Mingei partners worked widely with diverse stakeholders in heritage crafts communities over the course of the project, through co-creation, research, documentation, digitalisation and much much more. Here we share good practice guidelines we have developed to guide engagement with heritage crafts communities in digital projects. This guidance is published in tandem with our ten safe-guarding steps.

1. Do your homework

Before engaging with a Heritage  Craft Community, do your homework. Gathering as much information as possible about who they are, what their background is, and what the cultural and socio-economical context in which they operate is. This information will not only save time and help in the preparation of the appropriate material for the activity but also may prevent possible awkward social interactions or even faux pas from happening (i.e., doing something that is against local traditions and customs or asking an inappropriate question). This aligns with the ‘Introspection’ section presented in the ten safe-guarding steps. 

2. Communicate clearly

Clear communication of activity goals, processes, and expectations is an important factor for a successful activity outcome. All parties involved should be on the same page as to who, why, how, and where the activity is going to be executed. Share this information well ahead of time so that enough time is allowed for the parties involved to ask for clarifications or express any concerns.

3. Be empathetic

Heritage Craft practitioners are highly skilled and understand their craft in a holistic, sometimes visceral way. However, the world of digitisation might be new to them and an engineer’s or programmer’s approach to their craft might be very different from how they view it themselves. Also, their age or (cultural) background might mean certain requirements need to be met that might not be commonly encountered by technologists. Sessions should be adapted to participants’ requirements and not the other way around. 

4. Be flexible

This refers to all aspects of planning and executing any collaborative activity with Heritage Crafts Communities or individual members. It means to be prepared to face unforeseen challenges and react accordingly. No matter how well prepared for the activity the team is, things can go different than expected. It is important to deal with such challenges promptly and accommodate changes to the original plans without compromising the value of the activity. 

5. Ease the fear of technology

In digital cultural heritage projects, not all partners involved are familiar with state-of-the-art technologies and applications. Terms like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Avatars, etc., may be foreign to most people involved.  Moreover, their lack of technical expertise may make them reluctant to get involved in any technology-related decision making from fear that they have nothing of value to contribute to this aspect. To avoid such a situation from happening and encourage cultural heritage partners to engage fully in all stages of the project, the technical partners need to ease their fear of technology. Some of the ways to do that are to build technology or application demonstrators, build working or non-working prototypes that showcase the possibilities available, and to showcase existing examples of technologies that have been used in similar situations.

6. Establish a widely understood reporting medium

Craft understanding is an iterative process and alignment of all participants should take place prior to each new technology development iteration. A commonly understood reporting medium will provide insights on the outcomes of an iteration and allow further elaboration. For example, storyboards are useful for (a) illustrated scripts that decompose actions into simpler ones and (b) validating this transmitted information with the craft community, collecting feedback, and identifying parts of the process that may be underrepresented. 

7. Be considerate towards the needs of older participants

It is often the case that craft practitioners who represent an endangered craft are older people. When involving them in any type of project-related activity such as interviews, demonstrations, or co-creation workshops, there are a few points that the team needs to take into consideration to ensure a positive experience for them. These are:

• Duration of activity: keep the duration of the activity as short as possible and provide frequent breaks for refreshments, use of bathroom facilities, etc.
• Pace: people learn and think at different paces. Keep that in mind when planning and scheduling the activity and always include some buffer time to avoid rushing through the activity or running out of time.
• Envisioning abstract concepts: bear in mind that some people have no or limited prior experience in modern technologies. For example, it would be unrealistic to ask a group of people unfamiliar with digital technology to design or sketch an application/system from scratch without having a point of reference. We have found that it works best to start such activities by showing prototypes or other examples of technologies in similar contexts of use before asking for any type of input from them. Once people understand how a type of technology works and see examples of it in use, then they can then start envisioning how they can be of use for presenting the storyline of the craft they represent.

About the Centre des Arts et Métiers

The Centre des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), Paris, France, hosts a museum of technological innovation and contains objects related to both the artistic and more industrial production of glass. Furthermore, it holds historic archives regarding the artefacts and techniques under study. All of these perspectives were harnessed in the Mingei pilot installation, which was open until the beginning of April 2022.

