Monthly Archives: October 2014
Regular meeting of leaders of Desk Creative Europe
The meeting of the representatives of Desk Creative Europe of all the countries participating in the program was held in Brussels from 20. to 22. October 2014. In addition to the representatives of the European Union countries, the meeting was attended by representatives of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, which have recently signed the agreement on participation in the program, as well as Georgia, the state that has yet to sign a contract of participation.
The meeting was organized to discuss the mutual strategy of action of Desks, reassess previous practices and the possibilities of development of new opportunities, but it was concerned about the relevant topics in the field of cultural policy and artistic production: the mobility of artists, audience development, creative industries and entrepreneurship in culture, advocacy and promotion of mutual European values.
In addition to having discussion on the priorities of the Creative Europe program, the meeting attendants touched other EU programs (COSME, Horizon), the subprogram Media with a particular focus on video games, competition procedures and the most common errors in applications of the organizations that are the applicants for financial assistance programs . There were also significant discussions about the development opportunities of projects related to cultural heritage, as well as the visibility of the supported projects. It was concluded that raising the public visibility of projects is of outstanding importance, and that, among other things, can be achieved by developing innovative approaches to audience.
Institute for Balkan studies: CO:OP
Given project unites the strength of 17 cultural heritage preserving institutions and universities from 12 European countries. Reinforcing the linking of said institutions with their immediate communities and thereby effect a firm sense of cultural, historic awareness not only on a national but even more on a transnational, Europe-wide level, fortifies this project’s striving. The majority of the consortium can already look back at long-lasting, well-established partnerships and co-operations within the community of ICARUS (International Centre for Archival Research; http://icar-us.eu) and the ENArC Project (European Network on Archival Cooperation; http://enarc.icar-us.eu; project duration 2010–2015). This circumstance proves to be the ideal structural prerequisite to successfully and sustainably implement this project’s goals.
Though cultural institutions archive and safe-guard common European historical roots and their unfolding historic narrative, these institutions only peripherally reach the populace, i.e. exactly those people and communities that are the integral creators of historic chronologies and therefore should be encouraged and enabled to explore their history. Activities which invite communities to get involved in creatively exploring and effecting their history are the encouraging catalysts to opening archival material up to the public. Essential motivator for this project is therefore the bridging of archival institutions with their communities, i.e. converge the public with professionals and harvest each other’s educational potential to the fullest, create transnational awareness and kinship – in short: fuse the history originators with the history preserving institutions.
The close cooperation between archival institutions and universities will furthermore result in educational activities addressing users and future generations of professionals, i.e. the professionalization of players through close interaction. The active fostering of this sense of teamwork will release the full potential of creating European cultural and historic awareness and thus pointedly co-shape the future of our European culture in a team effort.
Historical sources are not only invaluable for historiography; they have also been instrumental for the construction of collective cultural memories and subsequently of national identities all over Europe. This project aims at establishing a sustainable and permanent, institutionalized network which unites the capacities of an audience and institutions. By encouraging active involvement in and awareness of our shared history, undeniably marginalized historic content and witnesses can be brought into light, i.e. private collections, and feed into the public perception of their historiography. Furthermore, the connection between archival institutions and the populace through means of creative media will enable innovative and inspiring approaches towards archival material and open up new perspectives on our history and our future.
Partners
Hessian State Archives, Marburg (lead partner)
International Centre for Archival Research, Vienna
National Archives of Hungary, Budapest
Budapest City Archives
National Archives of the Czech Republic, Prague
Croatian State Archives, Zagreb
Swedish National Archives, Stockholm
Finnish National Archives, Helsinki
National Archives of Estonia, Tallinn
General Directorate of Bavarian State Archives, Munich
Archive of the Diocese of St. Pölten
Ecclesiastical Historical Archives of Biscay, Bilbao
Complutense University of Madrid
University Federico II of Naples
University of Graz
University of Cologne
Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade
Faculty of Management and Kulturanova: ViSeT project
Virtual Sets: Creating and promoting virtual sets for the performing arts
The general objective of the ViSet project is to promote the use of advanced digital technologies in various art forms and various cultural circumstances, to demonstrate the many social, economic, commercial and cultural advantages of these technologies for the arts. We will do so by promoting the use of virtual stage sets, including the use of interactive technologies, Virtual and Augmented Reality and remote-controlled applications, in performing arts. We will do so by creating a network of cultural operators capable of using new technologies for the performing arts (“providers”) linked in an online community with interested stakeholders such as festival organisers and theatres (“users”).
Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina: Performing the museum
Performing the museum is built on the initial resources of the institutions collaborating on the project and based on different practices, some set on tradition and the already established working methods and others seeking a different methodology, resulting in experimental practices.
The museums participating on the project aim at re-evaluating and rethinking their resources: archives, collections, and working methods, in order to develop their potentials by creating knowledge and connecting to various types of audiences. The traditional roles of the contemporary museum are changing. Its most important activities are no longer merely storage, studying, and exhibiting of artworks, but also an active involvement with the museum’s audience. For this reason, the project will develop combination of exhibitions and educational programmes based on the participatory approach, intended for both the audience and the staff. Creation of knowledge, based on the non-hegemonic, emancipatory principle is one of the strategic orientations of all the participating museums.
The participating museums connected through the project represent different histories as well as different contemporary realities. Three of the museums share a part of their political history, but on very different localities. Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (MSU) was founded in 1954. During the 1960’s and the 1970’s, it was considered one of the most progressive institution in this part of Europe, and the birthplace of the European and international neo-avantgarde movement New Tendencies. Today its exciting 60-year long history can be read through the permanent collection displayed in the new building.Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts is a regional museum of modern and contemporary art based in the northern part of Slovenia, with a strong tradition in organizing international exhibitions of engaged art in the 1960’s and 1970’s, which today establishes its identity through a critical assessment of past practices within the present situation. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Novi Sad was founded in 1966. Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina in Novi Sad carries out various activities in different areas of contemporary art and is starting to take the role of a regional leader in this field, with an important place in current developments and movements in contemporary art in the region, as well as in international art cooperation and exchange. Fundació Antoni Tàpies was created in 1984 by artist Antoni Tàpies to promote the study and knowledge of modern and contemporary art. The Fundació takes a pluralist, interdisciplinary approach and aims at setting up cooperative ventures with experts from various fields of learning in order to contribute to a better understanding of the contemporary art and culture.
What is common to all the partners is a rich past documented in artistic archives and museum archives, as well as their methodology and the initiative to rethink these resources in order to discover new approaches and working methods.
Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (project leader)
Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Novi Sad
Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts, Slovenj Gradec
Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona
