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Culture for the elderly – Beyond Crossword Puzzles Vitamines voor de geest (Eindhoven, the Netherlands)
To help fight loneliness and negative consequences on mental health, Van Abbemuseum worked together with Vitalis (an organisation that provides housing and care for elderly people) and De Nieuwe Oost – Wintertuin (a literary production agency) to create a cultural ‘To Do-Book’. Van Abbemuseum provided images of artworks and corresponding assignments, as well as the opportunity to connect with staff and volunteers from the museum to talk about art via phone and/or letters. Even though the successes of these contributions varied widely, the museum looks back at the project fondly. Background The Van Abbemuseum is a municipal art museum based on the collection of the successful cigar manufacturer Henri van…
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Unlock(down) the Advent Calendar (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
The Kleine Komedie created the Adventskalender, every day in December, people could open up an advent ‘window’ at the theatre’s website and could watch regular artists of the theater perform online acts. These varied from cabaret, singing, cooking and storytelling. All artists decided to participate, many cabaret artist in the Netherlands were not eligible for the government support packages and thus were drastically impacted. Therefore the most important impact was economic as it provided the in-house artists with an income as every performance was paid for. And, with 1.7 million views worldwide, it also showed that there was a very enthusiastic audience. Background De Kleine Komedie was built in 1786…
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Creating art at home (Leiden, the Netherlands)
Museum De Lakenhal’s developed assignments to develop your creativity in your own environment in its “thuisatelier’. This allowed the museum to continue to inspire visitors and contribute to its goal of personal development online. This case is appealing because of its involvement of real artists who think out the assignments, its attractive design, and its real fun, and easy to carry out creative assignments. It was mainly very attractive for parents with no special artistic material at their disposal during the lock-down. It could be learned that one does not always need expensive artistic material to get creative, making the threshold for starting on a creative project at home much…
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Fasten your seatbelts, next stop: Boijmans Ahoy drive-thru (Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
Museum Boijmans organized a drive-thru exhibition during the Covid-19 pandemic. A very spontaneous idea with a very short preparation time. Nevertheless, it became a success and was completely sold out. The museum took a big risk to start this project without any fundings or partnerships, everything worked out and the drive-thru received great publicity from all over the world. In the end the museum reached a new audience, strengthened their partnerships and found a way of making their collection visible during the lockdown. Background Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is one of the oldest art museums of The Netherlands. The museum offers a broad variety of artworks from medieval paintings to…
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Singer TV: Art and the museum, up close and personal (Laren, the Netherlands)
In reaction to the lockdown, museum and theatre Singer Laren started to produce their own videos on pieces from their museum collection, giving in depth information on the history and composition of the piece and linking it to contemporary circumstances. With this initiative, the museum has been able to remain in contact with their audience and possibly reaching a new one. This not only impacted the public, but also the staff members and volunteers by offering messages of support and keeping everyone in the loop. Background Singer Laren is a museum and a theatre in one. It grew from the initiative of an American couple, Anna and William Singer, who…
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MUŻA: Masterpieces in Virtual Reality (Valletta, Malta)
An exhibition of 13 works from the late 15th to the mid-18th centuries was held both at the premises of the MUŻA, the Maltese National Museum of Fine Arts, and on their website through a Virtual Reality tour free of charge. The Digitisation Unit of Heritage Malta realised this production completely in-house in order to enhance accessibility to the exhibition during Covid times and in the effort to make baroque art meet the interest of the younger generations. Background MUŻA is the Maltese National-Community Art Museum, previously known as National Museum of Fine Arts (Mużew Nazzjonali tal-Arti, in Maltese), before changing its premises from Admiralty House to the Auberge d’Italie…
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No. 49 – Fit for a Queen (Pietà, Malta)