The pilot installation: training the public in glass blowing processes through re-enactment

The installation targeted craft presentation through an exploration of the workspace, as well as craft training through an interactive experience where users re-enact gestures of a glass master holding a tool and receiving audiovisual feedback on the accuracy of their performance. Preliminary evaluation results show high acceptance of the installation and good user interest.

Glasswork is a traditional craft that combines hand and body gestures and a thorough understanding of the material. It is a challenging craft because the material changes states from liquid to solid during production. While this complexity was not presented in the visitor-facing installation, in Mingei more broadly we pushed forward the technical means for capturing and conveying these sensory aspects of glasswork, that is to say, the requirements of dexterous aspects and tool manipulation in craft presentation and preservation. 

Learning and iterating: what we learned from user-experience evaluations

After the technical validation of the installation, we conducted a short preliminary evaluation with museum personnel. The first part of the preliminary evaluation was conducted with users from the education department of the museum who were invited to experience the installation and mimic the craftsperson actions using the bench and tools provided. What was learned led to changes to the user-interact (UI) to (a) provide real-time help to users to guide them through the training process and (b) enhance the feedback users get while using the app to better understand whether they are copying the movements right or wrongly. We fixed a glitch that meant that users sometimes thought they were doing it wrong because the feedback came too slowly. stopped with the application because they didn’t receive fast enough, and instead thought they were doing it wrong. 

A wider evaluation with visitors was conducted later. We asked a user-experience evaluator to monitor how users interacted with the installation. Minor issues with the UI were improved, including the addition of introductory screens to assist users to know when the presentation element had finished and when the training session was beginning (and when they were expected to get active). 

Responses from museum visitors

There were regular visitors to the installation, located as it was in part of the impressive church in the museum building, Saint-Martin-des-Champs. An audio component meant that the installation piqued the interest of those outside. 

Feedback collected via our post-interaction questionnaire showed that what seemed to impress visitors the most was the whole concept of being able to mimic the gestures, or as one of the visitors characteristically wrote “being in the shoes of the glassmaker” and receive feedback on the accuracy of the movement in real-time. Using a real-life workbench and glass blowpipe only added to the authenticity of the represented scene and further enhanced the whole user experience.

Find out more for yourself in the video below and explore the digital presentation of glass-blowing on the Mingei Open Platform.

In the Mingei project, a key area of our impact work has been to focus on organisational impact experienced by our heritage crafts partners and technology partners alike. For a forward-reaching project in the digitisation and digital representation of heritage crafts, we can think of organisational impact as digital transformation. 

In the heritage sector, digital transformation has been a buzzword now for many years. In parallel with attempts to define digital transformation, like the definition developed by Europeana relating to the discoverability of heritage collections, we have seen more and more practical tools and targeted guidance emerge that aim to conceptualise, push forward and measure digital transformation. Yet there are few overviews of what was out there and what is designed for whom and when. 

To push forward our thinking on organisational impact in Mingei we conducted a snapshot review of what’s out there at the moment. We hope that this analysis will help to stimulate even more thinking about organisational impact and digital transformation, long after Mingei finishes in May 2022.

On 10 March 2022, as part of the international Mingei Day, we held an online seminar with invited experts from the Mingei project and peer organisations and projects, including the Europeana/Connecting Europe Facility project CRAFTED. The Mingei Platform was presented in the form of four short demonstrations that bookended four themed discussions. This article sets out the main themes discussed.

‘[Why do we preserve heritage?] …not only to protect… [but] to learn from the past and improve the future’. Marinos Ioannides (UNESCO chair of Digital Cultural Heritage at Cyprus University of Technology)

Mingei was set up to meet the challenge of digitising and representing crafts and should be seen in the context of a network of peers and experts in Europe (and of course, further afield) who are employing digital technologies – from motion tracking to geo-tagging – and ontologies to meaningfully share the ‘recipes’ of crafting processes and the stories that explain its social and historical significance, as described by Mingei project coordinator, Xenophon Zabulis (FORTH, Mingei) and Mingei Platform developer Carlo Meghini (CNR-ISTI, Mingei).

Eirini Kaldeli (NTUA, CRAFTED project) invoked the challenge of representing different types of crafts heritage and the knowledge and know-how that must be included to meaningfully represent this heritage digitally. She connected this to the standards required by the Europeana Data Model (EDM) while describing activities designed to strengthen existing ontologies (vocabularies) that explore and standardise the many existing crafts terminologies. Also reinforced was the need for collaborative learning in this area, to which the seminar was a contribution in this vein. 

