After
Analisi e discussione critica sulle tematiche legate all’evoluzione e alle prospettive future dell’industria creativa, nonché alle trasformazioni del suo statuto giuridico, economico e sociale.
Museums and Storytelling: From the last trends to the future
In 2010, Kelly found that museums’ adult visitors were deeply aware of their learning preferences and that they wanted experiences both educational and entertaining. On a more general scale, LaPlaca Cohen “Culture Track Report 2014” reveals how the meaning itself of what a cultural experience is like, expanded to activities more related to nature and entertainment. According to this report, audience values a TED talk or a visit to a Botanic Garden just as culturally engaging as going to the museum or attending a theater performance. The public is more demanding and wants to satisfy more than one need at the same time, pursuing activities that are educational, entertaining, interactive and customizable. This expanded notion of culture is on top of the priorities of professionals, as it challenges them to find continuously newer and more unique attractions, able to deal with a much wider range of competitors to the public attention. In order to address the increased uncertainty, museums reshaped their programs to include more and more extra-ordinary events, such as family days, curators’ talks, nocturnal exhibitions, and so on. On the one hand, special events are successfully flourishing and tend to be more participated, to have a wider impact on social media and to be more easily sponsored than ordinary programs. On the other hand, it seems that museums would be struggling at actually improving the ordinary visitors’ experience, which is a much more radical transformation affecting deeply each department, from the Curatorial to the Visitors’ Services and it is often extremely costly. In this gap among special programming and ordinary visit, the organization Museum Hack has found a fertile environment for its growth.
Does Culture makes us happier – and healthier?
People’s happiness and wellbeing are undoubtedly at the center of today’s modern life – we could even dare to say that our generation is obsessed with the pursuit of happiness, with finding the perfect balance between our inner desires and the lives that we actually live. Nevertheless, we know very little about what truly makes a human being happy. We read tons of self-help books, we go to courses, and we talk to counselors. But the truth is – we very rarely dig deeper into the scientific causes behind human happiness and wellbeing. We may even be surprised to know that, in fact, there are very solid scientific causes. And among those causes, culture lists as one of the main ones. In order to better understand this, we need first to define what we mean by wellbeing and by culture.
Does movie poetics dream of territories?
A concept we can not avoid in our days talking about culture and the direction we’re heading towards is globalization. It stretches itself out like an umbrella surrounding cultural phenome-na in a way not experienced before, and its creations make us wonder about our cinema lan-guages. In the global movie market certain national movie industries like the US one are more dominant than others. One might question if there is a kind of ‘cultural homogenization pro-cess’ behind? Still, there is a language emphasizing the local, there are movies that give us tales and stories about the site-specific grounded into their own cities. This article focuses upon these movies, relying on some basic theories within Cultural Semiotics by Jurij Lotman. Per-haps it is possible to see some kind of interaction and connection between these different kinds of movies, or perhaps they are two separate languages living in their own spheres?
From the mirror to the screen: some videoart’s intuitions
After first experimentations of visual effects the video could generate, it became an introspective way to make art. An external device can show the artist to the artist, this is the point. So everything changed.
The sound of poetry. The case of “Andata e Ritorno” Festival
We grow up being used to the idea that poetry is something boring. This scenario is luckily changing. There are a lot of poets who want to stay inside the modernity, want to write about it and above all they stare at the eyes of their audience, take their hands, fascinate their ears.
Innovation, Opportunity and Social Entrepreneurship
What actually makes a project or a company accountable with needs of society? And how the NGO or culture-driven organization could possibly avoid waste of resources and strive to deliver more socially responsible outcomes?
Is the architect an artist? Reconsidering the role of architects
Throughout this essay various possible conceptions of art and their relationship with architects’ responsibilities towards the community and their power in the creation of cities, will be considered. And the question on whether an architect is an artist will certainly continue to pose problems.
Paint before the police come!
Street art is challenging the world of art, its set of rules and its commercial system as few art movements in the past.
Why we should look at space, and more closely at cities
The importance of space in the critical study of society is finally being increasingly recognized after centuries of neglect, mainly thanks to the work of geographers who are trying to emphasize it as an advantageous and insightful standpoint to look at all other human sciences.
Theatre at auction! Making it live!
July 2006: some advertisements invited interested people to take part in the public auction announced to sell the for too long a time dismissed Teatro Sociale of Gualtieri. The theatre is now becoming a benchmark in the domain, for the quality and the method.
