Empowering Heritage Communities: INCULTUM Project at the RE-CULTURAL HERITAGE Meeting

In Thessaloniki, Greece, the Transnational Project Meeting titled “RE-CULTURAL HERITAGE: Reviving of Cultural Heritage: Social and Economic Empowerment of Rural Areas” held on March 11-12, 2024.

Kamila Borseková (Matej Bel University) delivered presentation on “Empowering Heritage Communities: Participatory and Digital Approach to Mining Treasures of Central Slovakia“, and highlighted the innovative strategies employed by the INCULTUM project to engage local communities in the preservation and valorization of their cultural heritage. Through a participatory methodology, the INCULTUM pilot action on Mining treasures of Central Slovakia aims to breathe new life into the unique mining heritage of Central Slovakia.

The discussion that followed this presentation was rich and engaging, with RE-CULTURAL project partners from Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Austria sharing insights and experiences from their respective contexts. This exchange underscored the universal challenges and opportunities in cultural heritage preservation and the potential of collaborative approaches to address them.

The meeting in Thessaloniki was not just a platform for sharing the achievements of individual projects but also a fertile ground for exploring synergies between the INCULTUM and RE-CULTURAL Heritage projects. Both initiatives share a common goal of enhancing the social and economic empowerment of rural areas through the revival of cultural heritage. By fostering dialogue and collaboration, the event contributed significantly to the dissemination of the INCULTUM project’s results among relevant stakeholders and the broader community interested in cultural heritage preservation.

The Transnational Project Meeting in Thessaloniki was a testament to the power of collaboration and shared vision in the realm of cultural heritage preservation. Kamila Borseková’s presentation on the INCULTUM project and its efforts in Central Slovakia served as a beacon of inspiration, demonstrating the transformative potential of participatory and digital approaches in reviving cultural heritage.

 


The INCULTUM project is on CORDIS

CORDIS is the service of the European Commission to discover the results of the research and innovation initiatives in Europe. It provides information on projects, topics, and publications funded by the EU’s research programs, in multiple languages.

A new ‘Results Pack’ has been published online by CORDIS about the results of the projects funded in Horizon 2020 on the theme of cultural tourism. The title of new publication is “Conserving culture and cultural heritage through inclusive and sustainable development”.

The publication states that “Sustainable cultural tourism puts cultural heritage and local communities at the centre of the decision-making process. This will drive good conservation practices and provide an authentic experience for visitors while supporting the local economy.

In the frame of the Results Pack, together with its sister projects, INCULTUM is presented with a dedicated article titled “Local communities and stakeholders give cultural tourism a boost in Europe’s periphery”. Here you can read about the results of INCULTUM with regard to: Participatory models and collaborative practices for cultural tourism, Exploiting heritage resources as a common good, Capacity building and knowledge transfer for sustainable tourism.

 

 


Call for book chapters – Endangered Heritage Sites: from eidotypes to enriched representations and design solutions

“Endangered Heritage Sites: From eidotypes to enriched representations and design solutions” call for book chapters

 

A new and promising editorial project titled “Endangered Heritage Sites: From eidotypes to enriched representations and design solutions” is launched and the call for book chapters is now open.

The book delves into the potential of digital surveying methodologies to decode and analyse cultural heritage data. Semantic segmentation, deep learning, heritage building information modelling (HBIM), and 3D point clouds enable the exploration of the intricate layers that constitute endangered heritage sites.

By critically examining these methodologies, the book includes real-world case studies that shed light on heritage sites facing threats from anthropogenic disasters and natural hazards.

These contributions aim to unveil hidden narratives, safeguard collective values and reshape perspectives on cultural heritage in the digital era.

Editors: Stefania Stellacci, Serdar Aydin

Keywords: Text mining; Semantic data source; Cultural Heritage; Heritage Building Information Modelling; Digital age; Heritage at risk.