Putting narrative at the centre of crafts representation

The Mingei project takes an innovative step in crafts preservation by putting narrative at the centre. It established a channel between the human and the digital assets through the formal representation of the stories and the meaningful management of the heritage data. This represents a significant change, according to Carlo Meghini, and reinforced by Marinos Ioannides (UNESCO Chair Digital Cultural Heritage, Cyprus University of Technology). He stated that the greatest challenge faced by those working in digital heritage crafts preservation is not only the digitisation of the tangible or intangible but both together with the memories that give this meaning, in a way that allows these memories to be understood by all audiences and so that anyone can learn from them.

There are challenges, however, to the EDM (to which Europe’s digitised heritage available on Europeana must conform to). Xenophon Zabulis argued that it does not yet adequately allow for the capture of diverse narratives and the representation of all of the vocabulary used and captured in Mingei and other projects. It also lacks the presentation of events. In the past, as Carlo Meghini explained, the data were not there to tell extensive crafts stories (often not in catalogues or even formally documented). Capturing stories provides richer representations but it also poses ongoing technical questions (many of which are now being addressed). Eirini Kaldeli explained that this need has been identified by the CRAFTED project and new formats (e.g. galleries) help to explore the narratives behind the crafts. 

‘…the craft is alive only if someone performs the craft’. Arnaud Dubois

Even with the most advanced digitisation and representation of heritage crafts loses the essence of the craft without performativity, according to Arnaud Dubois (CNAM, Mingei). While there is some fear that ‘digital’ might replace crafts practices (which Arnaud explained came from a confusion in some instances between digitisation and automation or robotisation), craftspeople nonetheless acknowledge the need for heritage digitisation for preservation and to gain a wider audience. Eirini Kaldeli suggested that organising hands-on workshops alongside digitisation efforts is key to creating impact for wider audiences, because, as Nikolaos Partarakis (FORTH) explained, there is no way (yet) to digitally transmit the pain, effort and feeling of craft practices. Digital knowledge cannot replace the practices needed to perfect the craft, but without preserving this knowledge, we might lose opportunities to train future generations. 

What about artificial intelligence?

Marinos Ioannides asked the panel the question of what artificial intelligence (AI) can be used for. Machine learning has pushed forward advances in crafts representation and preservation and, for example, in automating annotation. This technology can help those searching for knowledge find and filter appropriate knowledge sources. Eirini Kaldeli introduced the ‘human in the loop’ concept, which is the fruitful combination of human and artificial intelligence. Human intelligence can strengthen the results of AI algorithms and further train them, and AI can automate mundane tasks. Humans can annotate data and produce domain-relevant training data, further advancing AI. Carlo Meghini noted that AI can help with more error-prone human tasks, but that the definition of intelligence remains a question. Arnaud Dubois noted that AI brings new ways to document complex knowledge, but that this benefits from multidisciplinary (human) approaches to the complexity of human experience. Marinos Ioannides then reflected on the use of AI to support humans in managing complexity but that we shouldn’t forget the unlimited boundaries of human learning and the human drive for preservation.  

The application of the Mingei protocol is also generic enough to be applied to other heritage contexts and in different disciplines, and the protocol guides those responsible for preservation to extract narratives from individual objects to uncover and present additional knowledge relating to both tangible and intangible elements. The Mingei protocol defines what is expected by all scientists involved in the documentation process, supporting much-needed multidisciplinary collaboration. 

It is still not possible to express or replicate the interaction of the craftspeople with their material because this changes in every instance and stage of the process of the craft. Yet what can be expressed is the need to emphasise performativity, the recreation of relationships between people and matter, as well as to acknowledge that there are some elements of the process of the craft that cannot be understood or captured. 

Conclusions

Learning from ancient history and philosophy, the seminar shared insights into the key questions and state of the art in digital heritage crafts preservation. Raising questions of the purpose and limitations of artificial intelligence and technological advancement, Mingei pushes forward the opportunities of digital heritage crafts preservation by reinforcing the role of the human story, of the narrative, in these processes, of balance and respect for craft as it is protected and preserved for future generations. Watch the full seminar below or on Vimeo!

