Digital meets Culture

online, 18th May 2021 h. 16.00 CEST

Seminar about Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)

PIRANESI
RITORNO AL FUTURO / DE VOLTA AO FUTURO

The Museo della Grafica in Pisa and the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo di São Paulo organize a live event to discover the art of venetian engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778).

Experts from Italy and Brazil will discuss about etching techniques, architecture, philology and imagination.

Witb participation of: Marco Buti (ECA USP), Franco Fanelli (Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino), Luigi Ficacci (former director of Istituto Centrale per il Restauro e autore del catalogo completo delle acqueforti di Piranesi), Maria Antonella Fusco (former director of Istituto Centrale per la Grafica), Ginevra Mariani (author of Piranesi’ works catalogue), Luciano Migliaccio (FAU USP), Federica Rossi (KHI/Università di Firenze), Alessandro Tosi (Università di Pisa, director of Museo della Grafica).

LIve streaming at:

The video registration is online

Presidency Conference on “Culture, Cohesion and Social Impact”

On May 5-6, 2021, in the framework of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union Council, was held a high level Conference on the topic of Culture, education and youth, Employment and social rights. The two-day event was structured in a plenary session facing “The Social Impact of Culture” and in four principal panels:

1) Culture, Mental health and Well-being
2) Culture, Cohesion and Territory
3) Culture and Environmental Sustainability
4) Culture and Gender Equality

The event took place in Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal and brought together participants from diverse fields – academics, specialists, representatives of the artistic and cultural sectors and those with governmental responsibilities – to debate and advance the importance and impact of culture on social, economic and territorial cohesion and on democratic resilience.
By addressing a number of questions around the connection between culture and mental health, cohesion and the territory, environmental sustainability and gender equality, the conference aimed to highlight the potential of culture in managing the current social challenges and building a better future.
For those who were not able to attend the conference a full video registration is available in English and in Portuguese at this link.
Download the programme here.

Addressing the challenges of linking and presenting the connections between tangible and intangible heritage of diverse and dispersed cultural communities

WEAVE, a project of relevance for cultural communities

Açores, 2015 Tiago Pereira. Courtesy of PédeXumbo

There are many challenges faced during the digital transformation that cultural heritage institutions (CHIs) have embarked on, and more so when considering Intangible Cultural Heritage, most notably the fact that a solid methodology for documenting is missing. Capturing and documenting ICH is facilitated by audio-visual technologies, now transformed in the digital era, which is helping to build knowledge of our cultural traditions and the traditions of communities. But many important collections of ICH, which show the way in which communities come together in the streets and public spaces as part of festivals, processions, celebrations and other forms of popular cultural expression, are yet to be widely shared and are unfortunately underrepresented in Europeana too.

WEAVE plans to tackle these challenges developing and providing a framework (including innovative technologies and tools) for linking and presenting the connections between tangible and intangible heritage of cultural communities, bringing the rich and invaluable CH which they represent and guard from the periphery to the center of attention by making it accessible from Europeana. The project selects content that will build an understanding of the diversity of European communities and cultural practices that are popular, participatory and valuable for transmitting cultural identity. The content will thereby extend and build on ICH content in Europeana, and particularly that which is not yet represented. By disseminating, preserving and sustaining this valuable content, the project will promote new understandings of cultural communities (some of which are at risk), ICH and bring CHIs together with more local content providers to support the Europeana Initiative.

ph. Tiago Pereira. Courtesy of PédeXumbo.

WEAVE will collect and aggregate to Europeana new content related to different types of cultural communities, including 3D models and point clouds, videos and photos.The WEAVE framework will specify hand-on methodologies for communities to select the content and collections to be aggregated and to engage with the project activities and Europeana.
The methodological framework will also explore the ways in which ICH and TCH can be more closely interwoven and using the project Toolkit demonstrators will be created. Complementing these activities are capacity building actions for helping CHIs to navigate their digital transformation and their ability to manage intangible heritage and heritage of cultural communities, and to connect them to innovative SMEs, cultural communities and Europeana.

