Thirty young international researchers will be developing digital education concepts based on the example of Joseph Beuys at the Summer School on Storytelling, Digital Media & Museums, taking place from Sunday 13 to Saturday 19 September 2015 at Museum Schloss Moyland.
This pilot project on digital art education – covering art history, art education and technical and media aspects – is being carried out jointly by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Jun.-Prof. Dr Ulli Seegers, Institute of Art History), Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in Kamp-Lintfort (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ido Iurgel, Department of Media Informatics) and the Museum Schloss Moyland Foundation in Bedburg-Hau (Dr Bettina Paust) as collaborating partners – made possible by funding from the Volkswagen Foundation.
The integration of new media into museum education and outreach, or within a cultural context, has now become essential. Nevertheless, its targeted use remains a largely unexplored area. The organisers of the Summer School therefore pose the following questions: “How can digital works, video art, film and media art be presented and communicated effectively as time-bound or ephemeral works? How can contemporary art be communicated through the use of narrative digital media? How can apps foster visitors’ creativity and participation, spark their curiosity and deepen their experience?”
Joseph Beuys had a lasting influence on contemporary art through his artistic concept of ‘Social Sculpture’. The aim of the 2015 Summer School is, for the first time, to enable museum visitors to experience and understand Joseph Beuys’s intangible body of work, as well as his persona. New forms of digital art education can be developed exceptionally well using the example of the artist Joseph Beuys, who was one of the first artists to work ‘medially’ and who deliberately used sound and images to disseminate his idea of ‘Social Sculpture’.
By the close of the application deadline in June 2015, over 300 young researchers from all over the world had applied (including from Switzerland, Russia, Turkey and the USA). The jury, comprising the project’s three collaborating partners, selected 30 participants from among all the applicants. International speakers at the Summer School include Massimo Zancanaro, University of Trento (I); Andres Veiel, film and theatre director and writer, Berlin; Dr Akrivi Katifori, University of Athens (GR); Prof. Dr Eugen Blume, Director of the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin; Prof. Dr Axel Vogelsang, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (CH); Joris Pekel, Europeana, The Hague (NL); Bianca Bocatius, museum educator, Nuremberg; Prof. Dr Barbara Welzel, Dortmund Technical University; and Dr iur. Anke Schierholz, legal adviser, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
Museum professionals, technicians, education specialists and art historians engage in a creative and productive dialogue within an international setting. The interdisciplinary nature of the Summer School facilitates cross-disciplinary exchange. Through lectures and practical sessions, the invited academics and researchers work together to develop new digital outreach formats.