This is the second blog of a series dedicated to how Team-Based Inquiry (TBI) is being used in the Mingei project and what we are learning from it. In Mingei, each heritage partner and Waag have completed several TBI cycles, setting out a different research question, collecting and analysing the data, and implementing improvements each time. Each TBI cycle has examined different topics and led to new insights. Having introduced TBI already, we now explore some of the insights generated and what this means for organisational impact, as well as setting out recommendations to help you use TBI in your work. 

Using TBI to improve the museum visitor experience

The Mingei partners at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM) wanted to know why, of the many exhibitions that are part of the materials gallery (one of seven thematic galleries in the museum), the glass exhibitions were attracting so few visitors and how they could focus the visiting public’s attention more on the materials gallery. The question stemmed from the perception that the Mingei project’s focus on the digitisation of the intangible aspects of the craft of glassmaking would help to bring in more visitors, but that the layout of the museum itself, or something else, might be getting in the way.

They collected data through a series of interviews with mediators and demonstrators from the museum’s Public Department. These professionals had in-depth and direct knowledge about the visitors’ experiences that they could share. They also organised a visit with the person in the museum tasked with making changes to the museum layout. The data they collected led to practical changes being proposed: for example, a plan for renovating the flooring, improving audio-guide systems, and adding labelling and signals around the gallery. 

Asking TBI questions to help improve the visitor experience with museum digital applications

The Chios Mastic Museum investigated how instructions for three newly-installed digital applications could be improved for museum visitors. The TBI cycle was launched at the same time as these installations were being formally evaluated. One of the biggest challenges was how not to over-survey the audience. It was agreed to conduct the TBI survey once the preliminary evaluation data had been collected. Gathering data through three sessions of staff observation and surveys of museum visitors, they identified a number of areas where they could improve the instructions for the applications, including, for example, guidance on where to stand to activate a certain type of app. They also identified a clear need for museum professionals to remain on hand to answer questions and to guide visitors in how to use the apps. This is important, as it was observed that visitors often do not spend much time trying to learn how an app works. 

Colleagues at the Chios Mastic Museum also asked the question of ‘To what extent do the museum professionals understand how the digital applications work, feel comfortable using them and can explain their use to visitors and new colleagues?’. Danae Kaplanidi, scientific consultant at the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP), reports on what they learned in a special blog post where she identifies that the question addresses a gap in the existing research literature, as well as helping the museum better train and supports its professionals in the use and demonstration of digital applications in the museum exhibition setting. 

Using TBI to harness good practice in communications and dissemination more effective

While Waag colleagues are coaching the heritage partners through the TBI cycles, we also undertook our own TBI cycles. Finding ourselves at a critical point in the project – our need to create impact through dissemination and communication – we dedicated ourselves to precisely that topic. We asked the question: what makes impactful and effective communication and dissemination in EU-funded projects?

We found eight problems with the current state of play with European funding projects communications, dissemination and exploitation, ranging from the short-term nature of project funding to project outputs (e.g. reports) not being designed appropriately for their audiences. We identified three solutions: 

• Know your target audience: talk to and with them
• Tell open, impactful, people-centred stories with substance 
• Plan long-term project legacy in a practical way

Each solution is presented alongside a series of tips and recommendations. You can read these in more detail in our blogs exploring what makes impactful communications and dissemination and how to measure the impact of communications, dissemination and exploitation in EU-funded projects. The findings are being widely shared across project and partner communication channels as well as on those channels where the original survey was published. 

Turning a challenge into an opportunity in data collection 

Data collection is an inevitable part of a TBI cycle, but what happens if you haven’t collected data from your audiences before? 

This was one challenge for the Haus der Seidencultur (HdS). Run entirely by volunteers, all of whom are retired, the museum lacks many of the resources other museums might enjoy. They asked the question of how to improve the experience of the non-guided museum visitor experience. Since re-opening after the first Covid lockdowns, they had been trying to informally collect more feedback from visitors, benefitting from the thoughts shared in the visitor book as well as the great personal connections made by guides with tour groups. Everything that was shared, however informally, was fed into the TBI cycle. The findings led the team to propose to capture and share more information about each museum exhibit with guests by creating QR codes as part of the Mingei pilot installation.

What was the organisational and professional impact of the Mingei TBI cycles? 

