Digital meets Culture

17-18 September, on-line Conference

Museums and Social Responsibility – Values revisited

NEMO and the German Museums Association, within the framework of Germany’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, are co-organising an online conference from 17-18 September 2020.

This conference is the first of three events organised by museum organisations located in the countries holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union and that will focus on different aspects of social responsibility.

It is titled “Museums and Social Responsibility – Values revisited” and it will focus on what social responsibility means for museums:
what can museums do?
what is still missing to make an impact on European society?

Museums address issues related to social cohesion, social inclusion and social diversity; the conference will focus particularly on community involvement and development to discuss what social responsibility means for museums and on the contribution that they can made.

The main topics: Community involvement, Education and culture, Employment creation and skills development, Technology development and access issues, Wealth and income creation issues, Social investment, Health Issues.
They will be debate through workshops, short lectures, panel discussions.

To participate in the conference, you must register

Further information:
Speakers
Registration
Main page

The selected stories

The European Heritage Days Stories

The European Heritage Days Call for European Heritage Days Stories is one of the key initiatives within the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH) 2018 and aims to identify the European Dimension of heritage sites and heritage work undertaken by the communities in Europe.

The Call was launched on February 2020 and it adress to communities that have past or existing “Stories” of European heritage and would like to share them. As a second phase, these stories could potentially develop into a speciﬁc project to further contribute to their communities.

This initiative pursues several objectives:

To encourage people to engage with Europe’s cultural heritage
To collect stories to have an insight into how communities understand the European dimension of local heritage.
To identify and promote communities involved with their heritage, in line with European values and with a long-term perspective of collaboration.
To reward communities and encourage them to develop their Stories further.
To motivate and encourage communities to participate in the European Heritage Days.

In the last few days the selected stories that have been nominated to receive a grant were published:
A Hidden Gem in Slovenia – Franja Partisan Hospital – Slovenia
The partisan hospital, built during the World War II in a remote gorge in the Cerkno region in western Slovenia, tells the story of courage, humanity and solidarity.

‘Little Portugal’ Street Party – A Celebration of Great Yarmouth Migrant History – UK
A story of regeneration in one of the most deprived areas of the UK, where the arrival and growth of Portuguese migrant workers, over the last 20 years, has produced the transformation of the historic ‘King Street’ area of Great Yarmouth in unique neighbourhood.

Heritage Carers – Portugal
CARERS’ stories collects the testimonies of the HERITAGE CARERS along the Route of the Romanesque, stories that will eventually be lost, stories of children, of their parents, of their parents’ parents, of their grandparents’ grandparents.

Commonlands: a history of community participation – Italy
A story of communities involving in the Cultural Community Mapping in Alpine Areas to co-design and manag cultural and touristic initiatives, enhancing local tangible and intangible heritage.

CVAR: A route to our shared cultural heritage – Cyprus
The story of the Centre of Visual Arts and Research in Nicosia, with the mission to make use of cultural heritage as a resource for promoting cross-cultural understanding, bringing communities together, discovering and embracing cultural diversity from the past to the present.

Grandma March Day – children creative workshops – North Macedonia
The “Grandma March Day” is the traditional manifestation created to support the successful multinational UNESCO application in order to celebrate the custom “Martinki” small amulet made of red and white woven thread.

RomArchive – The Digital Archive of the Roma – Germany
This archive collects objects and narrativesto show the richness of the arts and cultures of the Sinti and Roma and illustrates their contribution to European cultural history.

A tale of a river – Spain
Stories of life by the Asón river, the bonds between the elements of heritage left by the river, the personal stories and shared history

Home for Cooperation – an unsuspected space in-between, breathes hope – Cyprus
The story of how the conservation a building of shared cultural heritage can provide the ground on which communities can build on, learn, cooperate, imagine and create together new possibilities.

Drainspotting – A European Story, Made in Sheffield – UK
A story of how a city developed, how its citizens were protected from disease and how a hidden network of pipes, culverts and wires connects all of them.