Accompanying and supporting the activities of cultural communities content aggregation, is the WEAVE Toolkit. This consists of several open and reusable tools and technologies employing a mix of AI techniques, machine learning, natural language processing, big data analysis and innovative interface engineering. Tools will allow professionals to more effectively store, manage and access 3D assets that have been digitised, annotate videos more efficiently. Additionally by using 3D information, users can curate easily virtual galleries and virtual exhibitions that can contain a diverse mix of content (including 3D), and can in this way showcase the connection between tangible and intangible heritage. The curated galleries and virtual exhibitions can be accessed by end-users on different devices in more immersive and interactive ways (e.g.using mobiles, or using VR headsets).

Submission deadline: 31 May 2021

Call for proposals – 2nd International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Historical Image and Visual Cultural Artefacts Enrichment

The 2nd AI4HI-2021 workshop will bring together participants from various disciplines to address a common problem and share insights on the exploitation of AI techniques, language resources and semantic web technologies that tackle emerging challenges observed in the efficient utilisation of historical and cultural digital media. AI4HI-2021 will be held in conjunction with the 3rd Conference on Language, Data and Knowledge (LDK 2021) in Zaragoza (Spain) on September 1, 2021.

Contributions may deal with artificial intelligence and semantic web topics which are of relevance for historical image and visual cultural artefact enrichment, including language resources for image tagging, enrichment, interlinking and searching by employing semantics and AI technologies.

The workshop is organised in the framework of the ChIA project– Accessing and Analysing Cultural Images with New Technologies, a collaborative effort between the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, the Adapt Centre at Dublin City University (DCU) in Ireland and Europeana Local – Austria. The project aims to engage and test new technologies against the background of a selected dataset of food images for the benefit of accessing and analysing cultural data.

Important dates:

Paper Submission deadline:31 May 2021
Notification of acceptance: June 11, 2021
Workshop: September 01, 2021

For further details visit the workshop’s website.

online, from May to September 2021

PAGODE Digital Festival

An engaging programme of short online events is offered by PAGODE – Europeana China project, to discover the variety and richness of Chinese heritage in Europe. Open attendance without prior registration, link to Zoom freely available in the Programme.

PAGODE Digital Festival is coordinated by Photoconsortium with collaboration of PAGODE partners and associate partners.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS: https://photoconsortium.net/pagode/festival/

PAGODE – Europeana China is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility Programme of the European Union, under GA n. INEA/CEF/ICT/A2019/1931839

Save the date: 15-16 October 2021

Transitions of Memory International Conference

Fondazione Fossoli promotes the International Conference titled “Transitions of Memory. Narratives of Violence in the 20th and 21th Centuries” planned for October 2021.
The conference invites scholars from all disciplines interested in the topics of memory to confront the subject of the memory of violence, its stratifications, narratives and transitions during the 20th century and up to the present from a multidisciplinary and comparative point of view. Insights are requested that relate to the different methods and multiple tools for recounting a traumatic event, from historical reconstruction to representation in artistic and architectural form, from the collection and presentation of testimonies to the use of media and new technologies. The papers can focus on Italian or foreign experiences – even making comparisons – and consider one or more aspects related to history, memory, the organisation of space, function and their narratives and representations, using a mono- or multidisciplinary approach.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 1 June 2021
Link to the full call for papers.
Fondazione Fossoli website

Get inspired!

#CharterAllianceEU: A new wide collaboration in the Cultural Heritage sector

The 29th April marked the official launch of a new European cross-border project: the European Cultural Heritage Skills Alliance CHARTER brings together the expertise of 47 European cultural heritage organisations to ensure a long-lasting and durable sector. Over four years, the Erasmus+ funded project will professionalise the sector and further demonstrate its contribution to sustainable and thriving societies and economies. CHARTER’s consortium is composed of 28 full and affiliate members, which represents some of the top European cultural heritage actors. All partners cover the 5 fields of analysis: safeguarding and preservation; crafts and traditional knowledge; dissemination and communication; knowledge; planning and management.
The project stems from the lack of statistical recognition of the cultural heritage (CH) sector since without it, the economic impact of the sector goes unnoticed. Consequently, its potential to strengthen European cultural identities and social cohesion cannot be realised.
The initiative will map the needs of the CH sector to identify skills shortages and mismatches to develop fitting training programmes for already active CH professionals. The Alliance will also support the educational system to be responsive and adapt curricula and learning goals in accordance with the actual needs of the sector. Upskilling of core and transversal skills will be made easy and lifelong exchange, capacity building and movement within Europe will be encouraged. All efforts combined will professionalise the sector and CHARTER will showcase that CH is integral in achieving social, economic and environmental sustainability.
• Learn more about the CHARTER Alliance
• Subscribe to the newsletter
•Read the press release
• Statement letter by the project coordinator Lluís Bonet