As a method of generating new knowledge and creating practical improvements, the TBI cycle has been a great asset in the Mingei project. We found three relevant themes that emerged as a result of the TBI cycles, no matter how different the context of the other heritage partners might be. 

The first was around informal data collection opportunities. The second was on the security of the digital devices that are being used in the exhibition pilots in the three museums. How can a museum ensure that its technology remains safely in place while creating the best and most enjoyable experience for visitors? The third was around how to train museum professionals on how to use the applications and new digital technologies. 

In addition to these very positive shared learnings, we can summarise some of the outcomes that have resulted from the Mingei TBI cycles as follows: 

• Attracting new users and those interested in heritage craft.
• Improved communication within the museum settings.
• Improved communication in the Mingei project setting.
• Potential future impact as a result of the wider awareness of the Mingei project’s developed resources.
• Better communications, dissemination and exploitation planning and delivery in future projects.
• New solutions to tricky problems (because the TBI cycles are a new tool in the professionals’ ‘toolbox’).
• Improved user experience for museum visitors using the digital applications and exploring the museum setting.

How can we improve the use and impact of TBI cycles in processes of digital transformation? 

‘The whole TBI process was not a procedure that we had implemented before. Nevertheless, it proved to be very useful when it comes to providing answers in a participative – bottom up approach and it has helped us in defining improvements in our decision making processes.’ heritage partner feedback

The cyclical and iterative nature of TBI, as well as its focus on answering the research question as a team, makes it suitable in a context of proactive partnership and skills development in processes of digital transformation, where the focus is not only on the results but the impact created through the process. TBI is a tool that can answer, in a simple way, much bigger questions relating to key stakeholders and key questions facing heritage crafts organisations in the contemporary, digital, context.

Tips and recommendations for the effective use of the TBI methodology 

• – Present clear instructions and an overview of the process from the beginning for all involved. 
• – Get people involved who have the agency to implement the changes that will be recommended through the TBI cycle.
• – Involve as many colleagues as possible in the introduction to and delivery of TBI cycles, so that everyone feels comfortable to take part. 
• – Start small and progress to bigger questions over time. 
• – Keep it lean and light-touch (this is a key attribute of the TBI cycle over other processes). 

Read more about team-based inquiry in the Mingei Hands-on Guide!

We asked FORTH’s Xenophon Zabulis what was learned through this extensive programme of consultation with makers and what it means for the future impact of the project and engagement with heritage crafts communities.

WHAT WAS LEARNED THROUGH THIS PROCESS OF CONSULTATION?

The consultation informed the methodology of the Mingei protocol and our wider approach to the digital representation of heritage crafts. We approached makers to ensure that we understood, directly from their perspective, what they are talking about and the issues that are important to them. We wanted to ensure that the digital medium would not deprive them of expression and that it would ensure ownership. Only then could we proceed to discuss the potential impact of the digital representation of heritage crafts, such as new materials and hybrid art.

HOW DID IT INFLUENCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINGEI PROTOCOL?

The consultation helped us by placing emphasis on several activities. Firstly, by doing preliminary research with secondary resources to know the topic better before you meet the practitioners, including at least the local history of the place and the community to visit. Secondly, focus on getting a perspective not easily found in the literature. Thirdly, digitising everything and editing later. Finally, previewing digitisation assets on the spot with practitioners and asking their opinion on what is important to show.

HOW DID IT CHANGE HOW TECHNICAL PARTNERS MIGHT WORK WITH THESE COMMUNITIES IN FUTURE?

The need for data that more closely represents the sensations and ideas that the practitioner uses is strengthened. Technically, it means that we need to measure force, chemistry and time to reflect the physics of processes, in light of new materials and sustainability considerations. But it also includes the task of gaining a better theoretical understanding of how the mind negotiates with matter in making useful and beautiful things.

WAS IT A VALUABLE EXPERIENCE?

For me, yes and I hope the same applies to everyone that worked on the project. Community knowledge was served by Open Access in all project publications. European Commission resources were increased, enhanced, and valorised through investment in Mingei. We hope that through the Mingei Handbook on Heritage Craft representation and preservation we will trigger further research on this matter.

WHAT WERE YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND WERE THESE MET?

Not all expectations were met. We would need more time to ask all the questions that we want to, but we are using this to inform our aspirations for future research.

WHAT WERE THE CREATIVES’ EXPECTATIONS OF THE MINGEI PROTOCOL?

