INNOVATIONS PROJECTS AND EUROPEAN PROJECTS
Art is our future for building a better society. We believe in the power of Art and its connection with science and technology. Innovation doesn’t just come from equations, mathematics or some scientific formula but it comes from a human place. Innovation in the sciences is always linked in some way, either directly or indirectly, to a human experience. And human experiences happen through engaging with the arts and creation – playing or listening music, discovering an art piece, taking a photography, ect.
Art helps you see things in a less unnatural space. Our economy is built upon convergent thinkers, people that execute things, get them done. But artists and designers are divergent thinkers: they expand the horizon of possibilities, they are visionary. Superior innovation comes from bringing divergents (artists and designers) and convergents (science and engineering) together. All society needs to be involved in the process of (open) innovation.
Therefore we believe in the philosophy of the STARTS program, which tries to connect innovation at the core of Science, Technology and ARTS.. Art is a catalyst for innovative change in research, business, economy, politics and society.
AI4Future
AI4Future is a Creative Europe’s project which involves three different European countries: Italy, Spain and Netherlands. It aims at enhancing the understanding and dissemination of A.I. related technologies for the active and creative participation of young activists to the European cultural scene, allowing them to work with artists for a joint creation of a new urban community awareness.
The A.I. approach allows the access and the interpretation of data to better understand both how this new technologies works and to discover new aspects of community societal mechanisms. The new generations will have a fundamental role in this change as they are maturing and growing in the progress of the technological revolution.
The main topic of collaboration between young activists and artists will be the “mobility”, considered in different meanings and different interpretations developed thanks to a dialogue between the partners. The meanings of mobility that emerged are: mental mobility, pandemic fatigue; social economical, and political mobility; virtual, interactive mobility, in which A.I. is not just a tool. Young activists, artists and policy makers will have the opportunity to deal with international meetings, workshops and artists residencies.
Website: https://ai4future.eu/
E-ART
At the same time, it seeks to understand how aesthetic and more narrowly defined artistic-activist practices contribute to raising our awareness of the environmental transformation processes taking place in a singular way.
The project is characterised by various phases and aims to raise awarness creating workshops, conferences, a booklet of sustainable practices, online art residencies, and artlabs aimed at the creation of sustainable artworks for local exhibition.
This initiative also seeks to raise awareness and foster a community of professionals willing to adopt these practices and promote them.
MINDSPACES
MindSpaces is a multidisciplinary effort, integrating the arts, neuroscience, architecture, 3D modelling, visual, text, EEG, physiological sensing analysis, AR/VR and a wide range of end users, from city dwellers to tourists, elderly living independently. Its aim, to improve the design of outdoors public spaces, indoors work and house interiors through participatory design that involves multisensory measurements of end user responses, will inherently integrate these multiple disciplines towards a common goal. The resulting artistic AR/VR installations, design tools and methodologies will allow future developments within this ecosystem through their use.
MindSpaces aims at burgeoning STARTS ecosystem by developing a novel paradigm of cooperation between artists, technology, research, industrial and user partners and a common working model (SIO1), which will allow for the initiation of projects of similar nature under the evolving STARTS ecosystem.
Website: https://mindspaces.eu/
REAL-IN
REAL-IN aims at EXPLORING crossroads of cultural, audiovisual and creative sectors for immersive and interactive proposals, exploiting 3D scanning technologies combined to XR settings. We’ll build a PLAYGROUND for prototyping collective scenarios to boost new participatory approaches and innovative user experiences for the Creative and Cultural Industries and their audiences. REAL-IN will activate multidisciplinary synergies in a co-creation process between creatives, coders, creative industries, with the result to BREAK SILOS between creative sectors.
Website: https://real-in.eu/
PALKONNECT
The current project PALkonnect is engaging cultural, artistic, and research organizations to stimulate European awareness and empower people of current and future generations to respect the inclusion and diversity and to be successful innovators in their local environment. The current project aims to support artists from social inclusion groups to present and promote their artworks in post-COVID 19 circumstances and to inspire their cooperation within the European countries. The project aims to equip them with the necessary innovative skills and competencies to encourage their creativity and the creation of new art pieces. Additionally, the main objective of the project is to enhance the promotion and popularity of cultural and historical information about the targeted social inclusion groups to increase the public knowledge and integration process. Sharing the personal story and historical facts about each inclusion group will support the integration process and increase public knowledge.