TRUST IN BO. A new idea for Italian theatre management
Theatre’s needs and, above all, audience awareness, have showed relevant changes in the last few years. What happen to theatres organizations? How do they face society development? How do they deal with crisis?
An overview of the art sector
The art sector has a network structure, where actors operate in relationship with each other. But one must points out the fact that one individual can act in different roles or perform the tasks of various actor types.
Culture and social welfare: thinking about the bolognaise context
The article supports the thesis that culture is a real development engine able to enhance our social welfare. If public entities, associations and private bodies will adopt a joint point of view, results will be tangible.
Describe the role of collectors in the XXI century, in terms of effects on the art market, influence on artistic creation, diffusion and knowledge of artists and artworks
Collectors are different than donors who support the cultural production by giving money. Collectors are totally involved in the art market.
Collecting Art: the not-for-profit sector and the art market
Give an overview of the art sector through actors involved, missions, roles, ways of operating and relationships among them.
Creative Chaos: How To Feed Ideas
I am always inspired by the ‘art’ of facilitation, a combination of methodologies useful for leading and orientating a complex group in job meetings or workshops, generally used in the learning organization and educational field. So, what if culture makes use of the facilitation techniques?
Double Call For Papers On Copyright. Deadline extended to 15 January 2014
Tafter Journal is pleased to announce a special Double Call for Papers on Copyright in order to give attention to one of the most current and controversial talking point.
What is soft power if anything but Hollywood, MTV, and Mcdonalds?
Reflections on the political and economic relevance of “soft power” also understood as the level of attractiveness that a country is able to build on the basis of its cultural fruitions. Thus, “soft power” is not only considered in terms of its international connotations but it also refers to the cultural fruitions such as movies or brands. Those build the imaginary of a country, inside and outside its nation’s borders, and they easily circulate internationally at the high speed of the Internet.
The undervalued of potential of the peripathetic feature of festivals. A look at the FISahara Film Festival
In relation to the practice of deterritorilisaton, The FISahara film festival, coming to its 6th edition, is one of the most atypical activist film festivals, which takes place in a refugee camp in the middle of the Algerian desert, where the Saharawi population live in exile, separated from their homeland.
Walter Santagata (1945 – 2013)
Walter Santagata passed away unexpectedly, leaving a deep emptiness. His cultural creatures are various, and important. Walter leaves fertile ideas upon which we need to reflect.
A consideration about cultural districts in Italy
The cultural district can provide a true cultural, social, economic and touristic revival of entire areas giving to cultural heritage the function of driving force for the economic growth of linked industry if culturally programmed and territorially planned.
Nails, hammers and green rabbits. The challenge of art-science collaborative projects
The project Arscientia, a new format conceived by two Venetian companies Picapao and Fondaco, aimed at cross-fertilizing art, science and appraise their innovative potential. Thanks to the final award and moments of dialogues on the newest tendencies and scenarios between art and science, young creative people were prompted to believe in their ideas and to learn how to turn them into sustainable business projects.
A new perspective for the movie industry: the use of web 2.0 and user-generated content
In 2011, the Dutch company, FCCE, has launched the Entertainment Experience project in order to create the first fully user-generated movie conceived by the audience and another one directed by Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct) on the same basis of audience’s contributions, entitled Tricked. Telling the story of a real estate tycoon involved in extra marital affairs and dangerous business projects, both movies were developed in parallel according to a totally new creative process.
Priming as a learning tool in museum environment
Sometimes scholars complain that students and lay public are not able to look at artistic exhibits displayed in a Museum of Fine Arts. We would like to assess whether a model based on priming – acting on implicit memory – may improve the methodology of looking and the learning of artistic topics in the museum environment. Looking is a learned skill that is neither innate nor spontaneous. Onlookers would benefit from a method that may enhance their visual skills.
A contemporary Trajan
Cultural institutions may transmit notions and memories of our past. But today’s audience, more than ever before, is looking for interaction, participation and an appropriation of museum spaces. Monuments can stimulate curiosity, encourage to return another time, surprise with unexpected offers and gives more choices. In this way visiting museums became full of possibilities and visitors can feel the museum as a living space.