To be remembered, first. To make income, second.

Find out more about the creatives that helped to inform the development of the Mingei Protocol by clicking on the links below.

• In the Spotlight: The Artist Ioannis Stathoyiannis – Mingei
• In the Spotlight: local Industry “Handmade Cretan Woven” – Mingei
• In the Spotlight: Nikolaos Fasoulas, a traditional shoemaker from the mountainous village Anogeia – Mingei 
• In the Spotlight: Women weavers from “Aretousa” Workshop
• In the Spotlight: weaving experts from CRETACOM – Mingei
• In the Spotlight: woodworker Nikos Manias – Mingei
• In the Spotlight: glassblower Thibaut Nussbaumer
• In the Spotlight: Limerick Lace
• In the Spotlight: artist Eirini Linardaki – Mingei
• In the Spotlight: ceramist Stelios Stamatis – Mingei
• In the Spotlight: The pottery experience at Keramion – Mingei

International webinar Waag: Technology as a means of preservation

Online, four heritage experts along with moderator Nicole McNeilly conducted an international webinar focused on how technology can be utilised to preserve heritage crafts. During the presentation, the audience learned more about the three Mingei pilot projects, on glassblowing, silk weaving, and mastic growing, which will create tools for heritage craft presentation and guide future research.

The Mingei project platform and different technologies like 3D reconstructions, used to preserve and represent heritage craft, were also demonstrated. Following the presentation was a panel on various topics like the inclusion of AI in craft preservation, how the Mingei project can serve to pass on informal heritage craft knowledge to a broad audience, and how this knowledge of the past can serve to inform our future.

rewatch the webinar

Local session Waag: Fashion as a thread between past and present

At Waag, creative Director Dick van Dijk provided an overview of the Mingei project and introduced the attendees to keynote speaker and renowned fashion designer Antoine Peters’ work, saying that it ‘looks into the past and provides new context’ for the future. During the keynote, Peters discussed several of his projects including his collaboration with the Zeeuws Museum. For the museum, he reimagined a traditional nineteenth-century garment from Zeeland, the yak, as a modern garment: the Jaktrui. In creating the Jaktrui, Peters ‘wanted to communicate something from the past to the now and translate it in my own way’. The zero-waste folding technique was then used for economic reasons, but now is very relevant from a sustainability perspective.

Following his presentation was a workshop on the craft of repairing clothing. This workshop was designed based on the Reflow project aiming to share knowledge on how to rethink, repair, and revalue your wardrobe. During this workshop, attendees were encouraged to rethink items of their own clothing focusing on both aesthetic and technique in clothing repair.

• Rewatch the workshop
• Watch the instruction
• View the photos of the workshop (photo credit: Jimena Gauna)
• An impression of the local sessions from the European partners will be published on the Mingei website.
   

How heritage can shape the future

So how does the Mingei project serve to connect the past, present, and future? Inspired by the Mingei movement in Japan, which originally served as a response to Western mechanisation in the mid 1920s, the Mingei project today focuses on the digitalisation and accessibility of heritage craft, both tangible and intangible.

Through use of modern technologies like interactive Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality, Mingei seeks to tell stories not only about the craft objects themselves, but about the rituals, practice, and knowledge that accompany these objects. The application of modern technology to heritage craft can then serve to build a bridge between the past and present.

In regard to the connection between past and present, Antoine Peters notes that ‘a design or a translation now always has this reference captured in it. So you have these little bridges – in storytelling or in the visual part’. When Peters was researching the yak, he found that no documentation existed detailing its construction proces – namely, how to take one piece of fabric and fold it to create the jak. Instead, he learned the folding technique from 91-year-old craftswoman Mrs. Vos.

This mirrors a challenge that was discovered during the Mingei project: during a glassblowing pilot in Paris, there was no documentation that outlined the movements and rituals of past glassblowers. Similar to the work Peters did to understand the historical process of crafting the yak, those working on the glass pilot had to find alternate methods to learn craft heritage techniques and movements and were able to reverse-engineer steps required for glassblowing. Both Peters and the glass pilot help to further an understanding of the past while contributing valuable knowledge to the future.

