Focus on the projects: University’s projects

Esch2022 is reaching out to students!

On 16 September 2021, Esch2022 participated in the Welcome Day! organised by the University of Luxembourg. This was a unique opportunity for our team to meet the students and talk to them about the importance of the European Capital of Culture project, to which the university is closely associated through its participation in five different projects.

Uni.lu x Esch2022: discover all projects !

One of these projects is ‘REMIX PLACE’: ‘Place is what brings people together. In a cross-border region, places are often steeped in history and imagination. “REMIX PLACE” examines how inhabitants of cross-border areas become attached to the place in which they live. It considers the realms of geography, photography and theatre from the point of view of the people who live and work in the cross-border agglomeration of Alzette-Belval. Two artistic and cultural events will present the result of this multidisciplinary research to the public during the summer of 2022. A hybrid exhibition will explore concepts of attachment to place and unity based on the experience of cross-border workers and local residents. Combining the results of this research (photographs, sound recordings, field notes), the exhibition will document the work undertaken in collaboration with the residents. An original documentary play will be written, developed and performed to give shape to their identity and their relationship to certain places. This aesthetic and theatrical experience will be informed by the participatory data collected and analysed as part of the project. The play will be performed on stage by people from the border region who will be sharing their own experiences. It aims to encourage local and international audiences to reflect on their own relationship to place and territory. “REMIX PLACE” wants to generate a broad scope of scientific, aesthetic and emotional insights and strengthen the inhabitants’ appreciation of the cross-border territory of Alzette-Belval.’

The project ‘Red Luxembourg’, led by Professor Peter Swinnen, consists of an exhibition presented at the Kulturfabrik in Esch/Alzette from February to June 2022. Foreshadowing the planned International Building Exhibition IBA SUPRALZETTE, it will explore new approaches to housing in the French-Luxembourgian cross-border territory, with a focus on collective, affordable and ecological homes. The project, which brings together researchers and architects, will be accompanied by a booklet aimed at inhabitants and visitors who want to visit the project sites.

Organised by the University of Luxembourg and initiated by its Master in Architecture, the project ‘Petite maison’ (Engl. Small House) looks to devise and build an ephemeral accommodation according to an innovative creative and collaborative principle, based on the theme of circularity. The temporary architecture will be installed on the forecourt near the Maison du Savoir on Belval Campus. Functioning as a meeting place, the ‘Petite maison’ will also function as a reception and information point for users of the site, and provide information on the activities unfolding throughout the European Capital of Culture as well as on the recurring and ad-hoc activities of the campus. Networking with other sites working around the theme of circularity, it will be built by architects, engineers and experts with the assistance of young students from the University of Luxembourg, and in cooperation with local and international partners. In the broader sense, circularity refers to the idea of a resilient culture. The design and construction of an innovative small house, which involves creating a specific community around the project, is an experimental process. This will be documented through continuous and systematic archiving and made public via a blog. The project will thus make it possible to federate various communities, including students, teachers and researchers but also local users and organisations, entrepreneurs, and many more.

‘AI & ART Ecosystem’ is a multidisciplinary project led by Professor Leon van der Torre that will see the creation of an ‘AI & ART Pavilion’ in Belval accessible to all, in a bid to build new bridges between computer scientists, artists, researchers and the public. Remixing art and science is key to furthering human understanding versus artificial intelligence (AI). Familiarising the general public with the impact of AI is all the more important as the technology is present in our daily life and challenges us to reconsider fundamental questions about the role of humanity in the world and its development. Some responses therefore rely on the interaction with the general public. The ‘AI & ART Pavilion’ is conceived as a permanent centre for digital culture, accessible to the public throughout Esch2022, that connects Belval’s industrial past to contemporary technology.

‘The Sound of Data’ is a project aimed at transforming scientific data into music. It will explore new ways of creating, performing and experiencing music and art using multi-source data as building blocks of the creative process, that is, by remixing scientific and artistic approaches. The project will unfold in four phases, showing how data can be collected (phase 1), processed and translated/put into sounds (phase 2) and used to compose, arrange and produce music in studios, as part of artist residences (phase 3) and during live performances (phase 4). The concept will be applied to four different data sets (traffic data, historical data, data from crowd-sourced art and 3D body scanner data) in line with the artistic focal points of Esch2022. The publication of the results of the project and a training programme for musicians and scientists will support the development and dissemination of this art form in the region of Esch2022 beyond the cultural year.