Heritage crafts carry Europe’s past into future tourism
Europe’s cultural heritage is made of both tangible and intangible aspects of craft. These include artefacts, materials, tools, as well as dexterity, know-how and community identity. Heritage crafts are a vehicle for history and have an impact on the future economy. The EU-funded Mingei project focuses on the means of preserving these traditional practices, otherwise threatened with extinction. What is at stake is “part of our cultural heritage in terms of remembering and knowing how to practice a given craft,” says Xenophon Zabulis, research director at the Institute of Computer Science — Foundation for Research and Technology in Greece. The technical, historical, and social knowledge about traditional crafts, their temporal evolution over time, and the way that those are taught, are all part of humanity’s cultural heritage as indicated by UNESCO in the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. At the same time, UNESCO underscores the significance and urgency of the preservation of traditional crafts as “several are threatened with extinction, due to the declining numbers of practitioners and apprentices.”
A digital transition
Researchers in the Mingei project used digital assets, semantics, existing literature and repositories to capture and preserve tangible and intangible dimensions of heritage crafts. They eventually made this knowledge available through experiential presentations, using storytelling and educational applications. Stakeholders took part in the project to demonstrate the practice of their craft and reveal crafting know-how that is usually invisible to observers. The role of digital tools was threefold. “First, to digitise objects and craft activities in 3D and 4D, respectively. Second, to create a knowledge base where this information can be stored along with historical information about the studied craft. Third, to create captivating presentations and immersive visualisation of the obtained information and knowledge,” says Zabulis.
Tourists in mind
Mingei showed that engaging cultural experiences have a positive impact on tourism too. Communities and institutions work together for cultural sustainability and preservation. The team is going to further explore the subject in partnership with the tourism industry. They are already reusing the tools developed in Mingei to document the historical context of local crafts and make them part of cultural tourism presentations. Furthermore, they will use “introductory, experiential presentations of local crafts where tourists can have a go at the practice of a demonstrated craft,” says Zabulis. “This not only serves the goals of the tourism industry, but also attracts new apprentices.” Both of these aspects will be followed by the new RIA-funded Horizon Europe project called ‘Craft Understanding, Education, Training, and Preservation for Posterity and Prosperity’, or Craeft. The project is due to start in 2023.
Keywords
Mingei, tradition, heritage crafts, tourism, art, intangible practices
