Making Meaning of Digital Collections / SNG

Making Meaning of Digital Collections is a joint project between two partner institutions – the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) and the Sørlandets Kunstmuseum (SKMU) of Norway. It explores how digital technologies can enhance the gallery visit experience. The aim of the project is to use principles of digital storytelling and artificial intelligence when working with online collections, and thereby to increase audience engagement during and after visits to exhibitions.

As part of the project, the SNG will create a digital platform for publishing the stories that will be featured on the institution's new website. It will use digitised collections from the portal webumenia.sk and will address historical, social, and other topics related to the permanent exhibitions held in the reconstructed building. Additionally, the SNG will create three new episodes of educational videos aimed at young audiences, parents and educators, building on the successful Art Warm-up animated series.

SKMU will employ artificial intelligence in the context of culture – it will look at how this technology can be applied to working with gallery collections, and how to address bias often found in the interpretation of artworks where it concerns art history and artificial intelligence.

Project activities

Digital storytelling – a new platform

The SNG will create an innovative platform for digital storytelling. The storytelling will make use of digital collections and will address historical, social, and other topics related to the thematic focus of its permanent exhibitions: history, environment, women's rights and feminism, and migration and nomadism. English translations will also enable these stories to be seen and read by an international audience.

The gallery is currently testing the web platform and new format Atlas SNG for its inaugural exhibition Prologue. 12 Colours of Reality, staged during opening of the renovated SNG premises. Visitors can explore the new app at https://atlas.sng.sk/. Content will be expanded to meet the needs of the new permanent exhibitions that the SNG will gradually introduce throughout 2023 and 2024.

The digital storytelling format is being developed by the SNG in collaboration with Storythings (https://storythings.com/), a company that specialises in designing formats for the non-profit sector, media, and museums and galleries. Concepts for digital storytelling will be created in collaboration with students from the Digital Arts program at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design.

Artificial intelligence – research and application

Using SKMU and SNG collections, the SKMU will explore the possibilities of using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for discovering new contexts in the history of art. In collaboration with Professor Morten Goodwin from the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR), the SKMU will organise a series of workshops. These will result in recommendations for the use of AI in the work of curators, and for improving wider public accessibility to collections through technologies and approaches such as "deep learning" and "pattern recognition". The resulting software application will be available to the public as part of the SKMU's online collections, as well as directly at the new KUNSTSILO gallery building.

User survey

To meet the development needs of the aforementioned project components, a user survey will be conducted at the SNG and in part at the SKMU. It will involve tracking visitor journeys, interviewing users, and creating and testing prototypes. The results will enable us to better understand visitor expectations and behaviour, and to identify problematic factors in the context of visits to the SNG's new exhibition spaces.

Educational videos

In cooperation with the SKMU, the SNG will create a series of educational videos with themes such as history, social sciences, ethics, and other topics relating to the SNG's permanent exhibitions. The first video will explore the subject of migration and the works of personally affected artists. Gallery educators from both institutions will jointly prepare scripts for the three episodes, and these will be produced by external creators. Based on the successful Art Warm-up series, the videos will be complemented by suggestions for activities to be carried out during the school day. They will be published with subtitles and will assist towards linking the collections of the two partner institutions.

EEA Grants

Through EEA Grants, the project Making Meaning of Digital Collections received €199,925 from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. The project received €29,988.75 in co-financing from the state budget of the Slovak Republic. The aim of the project is to use principles of digital storytelling and artificial intelligence when working with online collections, and thereby to increase audience engagement during and after their visit to an exhibition.

EEA grants are jointly funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway in proportion to their GDP.

Eligibility for these grants is determined according to criteria set for the EU's Cohesion Fund and is intended for Member States with a gross national product (GNP) per capita less than 90 percent of the EU average.

To learn more about EEA Grants funded programmes and projects in Slovakia, please visit www.eeagrants.sk.

Contact persons

SNG: Michal Čudrnák michal.cudrnak@sng.sk

SKMU: Torill Haugen torill.haugen@kunstsilo.no

Artificial Intelligence Research Centre, University of Agder: https://cair.uia.no/people/morten-goodwin/

Digital Arts – Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava: https://www.vsvu.sk/en/about-us/contacts/employees/matej-novotny/

Project title: Making Meaning of Digital Collections

Project duration: March 2022 – February 2024

Project number: CLT03032

Amount of aid: 199,925 euros

Applicant: Slovak National Gallery

Partner 1: Sørlandets Kunstmuseum