The CulturalBase social platform aims to identify and analyse some of the main debates and controversies around culture, in particular in relation to Heritage and European Identities.
Through a comprehensive perspective that includes the most relevant social and political connections, “CulturalBase. Social Platform on Cultural Heritage and European Identities” (in the framework of the Horizon 2020 work programme 2014-2015 “Europe in a changing world: inclusive, innovative and reflective societies”) aims to address the topic of Heritage and European Identities from a double standpoint, namely, an analytical as well as a public policy perspective.
Since the second half of the last century, culture has experienced a profound mutation, through which its position and role in the social dynamics have been transformed. Whereas it was previously confined to a purely superstructural position, it now constitutes an essential basis of today’s society. In the context of cultural digitization and globalization the entire cultural ecosystem has changed, which has radically altered – and at the same time, intensified – the relationship between cultural identity, cultural heritage and cultural expression. This transformation has occurred both at the level of the professional cultural sector as well as in society as a whole.
The new challenges and the new potential of culture, where three pillars – cultural identity, cultural heritage and cultural expression – intertwine, will be considered in the work of the CulturalBase along three axes:
These are designed to research debates relating to heritage in the institutions and practices of cultural memory; how the focus on diversity and inclusion impacts on the practices of memory institutions, including on stakeholders and networks; what this reconfiguration contributes to new or post-national oriented narratives about identity and European values; and how heritage, cultural diversity and creativity relate in the context of huge cultural transformations such as the ones represented by digitization and cultural globalization.
DURATION OF THE PROJECT: 24 MONTHS (MAY 2015 – MAY 2017)
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Photo by “Nicola since 1972” is licensed under CC BY 2.0