Heritage Malta, in cooperation with and sponsored by a real estate agency, launched a virtual 3d tour of the Villa Guardamangia, which was the Summer residence of Queen Elizabeth II from 1949 to 1951. The virtual experience doesn’t reproduce the museum experience, but gives access to a recent acquisition from the agency and acts as a blueprint of the current degraded state of the property, as it enters a long project of restoration. Exclusives tours have been organised for members of the organization (subscribers), hence this virtual tour also offered a marketing leverage to get more people to subscribe, showing that exclusive perks, such as this, can be offered. Background…
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From TV Show to Contemporary Art Gallery: Through the People’s Lens (Valletta, Malta)
Fondazzjoni Kreattività is an institution born with the task of managing the premises of the St James Cavalier fort, in Valletta (Malta), after this was allocated as a space for the Malta’s National Centre for Creativity. Therefore, the link between the activities carried out from the organisation and its own premises is really strong. When the global pandemic hit, these boundaries had to be broken and overcome, due to the forced closure. The exhibition Through the People’s Lens: A Quarantine Diary is an example of how Spazju Kreattiv (the name of the programme managed and curated by Fondazzjoni Kreattività) reacted to this new reality and how the institution reacted to…
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Quarantined Italians singing from their balconies (Nationwide, Italy)
Millions of people around Italy have been singing from their balconies at 18.00 in an effort to keep up morale during the lockdown in March 2020. Background This flashmob was organised spontaneously by people around Italy and was promoted quickly via social media. Gathered under the hashtag #unitimalontani (united but distanced), the call launched through social media, invited people around Italy to open their windows, go out in the garden or on the balcony, and sing together. The appointments were fixed for 18.00. The initiative became viral and was supported by millions of people around Italy, including popular musicians, politics, municipalities. Description People across Italy have been singing from their balconies…
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Venice and American Studio Glass Exhibition (Venezia, Italy)
“Venezia e lo Studio Glass Americano”is the first exhibition focused on the influence that aesthetics and traditional Venetian glassmaking techniques have had on American Studio Glass from the 1960s to the present. In 2020 the programme included real exhibitions with augmented and virtual reality, guided tours in presence and online, virtual events. Background LE STANZE DEL VETRO is a pluriennial, both a cultural project and an exhibition space on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore (Venice, Italy). It is dedicated to the study and the exhibition of modern and contemporary forms of glass art. The initiative is realized by Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti and…
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Tuscan Museums for Alzheimer Patients (Toscana, Italy)
Tuscan Museum System for Alzheimer’s (MTA) develops and implements programs dedicated to people living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. During the pandemic, in collaboration with the museums, they organised interactive activities for people with dementia and their caregivers. The project aimed to raise awareness on issues related to Alzheimer’s and dementia. Their activities helped to make culture accessible to people with Alzheimer’s disease in challenging times of Covid. Background For almost ten years, Tuscan museums have been developing and implementing programs dedicated to people living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. In order to coordinate and enhance their action more efficiently, in 2020 they formed a centralised…
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Culture at Home (Italy; nationwide)
An online project for promotion of cultural heritage in the digital field in order to respond to the emergency that Italian cultural sites were experiencing due to COVID-19. The Culture at Home platform, created in March 2020, has made it possible to share ideas, information and experiences about cultural heritage sites of Italy, when it was forbidden to visit them during the lockdown. Culture at Home platform offered four sections – Culture Workshop, Edu Culture, Culture AudioGuides and Culture Stories – and different contents online in order to educate, entertain and accompany Italians during the lockdown. Background The platform was created by Coop Culture, the largest Cooperative Society operating in…
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Art and Science Virtual Exhibition “Viral Passion” (Napoli, Italy)