The abstract should be submitted no later than April 10, 2024.

The abstract length should be approximately 200 words, explaining the research approach, the main topic(s), and how it fits into the general theme of the book. Chapter proposal should include title, lead author, and 5 keywords.

All submitted abstracts and full-text papers will be reviewed by the editors and a panel comprising three renowned scholars in the discipline of Cultural Heritage and Digital Humanities. The status of the chapter proposal will be communicated to the authors by April 20, 2024.

After the acceptance of the abstract, the text-full chapter should be submitted no later than June 10, 2024. The length of the final chapters is around 8,000 words. Detailed guidelines will follow in due time.

The full chapter will be reviewed by three peers by September 10, 2024.

The revised versions of the chapter should be sent no later than October 10, 2024.

Submit your abstract and find further information about the project, including periodic updates, here


Survey on 3D Repositories for Cultural Heritage

The Time Machine Organisation in collaboration with the Europeana Initiative have developed a survey seeking to better understand the existing landscape of digital European data infrastructures facilitating the storage of 3D cultural heritage datasets/digital objects. The questions address various topics covering metadata standards, the quality of 3D data, licensing for 3D data, and how the data can be accessed or shared and by whom. By answering these questions you will help us to better understand how 3D data is being managed, which will help us in shaping the future of the common European data space for cultural heritage.

We invite operators of data repositories (= infrastructures to store and manage digital files and their corresponding metadata such as digital archives, data collections, virtual research infrastructures, etc.) holding 3D data to participate in this survey.

Link to the survey on 3D data repositories

The survey is open until 8th April 2024.

Your insights will contribute to shaping the future of digital cultural heritage preservation, accessibility and reuse in Europe.

More information on Europeana Pro.

 


SONICA festival 2024 “Glocalisation”: discover the lineup

SONICA 2024: “Glocalisation”

 

The festival of contemporary electronic music and transitory art SONICA, which will take place in Ljubljana between 18 and 20 April, has finalised its 2024 lineup.

SONICA is a Ljubljana-based festival that champions diverse niche trajectories in contemporary music — experimental, electronic, modern classical, avantgarde and transgenre — and sound art. The festival consists of concerts, club nights, production and research residencies, exhibitions, public interventions, presentations and talks.

This year, SONICA returns with an electrifying program. With the theme of “Glocalisation”, the festival sheds light on the tensions between the unrelenting, merciless forces of globalisation and local identities, beliefs, and traditions.

 

“In order to escape the flattening and standardisation of electronic, and experimental music expressions, it is essential that we maintain vital cultural hubs throughout the world. It is therefore urgent to look for new models that seek to empower local creative hubs and communities. We must dare to imagine more independent and self-sustaining modes of production that transcend established local, European, and international concepts of networking, collaboration, exchange, funding, cultural policies, trends, and the demands of the music market and scene(s). How can we transform these, making them more accessible and inclusive. Can the festival as a specific form become such a space?” – SONICA 2024: Glocalisation

 

Lineup

JAAR (CL) / Deena Abdelwahed ‘Jbal Rrsas’ AV Live (TN) / KMRU (KY)
re:ni b2b Laksa (UK) / Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective (VN) / NZE NZE (FR)
Martyna Basta (PL) / Nicola Ratti (IT) / SAUD (RS) / Iztok Koren (SI)
Bridget Ferrill, rouge-ah & Pixel Bambi: SONICA Residency Premiere (US, SI)
Fujita Pinnacle (SI) / Marc Vilanova (CT, ES)

 

Discover the program

Buy your ticket here

 

Sound Workshop with Nicolás Jaar

April 15 – 18, 2024, at Komuna (Kino Šiška), Ljubljana, Slovenia

You can still apply for the sound workshop with Nicolás Jaar at SONICA 2024!

Jaar is finally coming to Slovenia, not only as a performer, but also to share his vast knowledge and expertise on sound production and editing with aspiring producers and artists from the CEE, Eastern European and Balkan region.

