Art Pluriverse: A Community Science Series

Art Pluriverse is an annual community science programme that uplifts intangible cultural heritage and empowers communities of practice in the Balkan region, by documenting their artistic heritage and traditional knowledge in open, educative and participatory ways. Art Pluriverse engages members of communities and the public in co-creation research together with artists and researchers, in order to collectively experience and share tradition anew. Drawing on social practice art and participatory digital humanities, the programme presents two main outcomes in cooperation with the participating communities: the co- creation of research-based art and the development of digital community archives. Art Pluriverse is part of the Biennale of Western Balkans’ year-round programme, developed in connection with the History of Art Laboratory, School of Fine Arts, University of Ioannina, Greece.

1st Edition: Textile Month
The first edition focused on textile communities in Greece and the wider Balkan region. The programme included two modules, the Artist― Community Synergies and the FAIR Community Archives course.

Artist―Community Synergies
Co-creation of research-based artworks through artist―community synergies, exploring the artistic heritage and cultural knowledge of the communities through new media and contemporary art practices.

FAIR Community Archives
Digital community archives developed through an educational course that documented the communities’ work as digital cultural heritage based on the FAIR, CARE and OpenGLAM principles.

Parallel activities:

VR meeting space
Open to the public, developed through an exam-long digital design workshop based on 3D modelling experimentation with the forms and semantics of traditional textile patterns.

Open pinned map
Online mapping of textile communities and GLAM textile collections in Greece and the wider Balkan region in a format open for contribution.