The virtual exhibition “Viral Passion” represents a journey into the world of viruses, in order to raise awareness about the main viruses in human history and to encourage visitors to choose reliable resources of information. Background The exhibition “Viral Passion” is realised by the scientific and creative staff of Città della Scienza (The City of Science). It is an innovative complex consisting of a science center, a business innovation center, a training center, a fab laboratory, and a conference center. Since 1996 Fondazione IDIS has been managing Città della Scienza in Naples, in the former industrial area of Bagnoli. The IDIS Foundation has been operating in Italy since 1987 and…
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Different cities connected through the “portal” (Lublin, Poland & Vilnius, Lithuania)
On May 26th of 2021 the installation “Portal” connected two cities – Vilnius in Lithuania and Lublin in Poland, which is historically inseparable from our country. The futuristic installation turned out to be exactly what was lacking in a world tired of pandemic travel restrictions. With the slogan “Portal – a bridge to the united world” the project brings us the symbolic idea. The “portal” invites people to experience our world as it is “united and one – without borders, prejudices, and labels of us and them” – states authors of the project. Background An installation connecting Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, with the Polish city Lublin is an idea…
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Photography exhibition inspired by the COVID-19 hotline in Lithuania No. 1808 (Vilnius, Lithuania)
Lithuanian photographer Andrius Repšys in his photo work series examines probably one of the most relevant topics in the world – the impact of coronavirus on people and their daily lives. Inspired by the COVID-19 hotline in Lithuania No. 1808, the photographer came out with the idea to organize the exhibition „Project 1808. Quarantine“. The creation of the photo series started at the beginning of quarantine in Lithuania. The photographer captured the central squares of different Lithuanian cities from a drone at the one exact time – 18:08 h. The series of photos not only documents a historical event, but also examines topics related to it and raises the questions…
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Activity E-Book – Creative at home, Nitra Gallery (Athens, Greece)
At the beginning of the lockdown, the cultural activity seemed to be dormant. The art, however, must be creative. The Nitra Gallery, following that “rule”, invited its collaborating artists to contribute to creating activities for kids who stayed at home. The ultimate goal was to collect all the activities in an online book, so kids not only stay imaginative but also familiarize themselves with contemporary artists, learn techniques and create their own works with the help of their parents. Background Nitra Gallery is the continuation of Atrion (founded in 1994). When Atrion turned to Nitra in 2013, under the initiative of Aliki Tsirliagkou, it moved to a new location at…
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Visiting landscapes inside and out (Nijmegen, Netherlands)
During the start of COVID-19, the Valkhof museum has not been idle. During the first two months of the pandemic, Valkhof committed itself to continue to stimulate the visitors as a museum. They did this by creating the Binnenste Buitenland exhibition. With the help of a hidden collection of the museum, one is taken back in time to the landscapes and thus the source of inspiration for 19th-century artists. The creation of the exhibition did not go smoothly, nevertheless, the museum has achieved its greatest goal; to keep visitors active and connect them with the museum and Nijmegen Background The Valkhof Museum is located nearby the Valkhof Park in the…
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Culture to the Courtyards. Kaunas transformed into open air scenes (Kaunas, Lithuania)
The quarantine affected our daily routine, but life didn’t stop. During the first lockdown Kaunas, the European Capital of Culture 2022, introduced the project “Culture to the Courtyards”. This initiative brought culture to the citizens’ courtyards without prejudicing the quarantine restrictions of that time. Background Project “Culture to the Courtyards” was an initiative of public institution “Kaunas 2022”. The institution was established to implement the cultural program “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022”. In 2015 it began the journey to becoming a European Capital of Culture with the slogan “from temporary to contemporary”. As it is stated in the official website “The organization aims at the union of cultural…
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Museum brought art to people’s homes (Vilnius, Lithuania)
When cultural life moved to a virtual space Lithuanian National Museum of Art together with the information partner Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LNRT) decided “to bring art to people’s home” and implemented the project “30 Artworks, 30 Creators, 30 Weeks”. In this project 30 renowned Lithuanian artists (painters, writers, musicians, architects, designers, and others) were invited to choose the artwork in any exposition of Lithuanian National Museum of Art department and in the video story tell the audience why that artwork is important and special to them. These videos were placed on the websites of the Museum and LNRT and their social networks, also shown in the LNRT morning…
