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About Us

PALIMPSEST will introduce a new type of museum experience. When the project is fully developed, you will be able to witness urban legends and forgotten stories come to life in a mixed reality setting.PALIMPSEST PROJECT PHASES

What is it?

PALIMPSEST is based on a theoretical understanding of the contemporary era, which is often described as post-alphabetic.

You are neither a passive spectator nor a consumer of museum experiences. Your actions set PALIMPSEST in motion.

PALIMPSEST rethinks the museum of the modern era and proposes instead an augmented and immersive experience.

PALIMPSEST is based on a theoretical understanding of the contemporary era, which is described as post-alphabetic. The alphabetic era, also known as the modern age, is based on supervision, regulation and control. The post-alphabetic era, marked with the emergence of digital technologies, brings about an immersive, multi-sensorial, participatory approach. Our post-alphabetic world is a hybrid where binaries become obsolete – it is a world where regulation and order is no longer possible. Therefore, PALIMPSEST attempts a hybridization of public spaces in the involved cities in Epirus and Puglia. This hybridization will create a new condition where digital and physical merge, where scientific truth and fiction intermingle and where passive spectators and active participants constantly swap roles. The palimpsest of the city is a metaphor for the layers of data of the past that have been buried and concealed. The people will be able to engage with the museum through participatory practices. All the data collected through these practices will be used in different interpretations of the city. These interpretations will undoubtedly be one-sided and biased, as in the post-alphabetic world no unique historic truth and no objective reality can be possible.

You are neither a passive spectator nor a consumer of museum experiences. We are developing a platform that generates interactive content – a platform designed to involve your input and respond to your actions, capturing your attention right from the start. You are no longer just a recipient of information – your actions set PALIMPSEST in motion!

MAXIMUM ENGAGEMENT

We don’t require you to be a passive spectator, because we believe that interactivity adds another layer to our museum experience. When PALIMPSEST is fully developed, you will be able to download our app and immerse yourself in art installations that will be waiting for you in public areas. Remember, these installations cannot be activated without you. Engage with them: explore our content and add your own layer in the city’s palimpsest. Discover our interactive content and start your adventure.

In an age where the architectural typology of the modern museum – an institution that collected artifacts of importance and put them on display in front of a passive audience – gradually becomes irrelevant, needs change and new needs may emerge. PALIMPSEST rethinks the museum of the modern era and proposes instead an interactive, immersive experience where the visitor is more than just a spectator. PALIMPSEST puts the subject back at the centre of events: the museum visitor can now initiate a series of spectacular encounters, becoming part of dreamlike incidents and activating ambient scenes. PALIMPSEST’s museum experience is beyond the boundaries of a specific space, as its numerous exhibits and narratives are going to be scattered in public places of the involved cities. The museum experience will be a hybrid of notions that used to be mutually exclusive in the modern, alphabetic world. Past and present, physical and digital, order and disorder, public and private will merge in order to create the PALIMPSEST museum experience.

 How does it work?

PALIMPSEST lets people engage with the project and shape the museum experience through active participation.

PALIMPSEST’s exhibits are embedded in public spaces within the urban landscape of the involved cities in Epirus and Puglia.

PALIMPSEST is not concerned with historic truths. We are intrigued by orality and aim to preserve urban legends and nearly forgotten stories.

Do you have interesting stories to be shared? We want you to get creative! PALIMPSEST will introduce a groundbreaking, participatory museum experience. When our platform is fully developed, you will be able to collaborate with us and shape the museum’s content. Our project is not passed on passive consumption, but active participation.

YOUR CONTRIBUTION MATTERS

PALIMPSEST creates a spectacle that everyone can enjoy and, at the same time, it creates a situation where the visitor is not just a passive recipient but an active participant. As a result, when it comes to our relationship with the city, our project’s museum experience is a hybrid between spectacle/ theme entertainment practices and art-driven/ situationist approaches.

SHARE YOUR CONTENT

When the project is fully developed, PALIMPSEST participants will be encouraged to download our app and upload forgotten tales, photos of family heirlooms, 3d models of historical objects, etc. You will be able to share your content, shape ours and at the same time, you will be able to add another layer of history in your city’s palimpsest.

PALIMPSEST will not be strictly limited within an exhibition space. Our exhibits will be scattered all over the involved cities’ historical centers and embedded in public spaces. Our artworks will be inspired by urban legends and old stories, so each and every artwork’s identity will be inseparable from its physical location and surroundings. We aim to reinstall local lore into real-world environments.

ALMOST LIKE TIME-TRAVEL

When the project is fully developed, our art installations will be embedded in public spaces and will only become visible if you activate them. You will be able to experience urban legends where they originally took place. The merging of past and present worlds will redefine your urban experience and have you look at mundane places differently.

HYBRID ENCOUNTERS

The artworks may be digital and intangible, but they are embedded in physical, material spaces. The stories may have happened in the distant past, but they are restored to their former glory in the present. This hybrid museum experience opens up new possibilities that are yet to be explored. Dull places are now transformed into immersive, interactive encounters.

PALIMPSEST is not concerned with historic truths – we are intrigued by orality and aim to preserve urban legends and stories. We believe that local lore should be passed on and shared, because stories create a sense of community. PALIMPSEST helps people come together in a creative context while they delve into storytelling, a craft that is as old as time.

CONNECT PAST AND FUTURE

PALIMPSEST aims to re-engage urban inhabitants and encourage them to collect and organize – or, in other words, interpret – information about the involved cities’ past. At the same time, visitors can listen to other people’s stories and uncover lost layers of the cities’ past. We offer a possibility to strengthen the connection among past and future generations through sharing common experiences.

A NARRATIVE APPROACH

We want our artworks to capture local stories and almost forgotten memories in a contemporary medium. When our platform is fully developed, you will be able to download our app, upload your stories and share it with us. Do you know any great stories? Have you always wanted to share that story your grandparents told you? Get creative, and who knows, maybe you will see it come to life during your next visit.