Website: https://palkonnect.eu/
THEATRE IN PALM
The Platform “European Theatre platform for supporting emerging artists cooperation and resilience” (Theatre in Palm) acts as an incubator for new voices from the page to the stage with main emphasis on their professional development and enhancement of their cooperation with artists and artist organisations from other platform countries, bringing together partners from across Europe for a 3-year project to develop a model for a new multi-media cooperative and co-creation interaction among theatre professionals and workers.
Website: https://theatreinpalm.turkuamk.fi/
WE STEAM
WeSTEAM is the Erasmus+ project aimed at enhancing the role of women in science and the attractiveness of science courses for female students through the development, testing and dissemination of a methodology based on the STEAM approach.The first step of the project is designing and disseminating a reference framework for strengthening and assessing women STEM students’ Art Thinking capacity. This will allow both students and educational organizations (universities and informal education centers) to gain awareness of the skills they need to enhance in order to complement their curricula according to a STEAM approach.
Website: https://ars.electronica.art/digitalhumanism/en/westeam/
RISE UP
RISE UP aims to empower endangered language communities by building connections between relevant actors, identifying good practices and developing methods through a multi-disciplinary approach. Furthermore, RISE UP will foster the self-confidence of these communities, including learners, new speakers, people who have not yet had the chance to learn their heritage language, supporters, and more. Through the collection and analysis of context information and policies for endangered languages in Europe, the creation of a tool set for communities, the connection of relevant actors and the involvement of young people, specifically, RISE UP aims to provide support and empowerment to endangered language communities in Europe.
Website: https://www.riseupproject.eu/
AugE | Augmented Europe
AugE | Augmented Europe is a project funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV)AUGE 2nd is aimed at involving European youngsters, actively and through digital media – to shape the future of Europe in a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient way. They will be supported by young “artivists” (artists that are also activists) to shape new ideas to boost visions, dreams, actions that will inspire and guide future ways of living together in Europe in a more sustainable, inclusive and beautiful way.
Website: https://augenext.eu/auge-2nd-second-chapter/
PMP – Professional Media Presence
PMP answers the need to better understand both social and traditional media, to better harness them as tools for professional practices and identity professional self-expression at the European creative and cultural sector. PMP enables the creation of an artist’s own professional media self, teaches principles and best practices, and provides an accessible media practice toolkit, created in an inclusive manner, for wider creative sector purposes. There are currently no guidelines for professional media practices for artists, usable e.g., in formal or non-formal art education. The need for this kind of content, support and development is growing as the role of media in our lives grows; this has happened especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PLAY STORIES
With Play Stories we seek to impact the green awareness of European citizens by targeting children and parents through an innovative education tool in the form of a nature storytelling app. As defined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals: education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development. Since its launch in 2019, the Danish app Nature Tales has engaged more than 100.000 children on digital fairy tales experienced as GPS-based treasure hunts using immersive storytelling, play and movement along children-friendly routes in nature. In the Play Stories project, a consortium of partners wishes to further develop the interactive storytelling format by adding scalability and new ways of interacting with the fairy tales through challenges utilizing both GPS, compass and the AR capabilities within smartphones while at the same time teaching about the biodiversity, culture, science, art or history related to a given area. The starting point will be Copenhagen, Cologne and Barcelona, but with the new digital solution developed throughout the project, the tool can easily be replicated all over. The result will enable families to explore beaches, forests, parks and cultural sites throughout Europe while simultaneously activating their feet, senses and brain cells with a potential positive long-term impact of several sectors, such as tourism, sports, and the literary sector. The tool we develop will furthermore enable writers, animators, illustrators and sound designers to build and share stories across Europe and teach children why it rains, which bugs live in the local park or why a historical queen should be more well-known. We do this because teaching children the value of nature, culture, history and movement is fundamental to our societal development in Europe.
IMMENSIVA
IMMENSIVA is a project of Lemograss/Espronceda and is an international platform for new digital platforms, focusing on VR, AR and MR.
Once a year, Espronceda gives the IMMENSIVA prize to selected artists who are invited for a 2-4 weeks residency in Barcelona to create art with cutting edge technologies, like VR, AI, AR and more. The selection is done by an international jury. Artists apply through an open call or are proposed by the advisors/curators of Espronceda and Immensiva. In the VR / AI artist residency, artists work and collaborate together to create new artworks in a collaborative environment. The Espronceda team supports heavily the artists with all possibilities. We will also connect with the local and regional ecosystem and invite high-key speakers, advisors and curators during the residency to offer an outstanding & sustainable experience. The created artworks (as well as potentially individual artworks) will be presented in a closing event and following exhibition, open to the public.
