Taking stock of Italy's cultural and creative industries is crucial, especially at a time when the end of the Covid-19 pandemic is beginning to be seen. This sector has been one of the hardest hit by the restrictions of the last two years. Since 2020, the Coronavirus has led to museums losing around €80 million in turnover, cinemas almost €120 million and music shows €350 million. By contrast, in 2019, with an added value of €90.7 billion, the sector had generated 5.7% of Italy's total added value and 5.9% of the economy's employment.
The health emergency has led to fundamental changes in the museum and cultural entertainment sector in general. During 2020, in fact, digital channels have become the protagonists of a strong development both on the demand side - with a consumer base that has expanded at previously unknown growth rates - and on the supply side - becoming crucial tools for companies and associations in their relations with the public. The need to create new spaces for virtual use has in fact accelerated the process of digitalisation, leading to an evolution of platforms that offer users the possibility of accessing content and services in a more personalised and flexible way.
A new model for restarting
Important signals came from the world of entertainment and culture, with solidarity and social responsibility actions implemented by the most famous artists united in defence of the weakest categories. These initiatives should also be seen in the context of a new inclusive approach that is emerging in many sectors, including the enjoyment of cultural heritage. They are actions aimed at creating a shared plan with all the parties involved to facilitate on the one hand sustainable and safe reopenings of places to enjoy art, and on the other to support the creation of digital strategies not so much as an end, but as a means to bring new audiences closer to live culture.
In this way the foundations for a revolution in the sector can be built out of the crisis so that culture does not run the risk of going back to the 'old days'. In order to implement this fundamental change, a real cultural transition would be needed, as the mission of the new ministry - which, with the change of name (from Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism to Ministry of Culture), will hopefully include not only goods, but also people and cultural and creative enterprises - to be carried out synergistically and in an integrated manner with the other transitions, ecological and digital, which now have ad hoc ministers. A transition that cuts across individual sectors, from the performing arts to museums, which invests both in the regeneration of a more widespread, shared and inclusive cultural infrastructure of proximity (museums, hybrid spaces, digital platforms, laboratories) and in the reactivation of the diverse set of all operators (institutions, businesses, cultural and creative cooperatives, third sector), favouring organisational models in order to connect the heritage chain to that of creativity, quality tourism and sustainable economies.
The impact of new technologies in the art world
An important contribution to change is made by new emerging technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality.
Blockchain technology makes it possible to dematerialise and transact assets (tokenization) and information for different purposes such as the certification of works, the creation of unique assets, asset tracking. This technology also makes it possible to create an ecosystem through the use of a loyalty layer to enable visitors to navigate the site in a more engaging way thanks to the use of a loyalty paradigm.
Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, could support and accompany the visitor in different elements such as the programming of the visits rather than in the creation of a new model of interaction with the works present in the museum, giving voice to them in order to involve more and more young and old people.
Augmented and Virtual Reality will enable visitors and art lovers to interact with the works exhibited in the museum in a new, more involving way, with gamification logic, interactive and addressed to young people. The experience will not only be limited to the spaces of the cultural heritage, but thanks to the digitisation of the environments it will be possible to bring the works into homes and schools, thus creating interactive environments in which visitors can interact with the works around them and explore contexts of the past or environments that are not directly accessible.
Immersion and experience: new horizons in the enjoyment of art and culture
As in many other sectors, the pandemic has caused an irreversible transition to a 'new normal', based on completely different expectations and ways of interacting than before. Fortunately, some particularly innovative realities are adapting quickly and are beginning to propose models of content use strongly oriented towards t hybrid real/virtual spaces and immersive and experiential technologies. Next Exhibition, for example, is an innovative scaleup, leader in the production, organisation and realisation of multimedia and interactive temporary exhibitions. To date, the company boasts over 100 productions in 12 countries around the world and more than 3.5 million visitors. Thanks to its consolidated experience and to the creation of a strong network of national and international contacts with well-known representatives of the world of culture and with bodies and institutions, Next Exhibition aims at bringing adults and children closer to art and culture in an original and involving way. Multimedia and interactive exhibitions thus become an experience where the visitor is immersed in an emotional journey that becomes a true moment of cultural aggregation.
For more information on this project, we invite you to register here.