One name, one life, one sign – Georgia
Georgia project is a public initiative aimed at preserving the memory of victims of political repression and state arbitrariness during the years of the Soviet regime in Georgia.

The 16th Athens Digital Arts Festival is co-financed by the Hellenic Republic and the European Union through the Regional Operational Programme of “Attica” in the framework of NSRF 2014-2020.

A virtual platform connects the world's leading galleries

Art Basel Viewing Rooms

Text by Caterina Sbrana.

The home page of Art Basel Viewing Rooms is beautiful. Every page of Art Basel is beautiful. It’s a continuous and amazing discovery. Art Basel was founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel and 50 years later stages the world’s premier art shows for modern and contemporary art.

The home page of Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms

The pandemic from Covid-2019 cancelled all events scheduled in Hong Kong, Basel, Miami Beach from March 2020 until next June 2021.

On March 12, 2020, it was announced to the press that the art fair scheduled to open on March 20 in Hong Kong was cancelled due to the severe outbreak and spread of the new coronavirus, but at the same time a new way of visiting the exhibition was announced: the opening of Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms.

The first online event, from March 20 to March 25, 2020 put together “235 leading galleries from 31 countries and territories”, especially Asian, and they presented over 2,000 premier artworks.

You need to register and create an account to visit Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms, but it is worth especially in this period when it is not easy to move freely. Never as now digital technology and the web help to promote culture and business.

Adeline Ooi, Director Asia, Art Basel said: ‘I am so pleased that we are able to provide our exhibitors with an alternative platform to show the wonderful work that they had been working so hard to bring to Hong Kong this spring. The work on display is stunning. While nothing can replace the experience of seeing art in person, we hope that this initiative can bring some support and visibility to all the galleries and their artists affected by the cancellation of our March show.’

Infographic for upcoming Online Viewing Rooms Event with basic information: title of the event, date, time and location

Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms is an opportunity for cultural growth, while for galleries to continue their business.

Global Director Art Basel, Marc Spiegler, confirms the importance of the online exhibition for leading galleries : ‘As the art market continues to evolve, Art Basel has continually investigated how new technologies can give us new opportunities to support our galleries. The Online Viewing Rooms will provide galleries with a further possibility for engaging with our global audiences, complementing the essential personal interactions that continue to underlie the art market.’

One of the sector of Art Basel concerns art galleries

From Art Basel home page you can browse through the different sectors and, selecting a particular leading gallery, you are transferred to its home page as you can see above, as an example. You can find galleries from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa that present the works of modern and contemporary artists displaying paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, film, video and digital artworks.

Adeline Ooi said ‘nothing can replace the experience of seeing art in person’, I agree and say that nothing can replace the experience of the trip, however the opportunity to visit art galleries located in different parts of the world and discover new artists, even if only in digital form, is an experience not to be missed.

You can join artists and gallery owners socializing in a virtual walkthrough of each gallery’s respective online booths. Just follow the events proposed by Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms.

www.artbasel.com/basel

www.artbasel.com/stories/online-viewing-rooms-announcement

opening 23rd July, online 24 July - 30 September 2020

Real-Time Constraints, an online exhibition at arebyte Gallery

arebyte Gallery are pleased to announce Real-Time Constraints, a group exhibition featuring works by artists working within the realms of artificial intelligence, algorithms, machine learning, big data, and interventions in web-based platforms. The exhibition brings forward the complexities of the present-tense in light of the emergence of such technologies through works which are generated using real-time information pulled from the internet, or other sources including news items, message exchanges, memes and image banks. The works look critically at the current state of automated and autonomic computing to provide alternative narratives to data-driven and algorithmic approaches, referencing fake-news, gender bias and surveillance.