Website: https://www.immensiva.com/
OLEA is a unique olive oil, the result of development between different disciplines and coordinated by the artist Solimán López. In collaboration with the Twist Bioscience laboratory, which has been in charge of the DNA synthesis of the smart contract for the OLEA cryptocurrency (programmed by Blue Room Innovation) and which will later be encapsulated in silica to be incorporated into a limited series of 1,250 liters of olive oil that will be expanded with the new supplies of the currency in the coming months. In this last step, Solimán has had the support of Javier Forment, head of the Bioinformatics Service of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants IBMCP
(UPV Polytechnic University of València – CSIC Higher Council for Scientific Research). With this action the artist creates a new space for reflection and an approach of species, concepts, economies, societies and information flows that converge in a single fluid.
OLEA introduces a historical innovation in the world of contemporary art and the environment of cryptocurrencies and NFT’s (unique digital assets) incorporating the artistic factor to
a sector with a highly speculative character. Thanks to blockchain technology, we can now prove the ownership and authenticity of digital assets. In addition to facilitating traceability and transparency to the works of the creators. Historically related to deities, abundance, health, softness and liquid gold, oil is the perfect place to welcome other natures. Genetic alteration, its artificial construction and coexistence in hybrid spaces, configure a new ecosystem of ethical, religious, political and social thought that, thanks to this project, intends to link molecularly with techno-political structures, cryptography and decentralized models of thought and economy.
Website: https://www.espronceda.net/projects/olea/
NUBIA COMUNITAT DINAMICA
NUBIA comunitat dinàmica és una nova iniciativa d’ESPRONCEDA que comença amb dues jornades activadores d’una nova comunitat de públic creatiu i participatiu. Utilitzant les noves tecnologies com a realitat virtual, realitat augmentada, intel·ligència artificial i dispositius hàptics, els participants són co-creadors d’experiències/objectes digitals a través de la seva participació dinàmica/performativa en una sèrie d’experiències proposades en dues jornades, dia 22 i 23 de novembre. A més, aquestes jornades inclouen formació en “storytelling” immersiu i interactiu i tecnologies clau com els dispositius hàptics. Els participants en aquestes jornades passen a ser integrants d’una comunitat que fomenta la co-creativitat i l’assistència a esdeveniments/exposicions interactives. La comunitat és activada mitjançant una comunitat online basada en la web i un metavers online que ofereix informació i permet el contacte de públic i creadors
NUBIA METAVERS NAVAS
NUBIA Lab Metavers NAVAS 2023-2024. Dues setmanes de co-creació en colaboracíó amb Pla Comunitari de Navas, s’organitzarà una convocatoria per escollir 5 participants, prioritzan gent jove (18-30 anya) dones o col.lectiu LGTBI+, no sent excloent l’edat si es tobren persones motivades d’altres grups d’edat. Les dues setmanes de co-creació son presencials, als matins, de 11 a 14h els dies laborables, i es coordina amb el col.lectiu Be Another Lab. Tot el grup de 5 persones treballen al mateix projecte, fomentant la negociació i la col.laboració. El resultat creatiu, un metavers liminal entre allo real/analogic i allo virtual/ digital sera mostrat als veins en una jornada de portes obertes feta en collaboració amb les associacions veinals de Navas.
The Rain of Illusions project is an immersive, interactive and collective experience that uses very experimental technologies in augmented reality and interaction. It is a group and collaborative experience that has a ‘storytelling’ based on the current water drought, the absence of rain, and that almost all the reservoirs that lower their level let us see villages, churches and castles that are part of the history of Catalonia.
Climate change and the awareness of the importance of the balance between the atmosphere and the earth’s biosphere, Hipotesi de Nesga, are the main focus of this digital and interactive creation. The project is designed to be located in an exhibition space or to use historical constructions: churches, castles, farmhouses, etc. The participating group (5 to 8 people) uses a magic lantern to find the objects and natural elements that serve to invoke water. As this common test is solved, the projections and sounds announce the rain and the water that brings life. The connection between ecological awareness and historical heritage in rural areas and natural parks makes us reflect on the need for collective action. This installation can be adapted to specific historical sites and use symbologies that connect with the traditions of ancient and primitive cultures.