Not all that connects is the Internet
The Internet and the empowerment coming from new technologies, such as social media, are more than appealing. It is engaging and almost unavoidable. The Internet is now crucial for the circulation, promotion, and engagement process for many art organisations. Nevertheless, one can argue that the reverse side of this highly participatory society ends up into the paradox when, as a result of the speed of information and input, to which we are daily exposed, we tend to passively react without really engaging with any cause or any interest.
Subverting the monopoly: new music labels in the Middle East
Nowadays the diffusion of music is controlled by a handful of labels that distribute roughly 80% of the music in the world. This monopoly brought about to a standardization of music that not only concerns Western countries but also many developing nations. Nevertheless, some attempts to jeopardize this close market have been undertaken by small independent labels that not only try to create a niche market, but also aim at diffusing lesser known artists and genres in order to diversify the offer and reinvent the production.
Where do we belong? Festivals conquer the urban texture
This reflection comes to my mind when looking at the social and cultural current phenomenon such as the recent proliferation of film festivals around the world. I consider this phenomenon as an expression of the changing nature of the audience that more than ever before is seeking for interaction, participation and, last but not least, physical reappropriation of the local dimension in its urban area.
Un’agenda per la cultura dei prossimi anni
Il sistema culturale attraversa una fase di radicale trasformazione. È l’intera società, il suo paradigma economico e produttivo, le sue relazioni individuali e collettive, a trovarsi su un crinale del quale si percepisce la dimensione ma non si riescono a prevedere gli esiti. La cultura, rappresentazione dinamica e critica della realtà, delle sue interpretazioni e dei suoi aneliti, ne racconta l’evoluzione e ne prospetta il futuro. Per poterlo fare è necessario che il sistema culturale ridisegni sé stesso, alla luce dei cambiamenti in atto, e in vista di un paradigma che sarà dominato da una nuova scala di valori.
Do banks believe in art?
Try to imagine if all banks would believe in local art. Imagine if banks would start investing on a long term and regularly in young artists, selecting them with the help of an organization of the sector dealing with the production activity. Think what would happen if contemporary art would get to everybody’s home, materialized in the images of a calendar given out as a gift for the new year from the bank to its customers.
Culture in U.S.: four more years
President Obama has won the 2012 election and will be remaining in office for another four years. From an arts advocacy standpoint, Obama was clearly the favorable candidate for government arts funding.
Do books matter? The impact of reading upon cultural capital
Why do we like so much to read? The American writer Christopher Morley tells that “when you sell a book to a person, you do not sell just twelve ounces of paper, ink and glue, you sell a whole new life. Love, friendship, and ships in the sea at night, there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book”. Reading is sublime, we all know.
An apparent instability may actually guarantee a future: the World Youth Orchestra case
Given the substancial changes that are happening in the cultural sector in the recent years due to the unstable economic-political environment and the challenges that today’s society arises, the need for cultural organizations to engage in more spontaneous and more innovative ways of managing is essential. The World Youth Orchestra represents an example of an unconventional model of youth orchestra, which seems to be able to survive to the precarious conditions in which it operates.
Can culture be social?
This paper is about an unusual event, organized twice a year in a Northern Italian city, Bologna. The event takes place in a condominium and lasts all night long. It involves all the apartments in the condominium and takes form as a huge, collective, but secret party.
Seeking Wisdom in the Kingdom of Established Labels and Digital Spirits
An interview with Hwiemtun, Fred Roland, a Sweat lodge Keeper, intercultural teacher and global traveler.
Museum Innovation: European state-of-the art, techniques, and approaches
Is interactivity pre-eminently a technological prerogative, or can hands-on, “mechanical,” and “face-to-face” methods be equally successful on the cognitive, sensorial, and emotional levels? More and more, to achieve a relevant use of technology, museums have started to adopt holograms, “talking heads,” sophisticated applications broadcast through high-level screens and touch screens in order to overcome the everyday technology to which audiences are accustomed.
Culture as a cognitive approach
When two individuals are exposed to the same artistic product (a painting, a movie, a poem) they can have quite different reactions to it. Such reactions tend to be of two separate kinds: on one hand, there is the simply hedonistic impact of artistic consumption (“I like it” or “I do not like it”), which implies the revelation of an immediate and emotional process; on the other hand, there is the evaluation about whether such product can be included in the cultural realm.