Website: https://www.arebyte.com/real-time-constraints

Taking the form of a browser plug-in, the exhibition reveals itself as a series of pop-ups where the works are disseminated over the duration of a typical working day, interrupting the screen to provide a ‘stopping cue’ from relentless scrolling, email notifications and other computer-centered, interface-driven work. Real-Time Constraints presents itself as a benevolent invasion – the size, quantity, content and sound of the pop-ups have been decided upon by each artist to feed into the networked performance. The exhibition is experienced through a synchronised global approach where viewers encounter the same pop-ups at the same time no matter where they are, amplifying the exhibition’s disturbance of mundanity across every time zone.

Real-Time Constraints makes its primary argument through a reconfiguration of the usually annoying and uninvited browser pop-up, turning what is typically a tool of the system (and its owners) into a user-centric ‘stopping cue.’ Stopping cues were most prevalent in the 20th Century as a way to signal the end of something, the space in between one activity and the next. Stopping cues imposed a choice for the viewer: do you want to continue watching/reading/listening, or do you want to do something else? They also make available the mental space one needs to digest what they’ve just experienced, enabling useful processing of information, and thus, satisfaction through action.

The way we consume media today is such that there are no stopping cues, there is no design in place that allows us to question our behaviour; social media applications, news sites, streaming services, email and messaging services are a bottomless source of mindless scrolling. Real-Time Constraints invites critical reflection on the systems and processes we are embedded in all day long and allows viewers to take a break from the animated bombardment of working online, albeit unannounced, to be a welcome distraction.

Opening event

Thursday 23 July, 6.30pm – 8pm BST

Join via livestream to hear some of the artists talk through their work in the exhibition. More info and how to join soon…

Panel discussion
Machine learning as an artist tool: disruption and intervention for change in 2020
with Gretchen Andrew, Ben Grosser, Libby Heaney, Sofia Crespo, and Joel Simon + others. Moderated by Luba Elliott

Thursday 6 August, 7 – 8.30pm BST
Join some of the artists from the exhibition as they talk with Luba Elliott about bias in datasets, the origins of AI technologies, privacy and surveillance, and how we might bring about change in the AI industry.

The call is alive till the end of 2020!

Designing Participation for Cultural Heritage: the digital gallery is online on the REACH website!

The REACH project is pleased to announce the launch of the digital posters&videos gallery , joined by innovative and engaging contributions coming from resilient communities and the European Cultural Heritage network of social participation as a whole.

You can visit the gallery at the following links:

Digital Gallery – Poster Abstracts
Digital Gallery – Video Abstracts
Digital Gallery – Posters Mosaic

The contributions collected concern the following 5 topics:

Societal Cohesion – Minorities, Majorities, Groups: everyday lives, especially the excluded, marginalized, and right-wing minorities, the politics of nationalism and majorities
Societal Cohesion – legacies of imperialism/colonialism
Sustainability and Environmental/Ecological Responsibility: ‘cultural landscapes’ bringing together holistically natural and cultural heritage in the Anthropocene Age
Rapid Societal Change – Creativity, Authenticity, Audiences, Users and Emerging and Disruptive Technologies
Narratives, Place/place-making and Identity

You can still participate with a poster and/or a video on the themes of participation in cultural heritage and resilience!

Click here and #participateinculture !

In light of the interest received by the initiative the REACH Consortium have decided to keep the call open until the end of the year.

The 2020 edition, categories and winners

The Prix Ars Electronica

The Prix Ars Electronica, which has been happening every year since 1987, is considered to be one of the most prestigious media arts competition in the world.
The 2020 edition received proposals from 90 countries, for a total of 3,209 proposals in the 5 categories.

