Dialog City Hybrid Festival in Graz

An event focusing on the topic of digital archiving

Jun 06 @ 12:00 – Jun 08 @ 17:00

Over three days, we explored the topics of Personal Digital Archiving (PDA) and Futures Literacy in various event formats at the Graz Museum and the Municipal Archive Graz. On the first day of the festival, the exhibition “Beyond the Hard Drive—How Will My Data Get into the Future? ” which focuses on personal digital archiving and can still be viewed in the Municipal Archive Graz, was also opened as part of the festival opening. The subsequent lecture by Wolfram Dornik and Amelie Rakar also dealt with personal digital archiving.

Wolfram Dornik and Amelie Rakar (Photo: Sebastian Reiser).

The evening concluded with a science slam, in which seven scientists briefly and amusingly presented their research topics to the audience. The contributions ranged from digital archiving and artificial intelligence to history lessons in schools and were met with great applause from the audience.

Participants and visitors of the event (Photo: Sebastian Reiser).

On the second day of the festival, the workshop “Can We Be Active Participants in the Future that Surrounds Us? – Futures Literacy” took place. The participants dealt with the importance of futures literacy in the present. Elke Höfler’s presentation in the evening followed on from this topic. There was also a presentation on data security online and offline by Nina Hoffer (nowa) and Andreas Zingerle (mur.at) as well as the lecture “Digitally Fit: Safe and Self-determined on the Internet” by Edith Simöl (digitaleSenior:innen). The highlight of the festival was the presentation of the Citizen Archive Platform on Friday evening. The platform, which makes it easier for private individuals to donate their digital data to archives, could be tried out on site by visitors.

On Saturday, it was possible to get to know digital archiving in a playful way at the games workshop. Together we played the board game “Preservia” and answered questions about data formats, data security and personal digital archiving. At the end of the festival, the exhibition opening of the artist Lenka Holíková took place. During her 6-week artist residency in Graz, she dealt with migration in Graz. The results can be seen in the exhibition “Longings” at the Graz Museum until fall 2024.

The Artist Lenka Holíková (Photo: Sebastian Reiser).

A part of Lenka’s exhibition (Foto: Sebastian Reiser).

We would like to thank all visitors and contributors. Your participation and input led to exciting discussions that are essential for our future work and made the Hybrid Festival a unique event.

There were opportunities for exchange during the event (Photo: Sebastian Reiser).

Stadtarchiv Graz

Stadtarchiv Graz – Graz Museum

IMAGINE OUR COMMON FUTURE!

Lenka Holíková is selected for the DIALOG CITY RESIDENCY in Graz 2024

Jun 06 @ 8:00 – Jun 08 @ 17:00

The residency for 2024 starts May 2nd and the final presentation of the outcome will be at the Hybrid Festival Graz – June 6-8, 2024. The selected artist will be hosted by the Austrian cooperation partner GRAZMUSEUM https://www.grazmuseum.at/

The project consortium of DIALOG CITY was overwhelmed by the number of 31 fully-fledged applications for the second residency in Graz and the quality of the proposed projects. 56,7% of the applications were handed in by female artists and 30 % by male artists while 13,3% preferred not to say. 58,1% of the applicants see their proposal aligned with the topic TOMORROW CITY, followed by SOCIETY CITY (54,8%) and GREEN CITY DIGITAL (32,3%).

When evaluating the submissions, the jury was primarily focusing on the participatory and dialogical approach. Feasibility of the project ideas was an additional important aspect taking into consideration language barrier and cultural translation within the given timeframe of the residency. The jury allowed itself to be guided by imagining the visibility of the final artwork in public space and its integration into the DIALOG CITY HYBRID FESTIVAL in Graz. Aspects of sustainability and the ecological footprint were also taken into account and will play an important role in the further course of the project’s implementation.

The variety of topics that are at the core of the DIALOG CITY project served as key indicators, but of course not all these aspects can be served equally in an artistic project idea. What are the cornerstones of a city’s data and data infrastructure? What form of participation does the project idea include? How do the project convey the questions and answers of digitalisation and combine them with a call for active participation? Is there an aspect of climate change and environmental protection in the proposal? How does the proposal fit to the idea of the development of a future literacy methodology? How does the proposal contribute to the development of the Citizen Archive Platform?

The jury has selected the project proposal of Lenka Holíková, an artist originally from the Czech Republic who has been living and working between Europe and Mexico for several years. Her work primarily focuses on migration and borders, a theme that is deeply connected to her personal background as she grew up in a border region just seven kilometres from Germany during the era of East and West division. In recent years, her interest has expanded to encompass migration as a broader subject and she participated in group exhibitions. Please find more information here on her website.

(Lenka Holíková by the work during her residency in MeetFactory, Prague, 2023.)

During her residency, Holíková will create a sculptural artwork based on in-depth research on migration in the city of Graz. The piece will be inspired by the micro-stories of migrants from various geographic locations in Graz and will be exhibited in public spaces during the HYBRID FESTIVAL. For the Municipal Archives Graz and the Graz Museum, as venues of the festival, Holíková’s artistic work is an essential element of the programme. Her approach allows multiple references to archivals and objects as well as museum exhibitions and the city history.

(Lenka Holíková: Migrant object No.1, a sketch, equally for “Borders, methods of escape”.)

DIALOG CITY Jury members:

Wolfram Dornik heads the Municipal Archives and the departments of collection in the Graz City Museum. He deals with all aspects of collecting, preservation and access of different kinds of cultural heritage. He studied history at the University of Graz, worked for 11 years at the LBI for Research on the Consequences of War. His main research focus is on city history, late Habsburg Empire, the history of Austria in den 20th century, and digital history.

Stefan Horn is the artistic director of the Berlin-based urban art association Urban Dialogues dealing with all manners of flux and change of urban and social issues for 20+ years. His background is in theatre design and he is working internationally as a cultural manager and curator. Stefan is the artistic coordinator of the DIALOG CITY project which is including artist residencies in 4 countries.

Amelie Rakar is an archivist at the Municipal Archive Graz and works for the DIALOG CITY project. She studied history at the University of Vienna with a focus on archival science. In her research, she is interested in the history of gender and city history.