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An open-air exhibition “Homo absentia” (Vilnius, Lithuania)
Cultural institutions during the lockdown were looking for the different ways of how to reach their audience. Mostly that was the virtual activities which could not last long because people started to get tired of the “online” everything. Moreover, virtual exhibitions couldn’t in most cases replace the need to be face-to-face with an artwork. Therefore, the Lewben Art Foundation together with the partners organized an open-air exhibition “Homo Absentia” (The Person is Missing/Absent). This exhibition created a unique opportunity for the residents of Vilnius to change their routes and to visit the open-air exhibition on their daily routine. Background Exhibition was organized by the Lewben Art Foundation together with the…
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Pietanze d’Arte a Domicilio / Art Delivery at Home (Apulia, Italy)
During the Covid-19 restrictions for theatres and cultural centres, the project “Art Dishes Delivery” offered a delivery service of the artistic performances at home. The artist chosen from the proposed menu reached the public at home (garden or terrace – open space). It was possible to book a performance (theatre, music, poetry, dance) lasting up to fifteen minutes. The proposals of the Asteria Space menu were available in the cities of Palo del Colle and Bitonto (Aoulia, Italy) every Friday from February 19th 2021. Background ASSOCIAZIONE CULTURALE “ASTERIA SPACE” (Cultural association “ASTERIA SPACE”) is a private cultural centre for the artists belonging to five categories – theatre/dance, music, writing, visual…
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La Cultura non si ferma (“Culture never stops”; Nationwide, Italy)
“Culture never stops!” is a page of the Cultural Heritage Ministry website, which brings together virtual initiatives organized by State-owned cultural sites and the entertainment, music and audiovisual organisations during the Covid-19 emergency. Background The Ministry of Culture (Italian: Ministero della Cultura – MiC, previously Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism) is the ministry of the Government of Italy in charge of national museums and the historical monuments. MiC’s headquarters are located in the historic Collegio Romano Palace (in central Rome) and the current Minister of Culture is Dario Franceschini. It was set up in 1974 as the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Environments. The Ministry is made…
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COVID-19 Vaccination Hub at the Museum (Lecce, Italy)
In Italy, all museums were closed due to coronavirus restrictions. The Museum Castromediano of Lecce, Puglia’s oldest museum, whose large archaeological collection dates back to the Palaeolithic and Neolithic ages, has re-opened its doors during the lockdown in March 2021 as a COVID-19 vaccination hub. Thousands of people can get their vaccine and look at specially-selected exhibitions at the site for free. Background The Museum “Sigismondo Castromediano” is the oldest public museum in Apulia. Founded in 1868 by Sigismondo Castromediano, a 19th-century Lecce patriot and archaeologist, it traces the history of Salento from prehistory to the Messapian civilisation and 20th-century art. Target group (usually): local people, tourists. The Museum has…
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Land Art Weekend 2020 (Flevopolder, the Netherlands)
The limitations of the corona pandemic urged Landscape Art Flevoland to develop a more individual form of the Land Art Weekend, a festival that annually highlights nine land artworks in the province of Flevoland, the Netherlands. In order to organize the Land Art Weekend in 2020, Land art Flevoland developed a series of ten educational podcasts and nine atmospheric playlists to enable individual visits to the artworks. As the Land Art Weekend was one of the few art productions accessible to audiences in the summer of 2020, it received a generous amount of coverage in the local and national media. The program was broadcasted in the Land Art Weekend during…
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A giant open-air gallery in the streets of Vilnius. Project “Art needs no roof” (Vilnius, Lithuania)
The project was born in response to quarantine restrictions that prevented art galleries from operating, so artists could not exhibit and sell their works. Willing to support the artists, Vilnius City Municipality together with the outdoor advertising company JCDecaux Lietuva implemented project “Art needs no roof” and invited artist to showcase their works on billboards free of charge. In this way, Vilnius became one giant open-air art gallery and connected artists with art lovers. Background The project “Art needs no roof” was an initiative of Vilnius City Municipality together with the outdoor advertising company JCDecaux Lietuva. Vilnius City Municipality is governmental institution operating in the public sector whereas the JCDecaux…