The sound workshop is for participants who already have prior knowledge of sound editing tools. The software used will be Ableton Live and the classes will be molded to the students’ interests. Apply if you want to learn more about sound and expand your knowledge of music production with one of the most renowed producers of the last 15 years.

Learn more here.


NG200, the festival of art and creativity celebrating the National Gallery’s Bicentenary

NG200 Summer on the Square, designed to unlock the nation’s creativity and bring the collection to the streets of Westminster

 

On May 10, 2024, the National Gallery will start its celebration of the Bicentenary – marking 200 years of bringing people and paintings together.

Throughout the entire year, it will celebrate its past and look forward to its future with NG200, a year-long festival of art, creativity and imagination that sets the stage for its third century.

Everyone is invited to join its celebration as part of an ambitious programme of events and exhibitions that extends from the Gallery into Trafalgar Square, across the nation, and to the globe through a series of online and virtual experiences.

Find out more about the programme below.

 

National Treasures
Opening May 10, 2024

As part of the Bicentenary celebrations programme, twelve of the nation’s most iconic and well-loved paintings from the collection are being lent to twelve venues across the UK. Paintings including Constable’s The Hay Wain, Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire and Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond will each travel to a regional centre such as Bristol, Newcastle and York. For some of the works, not least the The Wilton Diptych and Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, it will be the first time that they will have left the Gallery since they were acquired. Each of the partner venues is set to mark the national treasure’s stay by organising events, exhibitions and digital interventions to showcase their works.

Discover the 12 paintings and their displays

Art Road Trip
May 2024 – May 2025

From this May to May 2025, the National Gallery’s travelling art studio programme, Art Road Trip, is visiting eighteen places across the UK, taking art and creativity on the road. It will work with 24 local arts organisations to create community-led arts projects. In each location, events will be designed for people with the least access to creative opportunities and the arts.

Find out more about the organisations involved

Summer on the Square

A festival is set to take place in Trafalgar Square, designed specifically for children, young people, and their families, aiming to engage new and diverse audiences. It is designed to unlock the nation’s creativity and bring the collection to the streets of Westminster.

Stay updated on the NG200 site to discover the dates and programme for Summer on the Square

Online and virtual experiences

NG200: Behind the Scenes

A new online film series that takes viewers behind the scenes of the National Gallery creating a continuous micro documentary that engages people with key aspects of the NG200 programme.

200 Paintings for 200 Years​

The National Gallery will open the door to the entire history of a painting, in one place, sharing the wealth of its research, digitally available for everyone, everywhere, anytime.

The Virtual Gallery​

A new, large-scale digital Gallery experience will be created for the Bicentenary, available via National Gallery’s website.

National Gallery Stories

The story of the National Gallery and the people who have played a part in its 200-year history, delivered through a series of digital experiences that will create new personal connections with the collection.

 

Stay tuned for the online and virtual experiences release

 


Village in Cyprus goes digital to promote its cultural heritage

The UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage at Cyprus University of Technology, one of the key partners the EUreka3D project, has officially handed over an online platform dedicated to the holistic digitisation of Fikardou village to its community. A post about this initiative recently appeared on CORDIS, the European Commission’s website dedicated to showcase the most important research results of EU funded projects.

The platform will be used to record the community’s memory and tangible heritage so as to enhance tourists and researchers’ understanding and appreciation of the importance of this village. Located on the south-eastern slopes of Cyprus’ Troodos Mountains, about 40 km south-west of Nicosia, Fikardou is a village that has preserved its traditional mediaeval characteristics. The village is on the Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and has been declared an ancient monument by Cyprus’ Department of Antiquities.

The platform’s development was also made possible through the contribution of the EUreka3D project funded under the EU’s Digital Europe Programme, and with knowledge gained from the EU’s VIGIE 2020/654 ‘Study on quality in 3D digitisation of tangible cultural heritage’.

