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Article translated by Amritee Mahabir
FRANCESCA ALONSO TELLS US ALL ABOUT COMMUNICATION IN MULTIMEDIA ART
Even Italy is opening its doors to the use of technology within the artistic and cultural sector. New scientific instruments are in fact evermore prominent in our daily lives, but they especially offer new solutions that could become indispensable factors towards improving a sector like art, which is sometimes considered too traditional. In recent years, companies dedicated to the communication of artistic topics that use innovative avant-garde technologies have developed precisely in response to these new tendencies. Among these is Alphabeti, a company that was only established a year ago, but has since been able to demonstrate important results. Alphabeti proposes to realise multimedia communication projects in which multimedia and multilingual art act as a marketing lever. Its goal is to achieve the true promotion of industrial district marketing without anymore physical or cultural barriers. The firms have long running experience in the sector of advanced research of communications (Milan’s Polytechnic Institute) and in corporate governance. We asked Dr. Francesca Alonso, the head of multimedia services to tell us more about their activities.
In what way do new technologies influence the promotion and protection of cultural heritages?
It is possible to promote and develop the heritages that are even less known to the public by using new technologies. We aim at the new public by adapting the culture offered; increasing the potential market and carefully choosing projects; differentiating services through new ways to achieve satisfaction (for example, virtual reality, mobile devices); creating networks (computerised and web museums) to highlight the undersized realities of museums and small towns; protecting and maintaining the customer’s patrimony within mass tourism.
What could their assignments be?
To allow special and temporal barriers to overtake in a way that guarantees the most access.
In your opinion, does technology allow you to gather a new public?
Yes, but only through focused projects and by analysing the target audience well.
What vision must be adopted when technologies are applied to such a particular artistic sector like this?
Specific talents are definitely necessary and the insight of professionals who work on cultural heritage projects. The typology of interaction, language, and the choice of contents must be divided between the so-called “technical” group, the art historians and multimedia artists. The latter is not effectively recognised yet. Furthermore, it is important to consider the emotional components of gaining satisfaction and not only the cognitive ones.
Isn’t there the risk of distancing the consumers from the artwork proposing a technological barrier?
No, in fact, well used technology allows them to get closer to the artwork, to “read it” and interpret it, but it depends a lot on how the project starts out.
What projects have you developed so far and which projects are currently on the itinerary?
We have achieved two monographic tours dedicated to two Milanese churches: Lesmo church and the Basilica of Cuggiono. Our new I’MVR (Interactive Multimedia Virtual Reality) format is soon to be premiered worldwide (in May), a complete tour of the Galleria dell’Accademia on a CD Rom and also in a website dedicated to it. It is the first time that a museum will be seen in this way. A cultural and touristic tour through the landscapes of Valle del Crati in the Cosenza province will be published in June. It is a project sponsored by the BBC Mediocrati of Cosenza. We are very happy with the collaboration because it is a concrete example of industrial district marketing and corporate governance that could spread to any area in Italy.
What have been the objectives up till now achieved through the realisation of your projects and what is in store for the future?
In the first place, to receive the right acknowledgement by the Polo Museum in Florence that has five million annual visitors. Furthermore, applying the format which is effective for strategic and industrial district marketing, and is becoming popular with banks and the best national brands. For the immediate future we are negotiating for another big national museum.
Are your activities developed exclusively as a private company or do you have partnerships with public institutions?
In particular, we are starting up partnerships with Milanese institutions, but in general in the cultural heritage sector it is necessary to develop relations in collaboration with public institutions.
Do cultural institutions show an interest in the innovation of the communication sector?
Yes, it is not an entirely developed interest; there still isn’t true knowledge. Attention is directed at the potential offered by the internet and mobile devices.
What are the future barriers in the development of your services?
Creating a technological chain for cultural tourism where our product geared by the new media, satisfies the pressing cultural needs in advanced societies but also in emerging ones like China, Russia, etc.
www.alphabety.it
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