Netd@ys 2002 ‘showcase’ projects

‘School Photos’

The vibrant and imaginative images created for the School Photos digital photography project by pupils of St. Brigid’s Senior School, Finglas, Dublin, are a shining example of Netd@ys ‘Image’ 2002. Taking the form of a series of self-portraits, the objective was to subvert the convention of the school photograph – usually a stiff and formally posed image, portraying static, well-groomed model children.

For this series of self-portraits the students were asked to explore their local environment, the school, local landmarks – places they like to go, places where they have fun. Working with digital cameras the children had great fun making portraits of themselves in their favourite local environment. The use of digital cameras allowed the pupils to immediately see their images and play around with how they wanted to represent themselves.

With the support of the outreach team from the Gallery of Photography, Dublin, the students edited and digitally manipulated their images – remodelling their world to match their vision.

“This is West Finglas – a deprived area. It is through making an image that you can challenge the old myths” said special needs educator at St. Brigid’s, Paul Lynch, at the Netd@ys Europe closing event in Brussels. “The idea was to get the children to look more positively at their own environment. We needed something to motivate them. The children were very pleased with prints from an earlier project undertaken with the Gallery of Photography.”

“Something like this is like a beam of sunshine for the children – it brightens up the whole day,” added Paul Nulty of the Gallery of Photography’s outreach team.

For further information on St.Brigid’s Senior School and other Irish Netd@ys projects visit: www.netdaysireland.ie. You can also visit the website of the Gallery of Photography at: www.irish-photography.com.

‘Eurodans’

The UK-based Eurodans project is a particularly fine example of how technology can be used successfully to promote artistic development.

Eurodans (www.eurodans.net) uses the traditional devising process of choreography, but facilitates the process using digital technologies. Over the past nine months, the Eurodans project has linked dance students from eight countries across Europe in the choreography of a dance via the Internet.

Through web-based discussion, and feedback from choreo-coordinator Sita Popat, small groups of dancers, from their various educational/dance institutions across Europe, develop dance movement around a chosen theme. Compressed video footage together with written explanations are published on the web, which in turn fuels further development along the theme. In this way, an entire dance movement can evolve all but organically from a series of dance ‘phrases’, which were in turn spawned from a single idea. The use of the web removes physical and geographical barriers and accelerates the whole creative/learning process.

Dublin set the stage for the realisation of the Eurodans ‘Invisible Connections’ project when dancers came together to complete the forming of the dance. This culminated in a 40-minute performance for the European League of Institutes of the Arts 2002 Conference, 24th October.

‘Minials’

The Austrian project, ‘Minials’, is a simple yet dynamic interactive audio-visual project by Milo Tesselaar and team at Sofa 23. By clicking on the various buttons, you can select or deselect different rhythms and in so doing, create your own music from the musical palette available. And, you create your own movie as you ‘compose’ as each rhythm also corresponds to a different animation.

You can download Minials from http://sofa23.mur.at/minials/minials.html, but this is best done over a high-peed connection. View other work by Sofa 23 at http://sofa23.mur.at.

‘L’Europe imaginaire à travers les contes’

In Le Plessis-Trévise, a French town half way between Disneyland and Paris, anything is possible, especially with a little imagination. ‘L’Europe imaginaire à travers les contes’ is an ambitious project. It seeks to address issues that are just as much social in nature as they are about learning. In a town where some 30 percent of the town’s population is Portuguese in ethnic origin, loss of cultural identity amongst these inhabitants is a concerning phenomenon.

Using PCs, Internet and book facilities at the public library, Médiathèque Jacques Duhamel, the project encourages 8-12 year olds to create fictional stories set in Europe. “The idea is that children can own something for themselves: an idea, an imaginary story. They research, usually basing their stories on old stories and folklore and then create their own story with pictures. Finished projects are presented on the PC. This is intended to help them come to terms with loss of multi-cultural identity and to develop confidence,” says project manager, Jean-Luc Raymond.

For further information on Le Plessis-Trévise, visit: www.ville-plessistrevise.fr.

‘Sulle spalle dei giganti’ and ‘Omnia Tempus Habent’

Two Italian projects were showcased at the Netd@ys closing event. Some 200 schools were involved in developing the principal project, ‘Omnia Tempus Habent’ (Everything has its time), which offers a window onto key events of the last millennium. ‘Sulle spalle dei giganti’ (On the Shoulder of giants) offers a visual perspective on who are the ‘greats’ of the last century. The children of Seraphicum School, Rome, participated in both projects. Visit: www.seraphicum.com.

‘Electro-kino’ and more

Belgian showcase work included a selection of live performances such as Electro-kino held at different venues, including open air, of music and dance as part of the Festival des arts électroniques, and Flemish (Dutch) language projects by participants studying at educational institutes and from youth groups. For further information on the numerous Belgium projects, contact Organisation and Conception – Transcultures: contact@transcultures.net.

Netd@ys ends in explosion of sound and colour

Netd@ys called into question

19/12/2002

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