Reuniting with our cultural heritage.

Project

269204

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS : concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

Reuniting with our cultural heritage.

Full concept/idea title

Description

What If we could experience our cultural assets in a different way? A more interactive, immersive, radiant way? We aim to make this happen by recreating the historical artworks with a multidisciplinary team. It will have 3 phases: Artworks will be chosen from museums and libraries with the public vote in phase 1. Then, new artworks will be recreated using light in phase 2 and new artworks will be projected at public spaces in phase 3. Thus, we will create a new bond with our cultural heritage.

Where is your concept/idea being developed or intended to be implemented in the EU?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

Towns that we are living in were homes to many other people before our time. There were painters, authors, composers and many other artists who created their artworks while living in the same places as us. Sometimes our towns were backgrounds of art pieces, sometimes they were a character in a story. All this history created a cultural heritage that should be preserved, protected, and shared so it can live on. Museums and libraries are wonderful places, and they do a great job of preserving and protecting. But how about sharing? What if we help everyone to interact with historical artworks in a way that is new and exciting? We propose to choose historical art pieces, like paintings or sculptures from museums or books from libraries, and reinterpret them with a multidisciplinary team of students, academics, art historians, designers, artists, architects or anyone who wants to join in. This team will come together and communicate via a digital network. The reinterpretation will then proceed to become an artwork on its own as a light installation. These reinterpreted artworks will have no boundaries or limitations as they will be set in public spaces for everyone's gaze. Years ago public spaces were the places for people to meet up and interact with each other. They were the heart of the city. As time passed, this habit slowly faded out of our lives. However, when Covid-19 hit we realized how important it is to have open air spaces to spend our time in. Our project aims bring town squares their old glory back by turning them into places where people can come together and enjoy a cultural activity. By using the latest technology, we plan to create ways of personal interaction with the artwork such as an online vote for which artwork to choose next. This would also provoke curiosity in people to learn more and lead them to museums and libraries, helping these places become more popular.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of sustainability and how these would be met

This project has two ways of looking at sustainability: First, we want to consider the sustainability of the whole system for the environment and climate, using light as a medium of storytelling. Recreating selected historical artworks or stories using light, and projecting them on facades of the buildings in town squares can be a sustainable way of reinterpreting these artworks and opening them up to public access. LED technology is improving every day to make lighting products more energy-efficient, and there is also the possibility of using natural resources as power sources. Installations can be prepared with solar panels, so solar-powered energy may contribute to the creation of these artworks. There are also different sustainable options to generate electricity like renewable hydrogen generators which can be used for large-scale projections. Light-art pieces require only lighting fixtures and a blank canvas, which in this case is a town square. Thus, these works would be very easy to transform from one place to another and would produce almost zero waste in the end. This aligns with the general aim of reducing carbon footprints to save the climate. Secondly, we will be sustaining a cultural habit of spending time in a public space, while engaging in a cultural activity. This cultural activity is about our cultural heritage, so we would help to sustain the cultural background of the town by making it accessible to the whole public. Our cultural heritage is too precious to lose while adapting to new developments in our world. Helping it become a part of people's everyday lives and making it easier to pass down to younger generations to sustain it is a very valuable goal we would like to achieve.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met

This project will be centered around a visual outcome so aesthetics and visual quality of experience are very important to the idea. The light art installations or projections exhibiting in town squares will add layers of visual elements to their surroundings such as colors, shapes, patterns, and so on. All these need to be in harmony with the public space that is being used as the canvas/ project site. We would like these light art pieces to be dynamic and interactive. So people could go home with long-lasting memories of the story that was told via a dynamic, and dramatic experience. This unusual way of experiencing the public spaces will change the perception of them in the public's mind as well. They will become more vibrant places and gain a whole another personality during night time. Since the reinterpreted works will also become contemporary art pieces on their own, this project will contribute to the art scene in town or city. It will create recognition and enhance accessibility to the scene. In the end, these newly created contemporary light art pieces will be an addition to the town's visual identity. Reviving the town squares is one of the main goals in this project, and reviving them as the focal points of the town is a great contribution to this goal. Historical town squares were planned to visually impress and exhilarate people with statues, cathedrals, town halls, etc. back in the days. We no longer find town squares as exciting because of all the other landmarks around town. However, if the town squares become a part of these art installations, they can regain their old visual glory.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion and how these would be been met

Reinterpreting cultural heritage will cause inclusiveness for them in society, daily life. Projecting light artworks at town squares enables a few aspects for inclusivity. Town squares were spaces for accounting, declaring and sharing ideas. In this project, using town squares has an aim that brings back previous features to societies in daily life. Town squares will have an impact on awareness of cultural heritage and carrying them into all segments of societies. Using town squares will also provide accessibility for people. In this way, anyone can experience these artworks with visualization. It will be receiving society's opinions for the election of the topics of artworks. That ensures participation and communication interactively by either creating artworks or projecting the process with the digital infrastructure to be created. People coming together from different disciplines during the production process will enable different perspectives to come together and create a versatile work. These multidisciplinary associations during the production process also will provide inclusivity in addition to the participation of people.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept/ idea

Our concept has innovative character with different aspects. Technological lighting techniques will be used in the reinterpretation-production process. So that way, the light art works will be more permeable, accessible and inclusive for people instead of conventional projecting techniques. The other innovation is about functionality for museums and libraries. Generally, museums and libraries are the places for the preservation and exhibition of cultural heritage. They preserve our tangible cultural values. The term of preservation " has another meaning instead of conservation. Making living these cultural values in our societies is also another way to protect them. So we will establish an unit in museums and libraries for creating art works. This ensures having productivity function in addition to preserving and archiving. If we look at the final products, we can see the transformation from more massive and tangible assets to intangible and visual assets which is another innovation for art works. The last innovation for this project is about clean energy sources. Using hydropower that is renewable and low-carbon green hydrogen is another innovation for the project. This developing energy is clean electricity source for net-zero future and emits any fine particles. Using this type of energy when creating art works will also provide raising awareness of the energy transition.

Please detail the plans you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea, with a particular attention to the initiatives to be taken before May 2022

Our project has three main parts. First of all, we will establish a multidisciplinary team in museums and libraries like conservation unit in museums or libraries. This team will coorporate with different departments like animation, interactive designs, graphic design, art history, architecture at universities or academies. Then, this team will create new light art works based on cultural heritage in museums and libraries. In this process, people can have preferences for choosing topics of art works via digital platform network. In this way, societies can include and contribute to the production process. In addition to that, there will be coorporation with local authorities, municipalities in terms of introducing art works and providing for financial support. In the third part, art works will be projecting at town squares.

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Rising Stars Awards more than once in the same category.