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Let’s get digital! Digital Transformation Conference (Den Haag, the Netherlands)
When all cultural institutions in The Netherlands had to close their doors to the public, there seemed to be only one solution: going digital. While some bigger museums, theaters and concert halls already had an extensive online presence or the money to outsource their creation, a big part of the cultural sector was suddenly faced with the preexisting but now urging challenge to translate their vision from tangible to digital. This increase in demand for education, inspiration and tools on the topic led even more cultural institutions to DEN, the Dutch knowledge institute on culture & digital transformation. Background DEN (Dutch knowledge institute on culture & digital transformation) is a…
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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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Underwater Malta – Virtual Museum: an innovative and state-of-the-art public access strategy for underwater heritage (Nationwide, Malta)
Given Malta’s strategic location at the center of the Mediterranean, the seafloor surrounding the island holds hidden heritage from almost every period of history, including a 2700-year-old Phoenecian shipwreck, ships, planes, and submarines. Thanks to cross-disciplinary collaboration and advances in technology, in June 2020 a virtual museum was launched (first of its kind in the Mediterranean) making this hidden heritage accessible. Using 3D modeling, virtual reality, and other media, the website aims to provide access to and share Malta’s unique underwater cultural heritage with all members of the public, to create a digital record to help preserve and protect Malta’s submerged cultural heritage, and to promote and stimulate responsible diving…
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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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Photo project “Quarantine windows” – daily routine of Lithuanians during the quarantine captured in photos (Kaunas, Lithuania)
“Quarantine windows” was a photography project implemented during the first lockdown. With the beginning of the first quarantine our usual life was “suspended” for a while, no travels, no meetings with relatives and friends, no restaurants, no shops and so on. We had to get used to living between the four walls temporarily and look at the world through the computer screens or… windows. Therefore, the project “Quarantine windows” aimed to reveal what quarantine of various people (both families and individuals, seniors and children, etc.) looks like, to convey their moods and emotions through the portraits. Background The authors of the idea were the community program “Fluxus Labas” of the…
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Discover Jewish heritage with(out) leaving home (Kaunas, Lithuania)
Kaunas Vincas Kudirka Public Library adapted to the quarantine conditions and invited their visitors to try the unusual experience – the interactive and modern map of Jewish cultural heritage. This map allowed people to “walk” around the city and learn more about the Jewish cultural heritage in Kaunas without leaving home. An interactive map in four languages allowed (and still do) people to visit virtually more than 40 cultural monuments, see the unique archival footage, play an interactive game, or take a walk around the city’s heritage sites on their own. This interactive map was announced as the most memorable Kaunas cultural initiative of 2020 because of the impact on…
