Digitisation is profoundly changing our cultural experience, not only in terms of new technology-based access, production and dissemination, but also in terms of participation and creation, and learning and partaking in a knowledge society.

Digitisation must be accompanied by enlightened cultural policies, if opportunities for access and participation, individual and collective creativity are to be fully used. The 2013 Ministerial Conference on Culture highlighted the importance of users’ individual and collective needs vis-à-vis digital media. It hinted at risks for European cultural diversity and the need for adequate conditions for cultural content production and creativity in the digital age.

The Council of Europe, in partnership with its member States is dedicating itself to developing such policies by offering a multi-stakeholder platform for the exchange of experience and good practice to policy makers, leading researchers, practitioners and civil society. The platform events produce insights for policy orientations and Council of Europe guidelines to ensure democracy and human rights for citizens in the digital era. A Council of Europe Recommendation on the Internet of Citizens has been issued in February 2016. Its focus is on  (1) the modernization of cultural institutions; (2) the empowerment of citizens as consumers, creators and prosumers and (3) fostering multi-literacy skills education for access to, creation and management of digital culture. A Council of Europe Recommendation on Big Data for Culture, Literacy and Democracy was adopted in autumn 2017. It stresses, in particular,  that everyone can choose to remain inscrutable in the digital age and therefore to not have predictions made by algorithmic decision making about their cultural attributes, preferences and behaviours. Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)10 adopted in November 2018 on Culture’s contribution to strengthening the internet as an emancipatory force emphasises the potential of digital culture and arts as a means of fostering digitally and democratically competent and creative citizens.

Four Platform Events were held: in Baku (2014),  Linz (2015), Tallinn (2016) and Karlsruhe (2017). The 4th Council of Europe Platform Exchange on Culture and Digitisation “Empowering Democracy through Culture – Digital Tools for Culturally Competent Citizens”  took place at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media on 19-20 October 2017 in conjunction with the exhibition “Open Code – Living in Digital Worlds”.

An expert seminar on Culture, Creativity and Artificial Intelligence (E-relevance of Culture in the Age of AI) took place in Rijeka on 12-13 October 2018 in the framework of the Croatian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. It looked at orientations for working towards a culture of responsible innovation, empowering citizens and laying the foundations for the emergence of a modern Leonardo da Vinci. Questions for debate included:

  • How can culture maintain its important enlightenment role in a time where AI already heavily impacts (and indeed creates) culture?
  • Can it contribute to a more human- and citizen-centred technological future by proposing and developing alternative concepts?
  • How does AI impact on the perception of human uniqueness/genius, the role of artists, intellectual property?

The event also hosted the exhibition opening of Anatomy of an AI System, a map that guides through the birth, life and death of an individual networked device based on a centralised artificial intelligence system, created by Vladan Joler, Share Foundation founder and Professor at the University of Novi Sad.

Articles on Culture and Digitisation

Back Drama Goes Digital: Bringing European Theatre Closer to Online Communities

Be it though smartphone apps, streaming media or 3D effects, digital technology has creeped into the modern theatre a while ago. Artists and art directors have been experimenting with technology for years to use enrich their work, revitalise theatrical performance, and make theatre more relevant to digital audiences. Commenting on these trends back in 2012, Charlie Kenber, director and writer, suggested that “digital interaction with the dynamic of time can render theatre more, and not less, immediate.”

Many things have changed in modern theatre since then, but the ability to meet the challenge of new media has remained constant. To help overcome it, European Theatre Lab (ETL) is preparing a new initiative that aims to encourage an effective exchange of ideas on how theatre can be brought closer to online communities. As a partnering project between European Theatre Convention (ETC) and 6 European state repertory theatres, ETL has gathered experts from science, technology, media and the performing arts in order to bring European theatres and theatre communities online.

As of April 2017, the group will start organising various activities to empower theatres to successfully implement new digital trends.  As outlined in their official press release, these will include OpenLabs, creative co-productions, research conferences, as well as a virtual lab platform and a unified, EU-wide communications campaign. This way, the project will call attention to the untapped potential of digitisation for theatres, while exploring its effects on 1) aesthetics, 2) audience participation and 3) communication and dissemination.

Developed with support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, the initiative will offer guidance on how European stages can be transformed with technology in order to garner more engagement by both offline and online audiences. Throughout 2017 and 2018, the ETL activities will be carried out across Europe to help both online and offline audiences experience the fresh energy digitisation can bring to the stage.

By introducing new possibilities and encouraging cross-sector collaboration, ETL will beat the path for modern theatres to present their creative potential to a wider audience. This way, ETL will play a major role in making culture accessible to all Europeans, which makes it an important factor in expanding the concept of the Internet of Citizens and in creating a shared space where everyone can freely explore culture.

Bojana Dobran
Content Consultant

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