Through work like the Mingei project and Peters’ collaboration with the Zeeuws Museum, modern concepts and technologies can be applied to the past in a way that creates bridges between the past and present. When talking about heritage, Peters noted that the past and present cannot be separated; that ‘it’s all connected’. Examining these connections allows us to see the thread that connects the present day with the past and tells us stories that can be leveraged to imagine the future.

Exhibition CNAM Paris

CNAM organised an exhibiton where the worlds of academics and professional activity come together. It is the only higher education establishment dedicated to life-long professional training. A dedicated space at the cathedral which is part of the museum invites you to experience the craft of glassblowing and use actual glassblowing tools.

Local webinar FORTH – Greece

FORTH organised two webinars for Mingei Day (videos are in Greek).

Mingei Day Geneva – Reenacting 3D craft people

But Mingei Day is not over yet. On 9 and 10 July MIRAlab is organising a local session for Mingei Day in Geneva during The Night of Science. The partners main goal is to assure the perennity of certain gestures and attitudes when former people were doing crafts. Through digital simulation, we can preserve the intangible heritage.

Miralab intend to present videos of the “making of” of the digital craft people who are reproducing the gestures of our 3 activities: Glass, Mastic and Silk. As well as the setup of the three pilots.

In the last four years, Waag and nine European partners and craftsmen have experimented in Mingei project by documenting and digitalising crafts, storytelling, interactive Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and motion capture.

During this webinar on Mingei Day we would like to share and discuss the results and knowledge we gained. In four online panel discussions, experts from all over Europe will discuss and share their views on how to preserve crafts and how we can keep improving this in the future. During the webinar, participants will also have the opportunity to ask questions online.

Join the conversation! The link to the meeting will be provided to you by email. This event will be recorded.

Programme

16.00 hrs – Welcome Mingei Day – host Nicole McNeilly (Impact Evaluation Advisor Waag)
16.05 hrs – Introduction to Mingei Project (Xenophon Zabulis – Project Coordinator Mingei)
16.15 hrs – Expert panel discussion will cover the following questions:

1. What is the urgency of preserving and documenting crafts?
2. What is the impact for the craft and heritage community, education and future generations?
3. What tech advances are helping us make steps in the preservation and documentation of crafts?
4. How could the Mingei platform be useful for future users to make the impact sustainable?

17.35 hrs – Q&A from participants and recap lessons learned
17.45 hrs – Closing

Panelists

• Xenophon Zabulis – Research Director FORTH, project coordinator Mingei
• Carlo Meghini – Research Director at CNR-ISTI and developer Mingei platform
• Arnaud Dubois – Research Associate at CNAM, social anthropologist Mingei
• Eirini Kaldeli – Researcher and AI expert involved in the Crafted Europeana project
• Marinos Ioannides – UNESCO chair Digital Cultural Heritage at Cyprus University of Technology

Have a look at this episode of Euronews (Europe’s leading international news channel) dedicated to one of the many innovative ideas of Mingei that engage today’s youth with past traditions.  

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 822336.

Programme

19:15 – 19:30 hrs: Walk in
19:30 – 19:45 hrs: Introduction by Dick van Dijk (Creative Director at Waag)
19:45 – 20:15 hrs: Interview/presentation Antoine Peters
20:15 – 21:45 hrs: Workshop Reflow: Don’t let your textiles go to waste

Mingei Day

During the Mingei Day on March 10 we will provide insight into the research and applications of the Mingei project in an accessible manner. In the Mingei project, Waag works with European partners and craftsmen on ways to document traditional craft techniques. How can we use technology to preserve these crafts for the future? We do this, for example, by storytelling, interactive Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and motion capture. This way, the knowledge about the actions of traditional and industrial crafts can be preserved. During Mingei Day, passionate craftsmen show you what their craft is, and Waag shows you how you could document them.

Do you also want our crafts and clothing not to get lost? Come to Mingei Day on 10 March. Register if you want to be physically present in Waag’s Makers Guild (limited places available) and don’t forget your broken piece of clothing! You can also join the event from home. The link for the online live stream will be shared in the run-up to the event if you sign up.

Antoine Peters

The keynote of the evening is the worldwide famous fashion designer Antoine Peters. He has worked at Viktor & Rolf and worked with iconic brands such as Marcel Wanders, Moooi, United Nude, Quinze & Milan, Effio, Eastpak, Gsus Sindustries, EYE and Kidscase. Just like in Mingei, Antoine’s working method is characterised by his interest in traditional crafts.

