BEYOND MATTER
Cultural Heritage on the Verge of Virtual Reality
An international interdisciplinary Creative Europe co-funded project Beyond Matter – Cultural Heritage on the Verge of Virtual Reality (2019-2023), brings together Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture with ZKM – Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (Germany), the Centre Pompidou, Paris (France), the Ludwig Muzeum, Budapest (Hungary), Tallin Art Hall (Estonia) and Tirana Art Lab (Albania). The project deals with revival of past landmark exhibitions, the documentation of current exhibitions and the dissemination of documentation along with actual artworks – both materially and immaterially present, encompassing the fields of cultural heritage, digital art conservation, digitalising heritage, new media art and experimental museology.
PROJECT HIGHTLIGHTS
EXHIBITION
Heritage as a Source of Knowledge in Artistic Research and Design Education
The exhibition revisits the site of Les Immatériaux (1985) curated by French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard and design theorist Thierry Chaput, showcasing an educational perspective encapsulated in the MA Fellowshop Programme. It displays selected aspects of the processes and outcomes of co-design methodologies employed in a particularly rich and insightful collaboration with Centre Pompidou.
VIRTUAL MUSEOLOGY TOOLKIT
Beyond Matter, Within Space
The publication Beyond Matter, Within Space. Curatorial and Art Mediation Techniques on the Verge of Virtual Reality explores dimensions of virtual reality through interviews, scholarly essays, and other writings and delivers an in-depth account of the research activities by the Beyond Matter partners and the project outcomes.
EXHIBITION
« Les immatériaux » Aperçus d’une manifestation postmoderne au Centre Pompidou
The last stop of the traveling exhibition Matter. Non-Matter. Anti-Matter. taking a part in the Moviment Festival at Centre Pompidou on 8 July.
PORe WORKSHOP
Imagined Monuments
A newly developed hands-on collaborative workshop where exhibition visitors imagine and create a 'monument’ piecing it together from exhibition images. Once completed, the 'monument' is transferred onto a T-shirt as a personal souvenir of the exhibition visit.
PORe WORKSHOP
Avatars and Poetry IV
A novel hands-on collaborative workshop where exhibition visitors co-create own digital avatars and poems from the visual and textual exhibition material, to engage in a short virtual poetry session with the workshop group.
EXHIBITION
Matter, Non-Matter, Anti-Matter. Past Exhibitions as Digital Experiences.
The exhibition presents the current state of the ongoing research project Beyond Matter, investigating ways to re-experience past exhibitions using digital and spatial modeling methods. The virtual exhibition models of Les Immateriaux (1985) and Iconoclash (2002) can be explored via newly developed interface Immaterial Display.
XR & Digital Heritage Info Afternoon
Research dissemination with presentations about media, design, extended and virtual reality by Cvijeta Miljak (Aalto University), Leena Svinhufvud (Design Museum Helsinki) and Hiroshi Takanashi (Dai Nippon Printing) moderated by prof. Lily Díaz-Kommonen.
EXHIBITION
Heritage as a Source of Knowledge in Art and Design Education
Revisiting the site of Les Immatériaux, an exhibition curated in 1985 by Jean-François Lyotard and Thierry Chaput, showcasing an educational perspective to the Creative Europe research project Beyond Matter – Cultural Heritage on the Verge of Virtual Reality.
PORe WORKSHOP
Avatars and Poetry III
A novel hands-on collaborative workshop where exhibition visitors co-create own digital avatars and poems from the visual and textual exhibition material, to engage in a short virtual poetry session with the workshop group.
EXHIBITION
Matter, Non-Matter, Anti-Matter. Past Exhibitions as Digital Experiences.
The exhibition presents the current state of the ongoing research project Beyond Matter, investigating ways to re-experience past exhibitions using digital and spatial modeling methods. The virtual exhibition models of Les Immateriaux (1985) and Iconoclash (2002) can be explored via newly developed interface Immaterial Display.
HYBRIID SEMINAR
Co-designing VR Experiences
Accompanying a week long exhibition Co-designing VR EXperiences, a hybrid seminar featuring Beyond Matter project in the morning Panel discussion with presentions and discussion with ZKM, Centre Pompidou and Aalto University partners.
PORe WORKSHOP
Avatars and Poetry II
A novel hands-on collaborative workshop where exhibition visitors co-create own digital avatars and poems from the visual and textual exhibition material, to engage in a short virtual poetry session with the workshop group.
EXHIBITION
Matter, Non-Matter, Anti-Matter.
Past Exhibitions as Digital Experiences.
The exhibition presents the current state of the ongoing research project Beyond Matter, investigating ways to re-experience past exhibitions using digital and spatial modeling methods. The virtual exhibition models of Les Immateriaux (1985) and Iconoclash (2002) can be explored via newly developed interface Immaterial Display.
EXHIBITION
Matter, Non-Matter, Anti-Matter. Past Exhibitions as Digital Experiences.
The exhibition presents the current state of the ongoing research project Beyond Matter, investigating ways to re-experience past exhibitions using digital and spatial modeling methods. The virtual exhibition models of Les Immateriaux (1985) and Iconoclash (2002) can be explored via newly developed interface Immaterial Display.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Matter, Non-Matter, Anti-Matter.
Past Exhibitions as Digital Experiences.
The panel discussion, augumenting the opening of the exhibition Matter, Non-Matter, Anti-Matter. Past Exhibitions as Digital Experiences moderated by prof. Lily Diaz-Kommonen, hosted Harri Laakso (Head of Department of Art and Media, Aalto University), Anne Mäkijärvi (Digimuseo.fi) and Jussi Nuortena (National Archive of Finland).
VISITING LECTURE
Artistic simulations and building new audiences for historical exhibition reconstructions
Andreas Broeckmann, art historian and curator, a member of the research team at Centre Pompidou that is working on the virtual reconstruction of Les Immatériaux gave an online visiting lecture as part of the MA research course DOM-E514901 Systems of Representation: Culture Lab. The course focuses on the notion of representation from a systemic and socio-cultural perspective.
VISITING LECTURE
Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás, a curator from ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, held an online visiting lecture as a part of the MA research course DOM-E5149 Systems of Representation in which she summarised the main concepts of the Beyond Matter – Cultural heritage on the verge of Virtual Reality project as well as presented the two milestone exhibitions, Les Immatériaux (1985) and Iconoclash (2002) that will be revived and interpreted over the course of the project.