Read thefull post on CORDIS website

 


Istanbul Digital Art Festival ’24 edition and Open Call

Nohlab at IDAF 2022 with the audiovisual journey “Prima Materia”

 

This year, the Istanbul Digital Art Festival will hold its fourth edition at AKM from 2 to 5 May 2024.  It will gather artists and digital artworks from around the world to celebrate the transformation of art.

Since its inception in 2021, the festival has been the first ongoing event in Turkey and Istanbul exclusively featuring digital artworks. It aims to provide space for artworks created with technology, increase their visibility, and organize exhibitions that meet the requirements of the transformation of art. IDAF aims to explore how digital art and virtual worlds interact with the concept of reality and how this interaction transforms the human experience. It invites participants to think, question, and delve into the depths of virtual worlds as a platform of art, music, and games.

The festival encourages thought about the complex interaction between our real and digitally constructed identities and directs us to understand how art shapes identities in different realities. This year, the festival will be a platform that invites contemplation on how identities constructed in the virtual world reflect and influence our real-world identities, delves deeply into the relationship between humans and technology, and shows audiences the doors to different worlds.

Artists use digital tools to interpret reality from unique angles, offer alternative perspectives, and question established norms. They create original compositions that transcend traditional genres, providing a music experience in another reality. They shed light on the interaction between reality and the digital world with games that allow participants to build their digital identities and provide a unique sense of reality. From textile art to wearable technology, digital music and games, they express emotions, experiences, and concepts in innovative ways through digital works.

Open Call

The festival’s conceptual framework and artists are determined each year by a different curatorial team.

Applications must be completed by 15 April 2024

  • Who can apply? Artists working in areas such as performance, data visualization, kinetic arts, bio-art, artificial intelligence, robotics, mechatronics, and those with projects within the context of technology, art, and science, producing works under different subheadings of digital arts, can apply to the festival. Applications are open to all departments and faculties, primarily including fine arts, architecture, design, engineering, natural and physical sciences, and communication faculties of universities.
  • Can I apply with my collective? Yes, groups or collectives with a project can participate.
  • Can I apply with more than one project? Project owners can apply with more than one project.
  • What is the application age limit? The application age limit is 30 years old.
  • Do I have to pay to apply? No, applications are free of charge.

 

Send you submission here


Investigating the innovation potential of CCIs in non-urban areas

The IN SITU project that participates in the INCULTUM network of common interest launched a survey investigating the innovation potential of cultural and creative industries (CCI) in non-urban areas.

Focusing on IN SITU’s six Lab regions, the survey aims to discover CCI sub-sectors with high innovation potential, capable of acting as catalysts for economic development and significantly contributing to socioeconomic growth and sustainability in the EU.

Who should participate? The survey is seeking insights from organisations, enterprises and individual professionals who are legally registered in one of the IN SITU Lab locations (Azores, Portugal; Western coastal region, Ireland; Western region, Iceland; Rauma and Eurajoki municipalities, Finland; Valmiera County, Latvia; Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia) and are active in cultural or creative fields.

Deadline for responses: Friday, March 15, 2024. 23h59 CET

For more information about this survey, contact: in-situ@ces.uc.pt


arebyte’s new exhibition “Homage To Quan Âm” by Maria Than

Winner of the 23/24 hotel generation development programme, Maria Than soon will open her exhibition at arebyte, Homage To Quan Âm.

Step into the immersive world of Homage To Quan Âm, an exhibition that delves deep into the intricate layers of personal identity, cultural assimilation, and the evolution of self-discovery.

img. courtesy: arebyte Gallery

Drawing inspiration from Maria’s own experiences as Viet-British-French, this exhibition serves as a visual and emotional exploration of the complex journey towards acceptance and understanding.

Book your free ticket for the opening party on 28 March here
Book your free ticket for the curated tour on 30 March here