The City of Culture of Galicia is hosting the second edition of the INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURES that will take place from November 7 to 9, 2012 at the City of Culture of Galicia, which on this occasion, with the title «The Spider on the Web», will focus its attention on the relationship between Museums and Digital Technology.
There is no doubt now that information technology for artistic creation has affected the ways in which users access and consume culture. These new systems have overcome space-time barriers, thus offering the opportunity to have permanent access from anywhere in the World; they have managed to integrate and popularize different forms of artistic expression accessible to everyone; they have turned the global village into a digital city; they have lowered production and dissemination costs; they have democratized art.
The institutions in charge of the custody and dissemination of cultural heritage could not remain aside from such novelties. Museums, cultural centers and art galleries have seen the need to reformulate their goals and functions, as well as their presence, which is from now on dual: real and virtual. They may also be explored in this duality: outwardly, as they enable access to the museum beyond its walls, offering the opportunity for unlimited outreach; and inwardly, to enhance, complete and explain their collections, integrating manifold resources and offering activities which are as varied as the visitors themselves. The response to the digital challenge has been quite diverse: from using websites as a mere brochure with information all the way to complex multimedia presentations, both on-line and off-line. However, many of these institutions are still far from making use of even a fraction of the innumerable opportunities brought by the Digital Technologies to exploit their heritage or as heritage in themselves; besides, they fear losing real visitors for the sake of having remote users, although by no means these are interchangeable experiences: a virtual visit cannot be considered to be a substitute for the real thing, but just a different experience altogether, which in any case would enhance the actual visit.
A few months after the City of Culture of Galicia opened the doors of the Museum to the public, this second edition of FIEC~INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON SPACES FOR CULTURE takes place with the main goal of creating and consolidating the City of Culture of Galicia as a setting for «exchanging», proposing actions in accordance with the rapidly changing present times. In this second edition, independent professionals or those who have some relation to museum institutions will focus their discussions on the clear contribution that the Digital Technologies bring to the ever more attractive presentations of museum information, without detracting from its thoroughness, yet contributing to the fact that Museums may become the true engines for cultural supply, even reactivating the tourist industry.
+info: Web oficial do II FIEC