The 2020 categories and winners were:
Computer Animation: this category has been part of the Prix Ars Electronica since its origin but is in the last years that computer animation has improved both artistically and technically. In this category, artistic originality counts just as much as technical achievement. Miwa Matreyek (US) received the Golden Nica in this category for “Infinitely Yours”.
Digital Communities: it focuses on the projects and activities that aim to deliver social benefits, that defend and support democracy, human rights and freedom of expression, that foster an open and inclusive civil society, with innovative and artistic approach. With “Be Water by Hong Kongers”, an anonymous group has been awarded in the category.
Interactive Art +: it is dedicated to interactive works of high artistic quality, in all forms and formats, from installations to exhibitions. Innovation and uniqueness are additional key criteria, as are new experiments and broadened interpretations of interactive art. Lauren Lee McCarthy (US) winned with “SOMEONE”.
u19 – create your world: this category addresses to young people (kids and youngsters up to age 19) who imagine the future and want to shape tomorrow’s world. A total of 24 prizes were awarded – the Golden Nica went to Lisa Rass, Franziska Gallé, Jona Lingitz and Anna Fachbach from the HTBLVA-Graz Ortweinschule with “Samen”.
Visionary Pioneers of Media Art: designed to honor people whose creativity and artistic experimentation have contributed to the achievement of important and innovative achievements. The winner in this category was VALIE EXPORT.

In addition to the coveted Golden Nica statuette, the winners were awarded prize money ranging up to € 10,000 per category and an opportunity to showcase their talents at the famed Ars Electronica Festival in Linz that will be held in September 2020.

Many innovations have characterized this edition: for the first time the international jury met in a purely virtual setting; for the first time a Golden Nica was awarded to an anonymous citizens’ movement for its innovative and creative digital action, and for the first time all other Golden Nicas, without exception, went to women.

Further information about the winners here.

2 July 2020, 14.00-15.00 CET

The ICCROM webinar “Heritage and Sustainability in Post COVID-19 World – Building Back Better”

The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) had organized a very interesting webinar, on Thursday 2nd July, in which the sector of cultural Heritage was called to reflect on the actions to be taken to strengthen the role of heritage in sustainable development, in line with the United Nations agenda for 2030.

The sector had to reflect on its experience, reconsider its position and take concrete measures that promote social, environmental and economic sustainability in order to be able to ‘build back better’. Particular considerations was about museums and their collections.

Prominent speakers attended the event:

Viviane Gosselin, PhD, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of Vancouver, Canada. Member of the Advisory Group for the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice.
Sophia Labadi, PhD, Professor of Heritage, University of Kent, UK.
Abubakar Sule Sani, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Department of Archaeology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria.
Errol Van De Werdt, drs/MA, Director, TextielMuseum, Tilburg – The Netherlands.
José Luiz Pedersoli Jr., ICCROM

Further information and the webinar here.

Video Conference 20 July 2020

REACH Project presented at EVA 2020 Florence

EVA (Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts) is a series of annual meetings started as small workshop in 1991 and become in few years a well defined conference.
The key aim of this event was to provide a Forum for the user, supplier and scientific research communities to meet and exchange experiences, ideas and plans in the wide area of Culture & Technology.
Main topics of discussion:
– European Commission Projects and Plans regarding Culture Heritage
– Cybersecurity
– Culture and e-government
– Activities and Programmes for e-learning
– Fashion
– Cultural Tourism & Travel Applications
– Impact of Culture in the Smart City
– Art and a Medicine
– Climate Change
– New Technologies for Environment Protection
– Green Economy
– Circular Economy
– Social Humanity
– Actions for Disabled People
Special attention was paid to the emerge of innovation perspectives for new job and, on this regards, a dedicated brain-storm session was reserved to face the connection between research – innovation – development – new enterprise – new job that concluded the first part of the conference.
The event was organized in five sessions:
1) Strategic Issues
2) New Science and Culture Developments & Applications
3) New Technical Developments & Applications
4) Cultural Activities – Real and Virtual Galleries and Related Initiatives
5) Access to the Culture Information
The REACH project was presented in the framework of the last session to the International EVA Network with the possibility to foster future dialogues and engagement.
Because of the Covid-19 restrictions, presentations were held on line.