The Forum Museum of Ukrainian Victory Digital Heritage for Recovery was held on the 6th of December in Lviv, where was discussed current projects to digitize heritage and its role in the reconstruction of Ukraine. The event took place as part of an exhibition of digitized post-war heritage that explores objects that changed function due to the war.
"It is obvious that Ukraine has a wonderful and extraordinary heritage, so we, as Italians, strive to do everything possible to continue preserving it and sharing our experience. This event is very strong, based on new technologies. Now is a very fruitful moment for the exchange of experience, and the combination of these new technologies can be seen at the Museum's exhibition," said Edoardo Crisafulli, director of L’Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Kyiv.
Rehana Schwinninger-Ladak, Head of the Unit "Interactive technologies, Digital for Culture and Education" of European Commission during the first discussion panel of the Forum entitled "EU-UA best practices. How can we learn from each other", said that supporting Ukraine has been one of their top priorities since that horrible day, February 24, 2022.
"Now is the time, I hope when we can predict how to repair, restore and rebuild because the task of preserving memory never stops. This is the time when we will be able to apply our experience and knowledge to your services for the future restoration of Ukraine," said Rehana Schwinninger-Ladak.
Bachar Tarabay, architect and project manager at ICONEM (France), told how the White Book of Digitalization would become possible for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Anastasia Bondar, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, also joined the discussion and told that the Ministry should systematically collect heritage data and store it digitally. To do this, they plan to cooperate with professional 3D scanning organizations from all over Ukraine.
A series of presentations of digitization projects of 2022 took place, during which the following were presented: the 4CH project; Backup Ukraine project (Denmark); War up close (Kyiv); Museum Territory of Terror (Lviv) and Odesa Fine Arts Museum (Odesa).
In the discussion, "The hope for the future. What should outlast the war" attended by Valerii Pekar, lecturer at Kyiv-Mohyla Business School and Lviv Business School of Ukrainian Catholic University; representatives of the Italian restoration institution CCR — La Venaria Reale; Taras Yeleyko, Director of the Invest Office; Oleksandra Kovalchuk, Acting Director The Odesa Fine Arts Museum and Philipp Dietachmair, European Cultural Foundation.
The participants discussed the foundations and strategy of the future reconstitution of Ukraine, the role of cultural heritage in this revival, as well as concrete steps towards the process of working with heritage, namely investments, support for cultural funds, the role of scientists, museums, cultural figures, society of Ukraine and the EU.
In the panel discussion, “3D Scanning during the war. Results of 2022" was attended by Fedir Boitsov, head of NPO Pixelated Realities; Yurii Prepodobnyi, Skeiron; Serhii Prokopenko, CEO Gwara Media; Serhii Prysiazhny, head of Aero3DEngineering, moderated the discussion Yulia Frolova, architect-conservator, senior tutor at Lviv Polytechnic University, department of architecture and conservation. They discussed the issues of recording and storing data on cultural heritage in Ukraine and the EU, told how the standardization of digitalization takes place in wartime, what important digitalization projects have taken place recently.
Welcoming words to the Forum participants were expressed by Svitlana Sharapa Zazo, the wife of the Italian Ambassador in Ukraine Pier Francesco Zazo and Inna Meteleva, Director of the Charity Foundation “Sustainable Development Goals for United Nations SDG”.
Within the framework of the event was the opening of the exhibition of the Museum of Ukrainian Victory.
"In order to unite people to act for peace, to win over disinformation and propaganda, we plan to use innovative documentary tools and cultural heritage to inform the people of Ukraine and the EU about the immediate consequences of the war in Ukrainian cities," said Iana Boitsova, organizer of the Forum and co-founder of the NPO "Pixelated Realities". She added that a 3D collection of urban properties such as a bombed house, a destroyed tank, a combat projectile, a protected monument, the results of rocket attacks on historic city centers will be brought to life using video installations, 3D, VR and AR platforms, which can be watched and studied for free.
The exhibition of digitized heritage "Museum of Ukrainian Victory" is held in the Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes "Territory of Terror". It will last from December 6 to January 20, 2023.
The project "Museum of Ukrainian Victory" is implemented by Pixelated Realities NPO with the support of the European Cultural Foundation, the Foundation for United Nations SDG (FFUN SDG) and Istituto Italiano di Cultura Kyiv. The event is held with the support of the Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes "Territory of Terror" and Hnat Khotkevych Palace of Culture.
Photos by Photographer Andrii Tkalych.
