A series of discussions on the latest technological advances in culture will be held on November 11-13 at Mayakovsky Library and will be broadcast online. Experts from Russia and other countries will talk over mainstream culture, the practices of interaction between museums and theatres, video art, crypto art and other manifestations of the new culture. The organizer of the "Culture 2.0" discussions on November 11-13 is the All-Russian CSO "Russian Culture Foundation".
Renowned experts from Russia and beyond will discuss cultural models of visibility and accessibility of arts that have developed of late as systems of interaction between cultural institutions, curators, critics, art managers, collectors, patrons, open exhibition spaces and artists, along with new media and practices of management in the area of arts and culture.
Open Lectures represents a special discussion project and a pivotal unit of the educational program delivered by the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. The organizer of the "Culture 2.0" discussions on November 11-13 is the All-Russian CSO "Russian Culture Foundation". Admission for all participants is customarily free, following registration.
Staging the 2021 "Culture 2.0" is arranged with the option of full-time presence of participants and speakers, whereas foreign experts are to join the assembly by means of online communications. All the events will be carried out in full compliance with the current regulations aimed at the prevention and combating the new coronavirus infection (COVID-2019).
For a broader audience, webcasts of all events will be arranged on the Forum website, on the website of the Russian Culture Foundation and on the social media such as VKontakte and Facebook.
"Culture 2.0" is a topical discussion on technologies in their broadest sense. This year's "Culture 2.0" events will be embraced under the topic of transformation and convergence of culture, urban environment, and advanced technologies.
The Open Lectures will open on November 11 with the discussion on "Why We Need Storytelling?" A story is not just a post on social media or a tale spun by a tour guide. Now-a-days, stories are being related by a vast array of cultural institutions using wonderful new technologies to this end. What is storytelling in culture? How to apply it in the right way? Experts will tell you how to turn a story into an exciting emotional experience for the public. Among the participants are the Chief Curator, Deputy Director of the All-Russia Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Arts Alina Saprykina, Co-founder of the Museum of Broken Relationships Olinka Vistica (Croatia), Michael Wilson, Professor of Drama, Art Director and Director of the Storytelling Academy at Loughborough University, and Yan Vizinberg, Partner and Creative Director at Lorem Ipsum Corp.
Collaborations and assemblies of cultural institutions have already shaped up into a promising trend of the creative economy. The next discussion "Museum & City Dialogue" is intended to disclose how museums work with the local communities, how they open up and fill public spaces, and in what way a modern city actually develops. Among the participants are Kate Sikic Cubric, Betina Museum of Wooden Shipbuilding, Croatia, and Joana Sousa Monteiro, Chair of ICOM – CAMOC, the International Committee for the Collections and Activities of the Museums of Cities, Director of the Museum of Lisbon (Portugal).
"Mass Culture: Is It Kitsch or Boon?" is a controversial international discussion on the relationship between the mainstream and the elite in the contemporary cultural process worldwide. Should the culture of the elites be opposed to pop culture, or do they align for the most part these days? Can mass culture be of high quality, a highbrow one? The Royal Industrial Designer, Creative Director of Images&Co Malcolm Garrett, Professor of Communication at Wesleyan University of Virginia Kathy Merlock Jackson (USA) and other experts will articulate their viewpoints on these issues.
November 12 will be marked by the discussion "Museum Marketing: New Effective Solutions". What can be viewed at a modern museum? Dinosaurs doing yoga, an aircraft with Dali's mustache, and canvasses of eminent artists put on view at an airport are just a few of the amazing yet real-world cases. Representatives of the leading museums will speak at the discussion, among them are the Director of the Uffizi Galleries Eike Schmidt (Italy), Director of the Moscow Transport Museum Oksana Bondarenko, Head of Marketing and Communications at the Museum of Amsterdam Maurice Seleky (Netherlands).
The conversation on museums will carry on with the discussion "From Performance to Installations: Practices of Interaction Between Theatres and Museums". On how museums adopt theatrical techniques, whilst theatres stage performances in settings that gain a semblance of exhibition halls filled with art objects. Participants: members of Wenn es soweit ist Jacqueline Kornmüller and Peter Wolf (Austria), stage director of "Rimini Protokoll" Stefan Kaegi (Germany), Senior Curator and Producer of the Theatre and Performance Department at the V&A Kate Bailey (UK).
The next discussion will pose the question "How Technologies Shape Cities?" Urban planners from various countries are going to talk on the concept of "smart" cities, the purpose of sensors and video surveillance systems, tools for developing a truly mobile and inclusive urban environment. Among the participants are Alexander Kamenev, urban planning expert, Head of the Strelka KB Research Laboratory, Soumaya Ben Dhaou, Research Coordinator at the Center for Electronic Government Technologies at the United Nations University (Portugal), Leo Hollis, writer, urban historian (UK).
November 13 is going to be the longest day at the Forum, with four professional discussions being scheduled. "Traditional Theatre vs. Virtual Theatre" on the application of VR and AR technologies in stage productions, immersive experiences, the future of classical performances. With the participation of such virtual stage professionals as Director of the Pop-Up Theatre Semyon Aleksandrovsky, Director, Co-Founder & Creative Director of AXiiO VR Studio Oleg Nikolaenko (Finland), Head of Digital Development, the National Theatre Toby Coffey (UK), Founder and Artistic Director and CEO, Curious Directive Jack Lowe (UK).
The next discussion "The Art of Collecting" is dedicated to the transformations that have occurred in the art market over the past two decades. How to become the owner of an art object? What art and what artists are worth investing in? These and other questions will be addressed by the Open Lecture Hall experts, most notably the art dealer, founder of Altmans Gallery Egor Altman, cultural entrepreneur, film producer P. C. Neumann (Germany), Senior Expert at the International Numismatic Club Museum Bogdan Berkovsky, Director Emerita at Center for the History of Collecting at the Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library Inge Reist (USA).
The subject of contemporary art will be relayed to the discussion "Video Art and Visual Trends" where the most celebrated artists in the varieties of digital and video art will expatiate upon the new approaches to creating and enjoying art works. The list of participants includes artist Gary Hill (USA), AES+F artists Tatyana Arzamasova and Lev Evzovich, Director of the Multimedia Art Museum Olga Sviblova et al.
The Open Lectures program will conclude with the discussion "Modern Technologies That Are Changing the Fashion Industry". Digitalization finds an infinite variety of applications in the fashion sector, be it AR in virtual fitting rooms, online testing of future collections, or 3D printers for making models. Co-founders of the Institute of Digital Fashion Cat Taylor (Cattytay) and Leanne Elliott Young, Executive Creative Director of VIRTUE Morten Grubak (Denmark), Head of Innovation Agency at London College of Fashion Matthew Drinkwater (UK) will converse over these and other trends.
All the events of the Open Lectures "Culture 2.0" will take place at the Mayakovsky Library located at 44 Fontanka Enbankment. Admission is free following registration on the TimePad resource, links to the registration form are indicated in the events section on the Forum website.
A detailed events program of the "Culture 2.0" will be published on the website. Please, follow the event-related news on the social media VKontakte and Facebook.
