Cultural Digital newsletter #152
Cultural Digital
Hello
This week we have what I'm loosely calling 'immersive' stuff, thinking/fretting about tech in museums, and the usual smorgasbord of delights. Starting with…
SPACE TYPE GENERATOR will make your wildest kinetic type dreams come true. Or help waste a few minutes.
Immersive stuff
'Playable shows are the future': what Punchdrunk theatre learned from games. An interview with Felix Barrett.
What Dreams May Come: A VR ‘Hamlet’ Puts Us in the Room. "Commonwealth Shakespeare Company has teamed with Google to make an immersive virtual-reality adaptation, viewed by a ghostly roving camera".
Gastronomic at Shoreditch Town Hall, features "a five-course tasting menu set onboard an Airbus A380, with ground-breaking Augmented Reality".
AR gallery is cool, but it failed me from appreciating the art pieces. "I invited 2 friends to experience the Pocket Gallery, and not surprisingly they both felt excited about the first impression but got disappointed right away".
Tech in museums
How museums have been transformed by the digital revolution, "John Stack, digital director of the Science Museum Group, considers the evolution of museum collections over the past 25 years".
At what cost? Koven J. Smith says "There’s no better illustration of the complex bargain museums make with commercial technology than the Google Art Project". From what I've seen, people in mainland Europe seem to be much more sceptical of the larger tech platforms.
Museums in the changing world order: a question of ethics. "Adrian Ellis looks at the increased public scrutiny of museum boards in the social media age".
Miscellaneous
Senior arts staff sidelining digital work, research finds. "Digital skills are spread thin in cultural organisations, with only one in six of those in the most senior strategic roles identifying web or digital activity as forming a part of their work".
DigiCulture Online Survey. "The project aims to create a sustainable and efficient education program devoted to providing both very basic and more advanced training in digital skills for adults working at all levels in the creative industries sector".
Toto’s ‘Africa’ Playing on Loop in African Desert Sound Installation. “[I] wanted to pay the song the ultimate homage and physically exhibit ‘Africa’ in Africa,” said Namibian artist Max Siedentopf. “Some … love it, and some say it’s probably the worst sound installation ever”.
Art Innovators Alliance. An alliance of "forward-thinking art businesses committed to advancing the art industry through innovation and technology".
Facebook strikes cinema ticket deal with Odeon. You can now buy tickets in-app. I was also surprised by/sceptical about Snapchat's claim that it's "responsible for up to 50% of cinema ticket sales in the US".
Galleries From A to Z Sued Over Websites the Blind Can’t Use.
The Gyllenhaal Experiment. Spelling celebrities' names. I did so badly at this.
Jobs
There are digital-related jobs available at the Royal Academy of Arts, Tate, New Wolsey Theatre, and Cog Design.
That'll do us for this week. Have a good one, and I'll catch you next time.
Chris Unitt