Antonella Fresa interviewed by ESACH Association

The contribution of the REACH project to the European Youth Ambassador Programme

On April 12 2021, Antonella Fresa, REACH Network Coordinator, was invited to share the experiences and results of the social platform in the framework of the European Youth Ambassador Programme, a joint initiative by the European Students’ Association for Cultural Heritage (ESACH), Europa Nostra and the European Heritage Tribune (EHT) which aims at fostering the engagement of young people with cultural heritage.
The interview was carried on by two European ambassadors Héctor Manuel Aliaga De Miguel and Klaudia Chzhu and published by the European Heritage Tribune.
Antonella presented REACH, its origin, its mission and challenges but also the critical points and difficulties faced were highlighted to give a global overview of the work carried out during the three years of lifetime of the project.
The importance of telling daily life’s stories was underlined as the best contribution that everyone can offer in order to transmit culture and participate in increasing cultural heritage.
The Network Coordinator then proceeded with the description of the criteria for identifying good practices of participation for the REACH project and the needs that fostered the creation of a database at disposal to all experts of the cultural heritage sector. We sincerely hope that the testimony brought by our project will be useful to inspire further initiatives and to keep alive and preserve the European cultural heritage.

Link to the full text of the interview.

On line workshop: 6 May, 11.00-12.00 CEST

Europeana Digital Spring Programme 2021: A representation of 3D collection storage facilities

This meeting is related to Digital cultural heritage and social change.
It aims to face a debate about how 3D collection storage facilities could re-define museum practices, promote better understanding for the general public and educate the future generations.
Dr Marzia Loddo is the leader of the project ‘DIPOT: Digital Depot’ within the Marie Sklodowska-Curie LEaDing Fellows Programme and the Delft University of Technology. The one-hour workshop, will present the project and the results achieved so far with students of design and architecture.
It will be held through online interactive collaboration platforms and in breakout rooms and it will actively involve participants in a debate on the use of digital storage for different objectives such as sustainability, education, research, conservation, navigation and presentation.

Speakers and moderators

Marzia Loddo (Delft University of Technology)
Nicole McNeilly (Europeana)
Ilaria Rosetti (Antwerp University)
Dr Bruno D’Andrade
Mahda Foroughi (Delft University of Technology)
Bruna Nunes
Emeline Lin (Delft University of Technology)

It is not necessarily required previous knowledge on the topic to be able to attend the workshop.

Link to the registration.
More information…

Open call for artists - deadline 1st July 2021

International Festival Of Art, Theatre And New Technologies “The Wonders Of Possible”

Between November and December 2021, Kyber Theatre organises in Cagliari (Italy) the 8th Edition of the International Theatre, Art and New Technologies Festival called “The Wonders of Possible” – Le Meraviglie Del Possibile, LMDP.

LMDP Festival is the first of this kind in the whole 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 organizer), addresses to Italian and International artists, also emerging companies and/or under 35 artists, an Open Call to submit their projects about “Interaction between arts and technology”.

Who can attend

The participation is open to:

Artists and Companies of every nationality
Also emerging companies and under 35 artists
to who works individually or in a group of maximum 3

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 1^st of JULY 2021.

The theme of LMDP Festival is the interrelation between theatre, arts and new technologies.

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).

Application materials must be sent by the 1^st of JULY 2021, to the mail: info@kyberteatro.it

The result is going to be notified only to selected projects by the Month of SEPTEMBER 2021.

Economic conditions:

The winners of the Open Call will have guaranteed the full coverage of the costs for mobility (travels to Cagliari, board and accommodation); coverage of agility costs and the “attendance fee” for the presentation of their performance for 2 evenings. If possible, we will cover also any material required for the presentation of the performance / show / installation (it will be subject to agreements with our technical director).

The winners, if interested, can present a technological artistic workshop with an entrance ticket for the audience.

Publication:

Applying for the call, the artists must provide a short biography and an abstract of the project and they 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.