Danube Culture Platf orm Creati ve Spaces of the 21st Century expanding cultural routes discovering hidden heritage making the invisible visible Project co-funded by the European Union (ERDF, IPA) CultPlatForm_21: The Danube Culture Platform – Creative Spaces of the 21st Century Project Documentation Cover Photo: © Rainer Prohaska 4 CultPlatForm_21: The Danube Culture Platform – Creative Spaces of the 21st Century The Danube Region – Treasury of Hidden Heritage In the course of history the Danube area Curtain is now history, the effects of the old has experienced a chequered past resulting Cold War lines of division are still noticeable in a culturally and historically rich but in the Danube region today. fragmented history. Since Roman times the Danube has formed a border with peoples in The Danube connects regions of various the north, almost from source to mouth and, different cultures, language worlds and at the same time, it has been a connection communities, thus traversing more countries and a route for transport, shipment and and landscapes than any other river in supply of the downstream settlements. As Europe. Much in its history still lies hidden an important axis of transport and travel, or has fallen into oblivion. the river likewise connects various different cultural and economic areas. The (im)material cultural heritage is the (in)visible testimony to it and, as a The Danube has witnessed the fall of non- renewable and irreplaceable resource, empires, human tragedies such as World it forms people’s collective memory. Even Wars I and II and terrible crimes such as if (hidden) heritage sometimes includes the Holocaust. The wars in the Balkans and dissonant, unpleasant or unwanted migration flows are further chapters in its memories, it is a cultural treasury of history and, finally, two antagonistic political inestimable value for present and future and economic systems have contributed societies. to territorial imbalances. Even if the Iron 5 APATIN-Space-01 from Boring River, a film by Rainer Prohaska and Carola Schmidt © Rainer Prohaska The Danube Culture Platform Aims and Objectives The aim of the Danube Culture Platform has been to work against forgetting and to create The Interreg project CultPlatForm_21 – the awareness of cultural diversity and history Danube Culture Platform – is dedicated in the Danube region. New technologies to the hidden, forgotten, invisible cultural and artistic means contribute to conveying heritage of the Danube region. Under the historic places and events in a contemporary project lead (LP) of the Federal Chancellery way. Interpretation and facilitation by (new) of Austria, Arts and Culture Division, nine narratives is important for a new culture project partners (PP) and ten associated of memory and remembrance. The project strategic partners (ASP) from eight countries sought a response to multiple themes: within the Danube area, have developed the interpretation of historic places and cooperation on culture and tourism with the events in a contemporary way (culture), aim of supporting and expanding European the experience of culture (international cultural routes. The project partners from the audience / tourists) and the development tourism and cultural sectors play different of new destinations along the Danube roles at various different levels within (tourism). their countries: public authorities, cultural institutions, expert organisations and NGOs. Hidden heritage is defined as invisible because it is situated below ground level The main objective of the project was the (e.g. archaeological sites), destroyed, banned development of an innovative, multilevel or repressed for political or societal reasons, policy framework for cultural routes in the disappeared, little known or of an immaterial Danube region. This was followed by further nature. The Danube Culture Platform topics and activities: embarked on a search for traces of history to discover hidden places of cultural heritage • Expansion of Cultural Routes: creation and to evoke bygone historic events and of a Policy Learning Platform as network facts. Well-trodden paths have been left and and think tank of stakeholders from hidden cultural heritage has been revealed EUSDR countries (series of workshops and by contemporary artistic inter pretations conferences). and new educational formats. The Danube Culture Platform has rediscovered ancient • Discovering Hidden Heritage: through tales and tells new stories to promote the study “Our Hidden Danube Heritage – historical events to be experienced in the Guidebook on Resourcing Hidden Heritage present. These are intended to encourage for Tourism” and a collection of hidden the development of new cultural tourism heritage sites. offers for a 21st-century audience. • Making the Invisible Visible: pilot Activities and Outcomes projects, artistic and technological (3D applications), following the theme of The Danube Culture Platform organised “Heritage Reloaded” and the concept of transnational conferences and workshops, making the invisible visible and usable in partner workshops and project meetings. terms of cultural tourism. The core of the project is the Policy Learning 6 Platform, a cultural policy network of the institutions, tourism and artists and several project partners as cooperation between best-practice examples from these areas culture and tourism. Over the course of the to gain inspiration for the development of project – from January 2017 to June 2019 the project. Furthermore the outputs and – the workshops and meetings, partially activities of the project could be presented embedded within the framework of the to a broad public. conferences, were carried out to highlight the topics, to exchange knowledge, to The main issue of the Danube Culture develop measures and to implement the Platform was to discover places of history, pilot actions: “Discovering Hidden Heritage find old and new stories to tell about – Contemporary Approaches for Culture and them, develop artistic and technological Tourism” (Vienna / AT April 2017), “Audience pilot projects for the descriptive mediation Development” (Pécs / HU October 2017), and to support existing cultural routes by “World Heritage and Facilitation of History” developing contemporary aspects. Thus (Linz / AT June 2018), “Creating Memorable ‘hidden places’ have been searched along Experiences and Cultural Routes” the Danube and further data was collected (Regensburg / DE October 2018). and elaborated. Results of this research were the “Guidebook on Resourcing Hidden The transnational project conferences Heritage for Tourism” and a compilation of conveyed the objectives of the Danube sites “Mapping Hidden Heritage Hot Spots” Culture Platform to a broader public: the along the Danube. kick-off event in Vienna (AT) in April 2017, dedicated to the connection of culture and Under the heading “Heritage Reloaded” tourism, “The Key to Raising Attention” and according to the concept of making (Pécs / HU October 2017), “World Heritage the invisible visible, eight pilot projects and the Facilitation of History for the to create spaces of remembrance – three Audience of the 21st Century” (Linz / AT with digital / technological methods, four June 2018), “Making the Invisible Visible: by artistic / creative interventions and one Discovery of Cultural Heritage and Tourist applying both tools – have been developed Scene from Boring River, Potential” (Plovdiv / BG March 2019) and and implemented. Digital reconstructions a film by Rainer Prohaska “Visible Danube” (Regensburg / DE May render lost history visible again and create and Carola Schmidt 2019). These events made it possible to meet distinct experiences of historic sites as well © Rainer Prohaska international experts from cultural heritage as artistic interventions allow encounter 7 and exchange with hidden cultural heritage. for an “Interpretation Framework for Cultural Holistic visitor experiences offer new Routes Based on Hidden Heritage in the perspectives and support the development Danube Region”. Thus, it outlines a strategy of new narrations. The pilot projects were for cultural routes and provides a tool for developed by the project partners in a the integration of different countries in the communicative and collaborative way. By region. In addition, the project contributes to drawing up action plans for hidden cultural the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe heritage places, their cultural and tourist Programme, as well as the possibilities for value and their potential for connecting extending cultural routes and certifying new to cultural routes were elaborated and projects in the region. the implementation process was recorded in action diaries. The “Future Book” Cultural routes are per se transnational provides details of the pilot projects, their and have important integrative power. development, design and realisation. It The project is closely linked to the EU includes photos, videos and audio recordings Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), the and is available on the project website. Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism, coordinator of PA3 “Culture and Tourism” is part of The key result of the Danube Culture the project consortium (PP4). The project Platform was to develop strategies for reflects actions of PA3 “To build on cultural cultural routes. The most important outcome diversity as a strength of the Danube of the working meetings and conferences Region” and targets no. 3 “Develop new and was the development of the “Interpretation support existing