The first year of our project has passed and we would like to share some of our experiences, achievements and activities with you:
Starting point for all our efforts concerning the enhancement of the visibility of archival treasures was the selection of such documents from the vast holdings of the participating archives. During the preparation phase even before the official start of the project in October 2018, the partners agreed on 3 different thematic areas that would be the basis for the 3 planned interactive, multimedia exhibitions:
- The construction of Europe – History, Memory and Myth of Europeanness over 1000 years
- Exiles, Migratory flows and Solidarity
- European Discoveries: From the New World to New Technologies
All partner institutions made a first pre-selection of unique, noteworthy and so-far hidden archival documents, creating a pool of storytelling objects to draw from. The three lead partners of the different exhibitions then made a second and final selection, reaching a number of about 40 documents per topic/exhibition.
Currently three expert historians, hired by the exhibition lead partners, are in charge of the contextualisation of the documents and creating a common thread to link the objects with the story of each exhibition. Additionally our partners from the Cork Institute of Technology are working on the trans-medial part of the exhibitions – featuring videogames and interactive storytelling – to attract also the younger generation.
The year 2020 will see the finalisation of the exhibitions, to have them circle around Europe by the beginning of 2021!