Part B: Preparing for the Argonaut Museum and Final Report

A voyage continues in search of evidence of the ARGONAUTS and with the help of poets like Seferis a new narrative shall be found since it will be about justice and in search of the lost sandal.

Vasilis Sgouris – the voyage route the Argo ship took Volos 26.9.2006

HERMES Volos Summer School
PART B: Preparing for the Argonauts Museum in Volos
Monday 28 August - Friday 1 September 2006

A 5 day course on exhibit development under the guidance of
Stacy Koumbis, Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center, Chicago, USA together with Hatto Fischer, Advisor to Volos for the HERMES Project

Part of the course will include reviewing together samples of digital works done by artists, and exhibits produced using digital technologies. Reference shall be made to the Virtual Fish Tank to talk about the production methods. The aim of the course is to work out a practical proposal for the Argonaut Museum in the form of an Interactive Argonauts exhibit.

Monday 28 August 2006

9.00 - 14.00 Concept

An immersive story-room is an environment designed to wholly engage an individual or a group in an experience. Interactivity in this type of environment can be facilitated through props in the room, such as the furniture, or even surfaces, like chalkboards or walls.

The Argonaut's Room, is an interactive story room that will allow museum visitors the opportunity to learn, and experience the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. Interacting with the characters and the narrative in an immersive environment, visitors learn story-making skills through the technology of the experience.

Tuesday 29 August 2006

9.00 - 14.00 Audience

The primary audience for this exhibition is school age children (6-13 years old).

By bringing interactivity and story-telling into the same room we make the visitor an active part of the story, and they internalize the experience. Beyond the primary audience, entire families will benefit from the interaction. Participants will learn the ancient myth of Jason and the Argonauts, in an active and engaging environment, giving them the opportunity to change how the story flows.

This exhibition is designed so that groups of 6-10 children are able to experience the story at a time. The experience itself would be approximately 8-10 minutes in length.

On the background of this work there shall be examined what appeals generally to a contemporary audience that might otherwise visit a science museum for a similar experience.

Wednesday 30 August 2006

9.00 - 14.00 Methodology

High-end computer software will create the interactive experience. Large-screen projections will illustrate the story through computer animation. The animations will be projected onto the walls to create a virtual room where the story of Jason and the Argonauts will play.

Using computer vision, the story's interactivity will depend on where visitors in the room happen to be - different parts of the story will be prompted by specific circumstances. The computers will be enabled through cameras networked to the computers controlling the exhibition. The networked computers will read the data from the cameras and interpret where people are in the room, prompting the story's interactive feature.

Thursday 31 August 2006

9.00 - 14.00 Venues and Goals

The Interactive Argonauts exhibition to be developed can be compared as to what is being proposed already as the inaugural exhibition for the Hellenic Museum of Chicago's new facility, scheduled to open in 2008. What differences do venues make and how to anticipate the expectations of the audience? A main part of the work by any curator is to convince the director and board of the museum of the concept.

The story's theme promotes the mission of the Hellenic Museum. This exhibition teaches traditional Greek themes of mythology and story-telling in a contemporary manner. Ancillary programming would include workshops that introduce museum visitors to traditional and modern story-telling techniques.

Friday 1 September 2006

9.00 - 14.00 Development Consultancy

When a story as complex as Jason and the Argonauts is presented to the public, we must be responsible to our audience and maintain that the story is clear. To ensure this, we will establish a story committee to collaborate with our technology consultants to make certain that the story's clarity is not lost through technology. The story committee will have experts in the areas of story-telling and Greek mythology.

The contractors that will develop the technology for this project are Nearlife, a Boston-based firm who have developed other immersive and educational experiences internationally. In Boston, they produced the highly acclaimed Virtual FishTank project at the Museum of Science. At London's Millennium Dome, they developed the KidsRoom - an interactive story room. Both of these projects were highly acclaimed projects for their use of new technologies to create interesting and immersive experiences.

Final Report

HERMES summer school of Volos – August 25 – 1.September:
The summer school was subdivided into two parts: a) an extensive weekend with experts covering various thematic approaches to the question museums have to face in the 21st century and b) an exhibit development over five days with students to articulate their visions about the future Argonaut Museum of Volos.
The experts were
1) Peter Higgins from landdesignstudio with special emphasis on a most recently completed work on the museum in Swansea dealing with Wales as industrial nation.
2) Ira Kalimpetsos who gave legal advice when it comes to local authorities wishing to set up a museum in Greece i.e. need for presidential decree and the creation of a foundation as basic organisational form for a museum at local level in Greece
3) Socrates Kabouropoulos about cultural statistics with regards to attendance in museums and what policy follows out of that if one wishes not to promote an elite culture but literacy amongst all people
4) Vasilis Bourdakis from the University of Thessaly presented digital models used in urban planning and which might become useful in visualizing the future cultural landscape of Volos
5) Norman Cohen who as Hollywood film producer is interested in shooting a film about the Argonauts
6) Trifon Trifonof from National Museum Boyana Church in Sofia, Bulgaria about latest developments in the use of digital media to scan and to record conditions of cultural heritage
7) Hatto Fischer in reflection of his study about museums to be delivered within the HERMES project to the City of Volos
The second part of the summer school was centred on an EXHIBIT Development for the Argonaut Museum. It was coordinated by Stacy Koumbis from Hellenic Museum in Chicago and Hatto Fischer from POIEIN KAI PRATTEIN and advisor to DEMEKAV for the HERMES project. Altogether 15 students attended the five day course. The work with the students included a visit to the actual boat construction site of the Argo ship and to the location where the future Argonaut Museum is going to be built. At the end of the five day course the students made an elaborative presentation of their visions and ideas about such a future museum in the presence of the Vice Mayor of the City of Volos and President of DEMEKAV, Mr. Pavlos Markakis along with a team of experts. The results shall presented shortly on the website of DEMEKAV: www.i-politismos.gr. It is furthermore the intention of both students and organisers that the summer school will become a permanent feature in Volos.
Coordination and organisation of the summer school was done by Vasilis Sgouris

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Part B: Preparing for the Argonaut Museum and Final Report