum-oriented organizations and offer them free trial subscriptions to enjoy the benefits included in a NEMO membership:

the opportunity to participate in NEMO’s training activities
join one of NEMO’s topic-specific Working Groups
connect with the European museum community
get help in establishing cross-border collaborations,
be up to date with information about relevant EU policies and funding
take part in furthering political demands to EU and national institutions

Trial members will also receive two complimentary tickets to the NEMO European Museum Conference.

The call is open for all interested and eligible museums, museum networks, organisations and service providers. Museums and museum-oriented organisations with interest and experience in the topics of diversity, inclusivity and climate action are especially encouraged to apply for a trial membership.

The deadline for submitting applications is the 11th February 2022.

The call will be the first of three rounds: the next will be published in January 2023 and January 2024.

Further information:
NEMO is an independent network of national museum organisations representing the museum community of the member states of the Council of Europe.
Learn more about NEMO here and here.

The call for applications is available here.

Online event, February 1, 2022

Annual Policy Conversation: A Cultural Deal for Europe!

Organized by Culture Action Europe, European Cultural Foundation, Europa Nostra also in its capacity as coordinator of the European Heritage Alliance, and in partnership with the Rebuilding Europe with Culture Campaign, the Policy Conversation ‘A Cultural Deal for Europe! ‘ aims to spark a discussion to explore how culture can contribute to Europe’s recovery and to its green, sustainable and inclusive future.

The event will take place fully online on Tuesday February 1st in the afternoon.

It will include three dedicated sessions:

Culture for recovery and sustainability in Europe
Culture and cultural heritage in the European Green Deal
Culture for the future of Europe

High-level speakers will make a fundamental contribution to the debate highlighting the role of culture, heritage and the arts as the basis of the European project and the future of our societies.

Consult the detailed agenda here.

Registration is available here.

To learn more about the Cultural Deal for Europe:

deadline for submissions is 7th March 2022

Open Screen 2022: Call out for disabled artists working in the digital realm

Developed in partnership with Shape Arts in 2021, Open Screen seeks proposals for existing works that respond to the theme of Sci-Fi.

arebyte welcomes work from artists who are working with technology to their advantage, as a way to overcome barriers, criticising matters of inclusivity within technology, and everything in between.

The selected work will be presented on arebyte on Screen, arebyte’s expanded and innovative online platform for digital animations, videos, web-based interactive experiences and curatorial interventions.⁠
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The deadline for submissions is 11.49pm on 7 March 2022
For more information and how to apply, please visit arebyte.com/open-screen⁠
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#AOS #OpenScreen #OpenScreen2021 #DigitalArt #DisabilityArts

Website: aos.arebyte.com