Celebrating #BigArtRide

Our #BigArtRide connecting people across Europe through art and technology has come to an end, finishing its run (pedal?) in Amsterdam and Bratislava last week. It has been an amazing journey filled with artworks contributed by cultural institutions from across Europe.

Using the cutting edge technology of the virtual reality (VR) Occulus Rift headset, the Dutch design studio DROPSTUFF.nl created a virtual ride through a virtual city that allowed users to experience centuries of Europe’s art along the way.

After its start on 21 April in Brussels and Den Haag, the #BigArtRide visited Wrocław, Rome, Vienna, Prague, Berlin and Paris. As each of these cities hosted the #BigArtRide, a parallel one happened in Holland – bringing together two participants in two different cities to race against each other for the fastest time. The final #BigArtRide in Amsterdam and Bratislava celebrated the outgoing Dutch Presidency of the EU and the incoming Slovakian Presidency. To symbolise this, Marjan Hammersma, Director General of Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in The Netherlands and Ivan Sečík, State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Culture raced against each other.

For many of our riders it was their first experience with VR. Usually VR experiences like this are static, you just sit in a chair. But we added the bike and a race (we are based in Holland, after all) and so made the experience much more participatory – and shared. Across European squares, in parks, at festivals and at the European Parliament the #BigArtRide brought people of all ages and walks of life together: from young kids to seniors, from cyclists to politicians.

Importantly, public support and participation was joined with support and participation from key stakeholders in the digital and cultural world. Some highlights of the #BigArtRide experience include EU Vice President and Commissioner for Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip blogging about his ride. EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger tweeting in support and taking a #BigArtRide was Martine Reicherts, Director-General for Education and Culture at the European Commission We had the Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Mariëtte Bussemaker virtually racing the CEO of the ING Bank, Rik Vandenberghe, and we had Dutch royalty in the figure of Prince Constantijn cycling in Utrecht (below). We have a #BigArtRide Storify if you want to explore more of the social media stories the tour generated.

The #BigArtRide project was part of our #Europeana280 campaign, launching our thematic Europeana Art History Collections. The 280 campaign was named for the 28 members states who were all asked to nominate 10 art works that have contributed to a major European art movement. All the artworks nominated for Europeana 280 will be shared, with their wider stories, in our online exhibition Faces of Europe.

Our next new-media-meets-art experience will be #JumpingJacks was introduced in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania on the night of 17 June. With #JumpingJacks you become part of the art. A blog post about that evening is coming very soon.