Hello
This week, we’re not condoning theft or anything, there’s yet more AI (I could do a whole separate newsletter on that stuff at the moment), and an explanation for all those immersive Van Gogh exhibitions. Loads of other stuff too - there could even be something for everyone.
Relooted is a forthcoming museum-based game from the South Africa-based studio Nyamakop. “A crew. A job. A plan. Toss those ingredients together, and you’ve got yourself a classic heist — but with a few twists. The job is to liberate African artifacts from Western museums. And the plan? Well, that’s up to you to create”. Here's some backstory.
More AI
Are AI Bots Knocking Cultural Heritage Offline? A report from GLAM-E Lab. “This report captures the impact that bots building datasets for AI model training are having on online cultural collections in early 2025”. There was also some discussion of this on the MCG list.
Using artificial intelligence in your funding application from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Guidance for heritage organisations considering AI in their applications.
Behind ANCESTRA: combining generative AI with live-action filmmaking. "This is the first of three short films produced in partnership between our team at Google DeepMind and Primordial Soup, a new venture dedicated to storytelling innovation founded by director Darren Aronofsky". This one is from director Eliza McNitt.
Immersive
Annwn: A New Prize Dedicated To Immersive Storytelling In Art. Wales Millennium Centre and Crossover Labs with an award celebrating excellence in immersive storytelling.
Immersive Quarries from Marie Foulston. "The 50 million year long story about why the world was inundated with indistinguishable Immersive Van Gogh exhibitions in the 2010s".
Hybrid Theatre Toolkit. A guide to creating hybrid (physical and digital) experiences from NITE/Club Guy & Roni, DEN, Substrakt, and Annette Mees (Audience Labs).
Augmented Reading - The National Library of Singapore. “Snap Inc and LePub are using Snap Spectacles to "bring books to life" with real-time text recognition, soundscapes, and AI visuals”.
Other
Strudel REPL is "a new live coding platform to write dynamic music pieces in the browser! It is free and open-source and made for beginners and experts alike." Here’s a quick demo.
Amazon's Regional Creatives Fund UK. For “charities that are currently running a programme that focuses on upskilling people from underserved communities for careers in creative industries".
The Power of Drawing. “A special evening life drawing session streamed live from the Royal Drawing School's major exhibition marking its 25th anniversary”. I did one of their online drawing sessions recently and it was good. Although hands really are hard.
Former Apple design chief Sir Jony Ive becomes British Museum Trustee. "The museum said Ive's appointment, bringing experience and perspective in digital technologies 'will be especially valuable and welcome' as it continues with its Masterplan project."
Thanks for reading. If there was anything you liked then send it on to someone who might appreciate it. They’ll probably be glad to hear from you.
See you soon