Being part of the Me-Mind consortium, a program co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, we went to the Internet Festival of Pisa to start a conversation with its citizens on a topic that can be complex: culture and its impact on our lives.
The simplest and most meaningful way of defining a cultural experience is probably through explaining to one another how we have felt after it. We all experience culture differently, and so this installation aimed to map people’s experiences and connect them to those of others to create a wider picture of how cultural events leave a mark.
The questions inside the blue pavilion created by TAKK guided the visitors: four of them could be answered in an analog way (using stickers on panels), and the central question could be answered on an online survey. Once the survey had been completed, answers were printed in real-time by thermal printers inside the installation. We asked people questions such as ‘Which of these cultural sins have you committed more often’ or ‘What was the most meaningful cultural experience you’ve had so far?’.
The data gathered will be used for a study in the research project Me-Mind. This will serve diverse agents of the cultural sector to increase their impact, and will be used by Domestic Data Streamers to create an exhibition in the Estonian National Museum in 2022.
After the festival, we wrote this article about what we learned from this project.
