In the Venetian headquarters of the Council of Europe (COE) in Italy, the Director Luisella Pavan-Wolfe welcomed the participants to the presentation of the urban, digital and board game, a project that shares the concerns of safeguarding and protecting the heritage of the COE. The three games are united in the Arsenalia project, born and carried out thanks to the activity of the Association of Venti di Cultura.
Her words of praise underlined how the initiative is aimed at Venetians, Europe and the world. It is, in fact, a game, or rather three games, developed on the Venice Arsenal in order to stimulate the interest of many people, to give a concrete answer to conservation needs. She defined the project: a light, playful, captivating proposal to make the Arsenal known to everyone.
Francesco Calzolaio introduced the video produced by Venti di Cultura, of which he is president, within the European project I_Improve. The purpose, shared with the participating countries, is to highlight how it is possible to change approach and vision through inclusion and involvement; the video shows the ability to cross borders, transversality, in a playful way, through participation in lasting processes that are informative and that respond to economic sustainability. With the collaboration of the Navy, the Biennale and the Municipality of Venice (Vela), it is possible to create a cultural journey, that goes beyond the respective borders within the Arsenale.
The coordinator of the Faro Community just yesterday relaunched the proposal for a webinar at the end of August (26/27) on Heritage gaming, a term that corresponds to a variation on the theme of Heritage Walks, inspired by the Faro Convention, where the game enhance cultural strategies.
Dario De Toffoli, the founder of the excellent Venetian reality, Studiogiochi, who developed the board game, points out how this project recognizes the cultural value of gaming, of which our city has always been the capital [remember the figure of Alex Randolph, buried in San Micheal].
The board game, which seemed to be in decline due to digital games, is multiplying around the world. It is recognized as having an educational, training value and a capacity for cultural promotion for which we are witnessing a real renaissance. Studiogiochi, one of the actors involved in the project, has been creating games for more than thirty years and developing ideas to be presented to editors, confirms that at the moment there is a rapidly developing market. The pandemic has clearly increased demand. Board games now can also be played online.
Venti di Cultura asked to develop the idea of a game and Studiogiochi thought of a game of deduction, in which the aim is to make different actors interact; an intellectual game made cooperative, because either everyone wins or nobody wins. A game that wants to be very symbolic of what the Arsenale represents. The inspiration comes from Inkognito, a success that has lasted for many years. In conclusion, De Toffoli launches an appeal for Venice to find a place to host the existing, but closed, Games Archive in Udine.
Matteo Alemanno is the possible illustrator of the game, whose graphics, in fact, have not yet been developed. He showed some images of his book Marina in 3 volumes, published in France, in which a Venice of the first half of the fourteenth century is compared with the contemporary one, explaining exactly his effort to approach historical reality by describing in detail the different eras . He shows us his representation of the Arsenale, in which he tried to get as close as possible to the artifact of 1344.
Francesco Calzolaio thinks that the board game could be introduced and explained through one of his comic strips, in a common box. The images commenting on the report are of him, taken from the Marina comic.
Marisa Convento she is not only an active member of Venti di Cultura but the author of the urban game. She tells how she became an impiraressa through learning. A passion that changed her life and transformed her into a change-maker, that is the main actor of the I_Improve project. The experience of impiraressa for her is a lifelong, transversal, and cross learning, now applied to this project. It’s all about offering tools to stimulate curiosity and change even in the institutions that are working about the restitution of space, that is of the Arsenale, to everyone. She was involved in this project after organizing a treasure hunt together with many people working around the world of pearls.
She explains to the public how the impiraresse had blood ties with the arsenalotti, that is, they were their wives, daughters, sisters, mothers. She adds that dedicating herself to this urban game was a wonderful adventure, which she enthusiastically launched into, but she discovered how difficult it was to do the inspections, and she had to overcome a thousand complications. The Arsenale is truly a walled place. She thanks all those who helped her in drafting the questions for the game, enriching her experience, which she is happy to share with others.
The first image of the impiraressa's box, with historical photos, is of her.
Paolo Alongi, Space spa, with Francesco Calzolaio he elaborated a first hypothesis of virtual game. He illustrates the work for Space's multimedia and immersive museum installations. The company dealt with the digitization of the Wonders of Venice, processing the finds of the city in 3D, in particular the lion. He informs us that they are now working on a project dedicated to the port of Venice through augmented reality and Avatar characters; it is a new form of narration to create a virtual museum. In the case of Arsenalia they think of a digital game that is both educational and fun.
Carla Toffolo, member of the Board of Europa Nostra and coordinator of the International Private Committees for the Safeguarding of Venice, agrees with the statement raised by several parties that Venice is in danger, and it is necessary to create activities that support residency. UNESCO will perhaps put Venice on the black list. During the Europa Nostra summit of 22/24 September 2021 in Venice, she offers hospitality to these issues, and propose to include the urban game in the summit program.
Giorgio Suppiej, president of the Arzanà association that deals with the recovery of Venetian boats, says that the game is an interesting approach to knowledge and recalls, for example, the historical Venetian games such as the biribissi. He talks about safeguarding the Arsenal, especially with reference to its functions: it is not just a container. In fact, it is necessary to make people understand the many functions it had. Through the game you learn real things and not just symbolic; the game, in fact, carries on the founding and historical values.
Hesperia Iliadou, Committee for the Industrial Heritage of Europa Nostra, described the activity of the Committee of which Francesco Calzolaio is also a member, and undertook to propose in that context the richness of the process that led to Arsenalia, a source of collaboration between associations and institutions for the enhancement of European, not only Venetian, industrial heritage.
Patrizia Vachino, president of Faro Venezia, immediately speaks of inclusiveness, because play is belonging, a way to interpret the Faro convention. She underlines how difficult it is to collaborate even with associations that pursue the same objectives. She illustrates the Festival, the event as an occasion for conviviality, useful for preserving the heritage: to preserve it, in fact, it is necessary to enliven it, to give it back life. She adds that social engagement and public initiatives are fundamental tools for achieving Faro's objectives.
Simone Petrucci tells of a European project, similar to Arsenalia, by the Faro Trasimeno association, also funded by Erasmus +, in which all partners coverge to create a digital urban game, animated by a comic story. He emphasize how we are all experimenting with many forms of gaming, among the associations inspired by the Faro Convention, and hopes that heritage gaming will become a tool for strengthening many other Patrimonial Communities. He shows the availability of Faro Trasimeno to host a national conference, perhaps on the occasion of the Erasmusdays of 14/16 October.
Cristina Bedin, President of the Committee Safeguarding of the Venetian Glass Beads Art, she sent a short greeting message, read by Marisa Convento, member of the same Committee. The Committee passed the selection of the Unesco Italy commission and in 2021 is candidate to be included in the list of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Marisa, on behalf of the Committee, proposed promoting a week dedicated to the Arsenale, an initiative that found the approval of many. In the conclusions, Luisella Pavan-Wolfe relaunches the ideas received from the meeting. The game could become the driving force of the open Arsenal, as an instrument of knowledge and involvement, for which the COE office is available.
In addition, take the opportunity to put the spotlight on the doge's hat-shaped chimneys in the building of the forges in the arsenal, which are in immediate need of restoration.
It is necessary to raise public awareness and create moments of meeting for common actions between Faro Venezia, Venti di Cultura, Faro Trasimeno, the Associazione Giochi Antichi - which had been invited to the conference but had to decline - and other associations that work on the functions of the game.