The Project
ExhiBIT: Co-curating in the Phygital Museum and the creation of alternative and transcultural ’voices’ towards developing inclusive and sustainable museums” is an Erasmus+ Project which introduces the significance of co-curatorship through hybrid or “phygital” strategies (blending together physical experiences with digital practices). It aims for a wider visitor engagement in museum spaces in the multicultural societies of the post-pandemic era.
The pandemic era caused a significant decrease in museum participation, which deepened the need for innovative solutions as a means to enhance cultural engagement in the society (in the broadest sense of the term). In addition, and with matters of cultural heritage in particular, the recent lack in participation showed an even more drastic absence of “minor” or alternative, underrepresented narratives and experiences in museum spaces, to the extent of endangering their long-term sustainability.
Within the framework of the EU’s Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), the ExhiBIT project offers the professionals working in any field of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) the opportunity to develop their digital skills and excellence, in order to reconfigure their pedagogies and further the social inclusivity of their respective institutions. By promoting the practice of co-curatorship, ExhiBIT provides the space and tools for CCI professionals to engage in dialogue with misrepresented parts of their society – due to socio-political, ethnic, religious, gender or other cultural representations – in order to co-define the needs and interests that will shape the future of participatory museum spaces.
ExhiBIT’s overarching objectives aim to:
1) address digital transformation in society by enhancing digital readiness, resilience and capacity both among CCI professionals and adult citizens;
2) promote innovative, life-long learning practices in local centers and other spaces in order to enhance public participation around cultural heritage in a transversal approach;
3) tackle social misrepresentation and foster the promotion of multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion within Galleries, Libraries, Archives and other Museum spaces (the GLAM sector).
1) e-Booklet on the significance of co-curating in multicultural societies through Phygital strategies.
With the launch of the Project, which will first see the conduction of sound research, open forums will be organized in museum spaces in order to gather expertise, discuss the needs for public engagement strategies, and raise awareness around transversal approaches of cultural heritage. This will allow the creation of an e-Booklet addressing the value of digitization and citizen curation of alternative narratives within the development of participation strategies.
2) The ExhiBIT App: broadening social representation within curatorial strategies to strengthen museum sustainability.
In the second phase of the Project, objects, artefacts, and other archival material (based on the public’s identified interests) will be selected as topics for the development of the ExhiBIT application to be introduced in museum spaces.
3) Museum Labs: digital upskilling and implementation of the ExhiBIT App for co-curated museum exhibitions and activities in multicultural societies.
In the last phase of the Project, museum staff will be provided with appropriate information and training material to facilitate the successful introduction of the ExhiBIT App in their institutions. Co-curated and archival activities will also be offered to museum visitors through the ExhiBIT App, in order to re-invent social representation within museum spaces.