In his work, Peters is concerned with the stories, historical development and conservation of these types of crafts. For example, he conducted intensive research into a nineteenth century yak for the Zeeuws Museum. He learned the craft of folding such a jacket, a technique that is more than two hundred years old, from a 92-year-old woman from Middelburg. She was one of the last wearers of the Walcheren regional dress. The uncomfortable fit of the yak gave the fashion designer the idea to use the traditional technique to make a sweater from soft recycled jersey.

Workshop

The necessity of preserving crafts, and the pleasure that these crafts can offer, are made clear in the workshop ‘Don’t let your textiles go to waste’. Did you know that in Amsterdam millions of kilos of textile end up in the wrong bin and are burned? And that people have an average of 170 pieces of clothing in their closet, 50 of which have not been used in the past year?

These workshops are designed to transfer knowledge on how to reuse, repair, reduce, rethink, recycle and revalue your wardrobe. During the workshops, developed within the Reflow project, you will learn how to repair holes in your clothing by rethinking the craft of clothing repair, and re-evaluating old garments.

Online streamers can already collect the following supplies:

An item of clothing you want to repair (socks, jumpers)
Wooden Embroidery Hoop
Wooden Darning Mushroom
Mixed colours of 100% Cotton Threads
Mixed colours of 100% wool Yarn
Chalk Pencil
A set of mixed needles and metal pins Darning needles
ruler and scissors

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DigiTraining is specifically targeted to benefit small or midsize museums, as well as other tangible or intangible cultural heritage organisations, which include structures and facilities accessible to the general public.

Mingei Online Platform 

Mingei Online Platform (MOP) is an online authoring platform developed in the Mingei H2020 IA, maintained and used in additional projects by FORTH, The Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas in Greece. The Mingei Online Platform facilitates the representation of the socio-historic context through narratives.

The purpose is to:

• Document, represent, and preserve intangible dimensions along with objects and sites
• Contextualise presentation of tangible heritage
• Systematise and facilitate the presentation of socio-historical context
• Explore and promote world heritage, stimulate interest through educational and fascinating content.

Nowadays, not only the treasures of culture but also the stories, the values, and the collective memories of European citizens can be preserved and enhanced through digitalisation. This platform is a useful tool for preserving both tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage, as users are able to add  information in such an easy way, by registering both texts (historical events, dates) and multimedia material, such as images, videos, 360^ο videos, 3d reconstructions, which are interconnected, creating relevant stories and narratives. In addition, the digitalisation of Cultural Heritage in combination with the creation of stories by using Mingei Online Platform (MOP) will stimulate visitors’ interest in tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage, making museums and cultural organisations more attractive.

Pilot

After its pilot evaluation, the Mingei Online Platform was utilised by more than 80 cultural Heritage Institutes in the DigiTraining Creative Europe project, to create representations for and on their own. This activity provided immensely valuable feedback in the optimisation of its User Interface. The Mingei Online Platform (MOP) implements a protocol for the advanced digitisation of Institutes Cultural Heritage and socio-historical context, through narratives and process schemas. 

Structure of capacity building programme

The programme is structured in 3 different levels; the General Programme will provide many organisations with a combined training on digital and audiovisual technology, as well as on digital-related management. The Specific Programme will provide up to 6 organisations with mentoring through a specific training programme resulting in a strongly increased capacity in digital skills as well as in strategy and management tools to deal with them. Finally, through the Qualified Programme a maximum of 3 selected organisations will benefit at no cost from the production of a virtual or augmented reality audiovisual project specifically adapted to their mission and narrative, together with the strategic and managerial advice to best integrate it in their activities.

Combining digital technology research, execution and training

DigiTraining’s consortium is composed by an experienced team from five different countries with complementary skills and competencies to respond to the urgent need for providing specific support to the cultural and creative heritage sector. This team merges tested expertise in digital technology research, execution and training; in direct support on management and innovation for start-ups and midsize organisations; in media, communication and audience development in the cultural sector; and in audio-visual & virtual reality production for the arts and cultural heritage.

Mingei Day

During the Mingei Day webinar on 10 March the the team of FORTH will give a demo of the Mingei Online Platform. Sign up for the webinar and join the discussion! For more contact about the Digitraining Project, please leave your contact details here.