The revolution of Eco Art
In these weeks, ending on 20th December, Reggio Calabria is hosting “Exhibition of recycled materials and eco-design”, the first Eco Art event ever realised in southern Italy. Promoted by the Department of Environmental Policies of the province of Reggio Calabria, in collaboration with MATREC, and coordinated by architect Antonia Rita Castagnella, the exhibition aims at disseminating the awareness of sustainable art, along with its various potential uses.
What markets for young dancers? The Venice Biennale projects
From an external point-of-view the dance, as a high quality and professional form of performing arts and not as recreational activity, appears not really popular and diffused in our theatres, towns and, more broadly, in our personal experience. The last annual report edited by the Ministry of Culture describes the dance sector as underdeveloped and not so able to exert any appeal to a wide audience.
Social Enterprises in the Cultural Sector. The UK case
The global recession is changing societal structures and priorities at all levels and cultural organisations in the UK – as in many other countries – need to find new alternative ways to ensure their survival and financial sustainability. This article explores the social enterprise model, adopting an entrepreneurial attitude to achieve financial autonomy by delivering social impact, as an opportunity to foster economical resilience in the British cultural sector. It concludes that although the model is promising, the required social consciousness, high capacities and an entrepreneurial culture are not always easily negotiated.
The future of art patronage in an evolving society. From the Roman Empire to the Sheikhdom of Dubai
The patron-client relationship and therefore the “patronage” concept are extremely embedded into our history. As many of us may know according to the The New Oxford American Dictionary, the word “patronage” stands for ‘the support given by a patron’ that is ‘a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, cause or activity’. As many of us will then agree, these words provide with a very general and limiting definition of “patronage” that, when applied to the arts sector, has to be more thoroughly investigated, discussing its history and providing tangible examples.
Virtual museums
Starting from a synthetic definition we can consider virtual museums as either the digital multimedia reproduction of an existing museum, based upon virtual reality techniques, or the ex novo creation of a museum structure and experience not existing in reality. Virtuality is much more properly expressed by the latter definition, although the word “virtual” is normally associated with any digital reproduction of reality.
Free Online Music Sharing: irreversible and beneficial
Nowadays, more than ever, music is ubiquitous and it became an integrant part of people’s everyday life and this is mainly the merit of free online music sharing, that can be defined as the distribution of digitally stored music or the provision of access to it, via Internet, either in an authorised or unauthorised by the copyright holder manner. Thus, the present state of affairs can not be without significant benefits for all entities in the music industry, old and new, if they accept change and do not fail to adapt and innovate.
The new frontiers of 3D art
Digital art is quite complex: it is not just photo editing or video recording. It can push creativity to its “ordinary” extremes just as in the experience of a sculptor with a block of chalk; it is the art of our time, incorporating the most advanced technology and exerting a deep and realistic impact; it has produced a substantial revolution in subjects and canons of painting, enhancing the intensive connections between the arts and communication.
Fund-raising for capital: the road to immortality
Capital campaigns, which are usually a programmatic method to raise funds for physical improvements, are often seen as the transitionary period in which an organization becomes an institution. Of course, a minor campaign for computer or furniture upgrades will not have such a lasting impression, but still begs the question: Why should an arts organization expend human and financial resources in order to acquire capital?
Crafts, a hidden heart of creative industries
Among the various cultural industries, crafts deserve particular interest as in many developing countries they represent a business activity which has often been more accessible than others, as it is less demanding in terms of technological innovations, and therefore of financial capital, and closer to local resources and traditional knowledge.
Urban Art: new markets for cultureUrban Art: new markets for culture
The new contemporary art scenario is evolving very fast and is bringing some deep changes into the entire system. The last twenty years have seen the evolution and rise of some new genres as Street art (born directly form the late 70’s NY graffiti movement), POP Surrelism and what is generally defined as Urban Art.
Making places: the plan as a process in the Green University project
A few months ago the new Campus of LUISS University in Roma was the object of an artistic action aimed at emphasizing the wasteful behaviour of its users (students as well as teachers) during their everyday activities.
Creativity: a proposed taxonomy
Creativity is at stake in the whole world. Many recent analyses have been carried out in various Countries, being aimed at defining, measuring and evaluating creativity and its impact upon the economy and welfare; they adopt quite different views, draw quite heterogeneous conclusions, and tend to ignore the crucial role played by central and local governments in promoting, strenghtening and diffusing creativity.
