Culture Num

The Festival d’Aix-en-Provence is organising in partnership with AUDIENS the third edition of CULTURE NUM, an event designed for reflection around the new challenges and opportunities ushered in by digital technologies in the cultural industries, and more specifically in the world of live performance. Several round-table meetings propose addressing these issues by comparing the perspectives of researchers and those of culture and digital professionals.

Moderation : Arnaud Laporte

 

• 10:30-11:00 – OPENING SESSION

— Émilie Cariou, Advisor to the Minister of culture, in charge of European, international and digital affairs
— Bernard Foccroulle, General Director of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

 

• 11:00-12:30 – DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE DEMOCRATISATION OF CULTURE AND CREATION OF SOCIAL BONDS

The idea of this first round table is to pursue the discussions initiated in the second edition around mediation via digital technologies, while widening the debate to include creation of social bonds and the democratisation of culture. Cultural structures embed in their region the mediation actions designed to create social bonds and make culture accessible to the greatest number of people. Drawing on this point, we are also keen to tackle the issue of the use of digital technologies in an approach based on establishing regional roots. First, because the actions conducted using digital tools enable mediation «outside the walls» and on a much larger scale. Secondly, because we are seeing a growing number of initiatives around creation of geo-located pathways with cultural content on the scope of a region, that seek to achieve this end. These projects are increasingly developed through collaboration between regional authorities, tourism agencies and cultural structures that take an overall view of the attractiveness of their regions and in this way reaffirm the link between culture and tourism.

Potential speakers:
— Jean-Michel Tobelem, Director of the study and advisory agency Option Culture, associate professor at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and author of the essay «Culture for all: solutions for democratisation?».
— Pascal Keiser, General coordinator of French Tech Culture, director of Technocité and digital programming advisor for Mons 2015 (see the Streetview project conducted for Mons European Capital of Culture 2015)
— Isabelle Saussol, head of the education department of the Rencontres d’Arles team for a presentation of their new platform «latelierdesphotographes» and the Pause Photo Prose game.
— Karen Gillingham, Creative Director L&P, at the Garsington Festival, for a presentation of the project aimed at encouraging seriously ill and bed-ridden patients in three hospitals to participate in an amateur community choir, culminating in a performance during which the three hospitals are connected via Skype.

 

• 2:00-3:30 – KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE IN THE DIGITAL ERA

This second round table aims to explain why it is crucial today for a cultural structure to know its audience better, not only in the interests of democratisation, but also to be able to anticipate spectators’ new needs by creating new services.
Digital technologies obviously offer new possibilities in this field, both in terms of tools developed to enhance knowledge of audiences and tools that aim to enrich the experience offered to spectators. We will be talking about the initial objectives and the results obtained in recent audience studies, and trying to understand whether digital genuinely offers tools for better knowledge of audiences and the opportunities it offers to enrich the spectator experience.

Potential speakers:
— Philippe Fanjas, Director of the Association Française des Orchestres (French Orchestras Association), who initiated the survey carried out over the entire 2013/2014 season with the audiences of 13 orchestras in Paris and across France
— Loup Wolff, Head of the studies, future development and statistics department of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication,
— Bruno Caillet, member of Artishoc 360, a cooperative of cultural players who share technologies and expertise to enhance their action, at lower cost, using the Internet, and editor of the white paper Les relations aux publics connectés (Relations with connected audiences).

 

• 4:00-5:30 – DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND NEW ARTISTIC EXPERIENCES

The third and last round table will revolve around artistic creation and the new experiences made possible by digital technology and tools. The idea here will be to propose demonstrations and share artistic experiences that include a strong digital component (music, museography, video games, etc.).

Demonstrations and potential speakers:
— Presentation of the Festival d’Aix Academy Atelier Création Innovation.
— Presentation of Roland Auzet’s project, Des voix sourdes (sound scenography system in the public space based on use of headsets).
— Presentation of the project Sonic Bike by Lisa Hall - Bicrophonic Research institute (a sound-creation initiative that is «played» by spectators as they move around through the city on bicycles connected to a satellite).
— Presentation of a new virtual reality experience by Luke Ritchie, Digital Director of the Philharmonia Orchestra.
— Speech by Yannick Vernet, Head of digital projects at the École Nationale de la Photographie in Arles, Chairman of Design the Future Now, specialist in the new media and digital cultures, notably in the field of museums and heritage.

COMPLETE PROGRAM

With the support of