Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Digital screen culture to the test: a large scale study on young film audiences in Flanders." "Philippe Meers" "Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "This research project focuses upon young people's engagement with digital screen culture in Flanders. Although the audience, and young people in particular, is often explicitly (or implicitly) present in discourses of the film industry and policy makers, large scale up-to-date surveys of audiences are lacking. Therefore, we propose a study on young film audiences, as a major shift in media and film culture has become manifest: young people are digital natives, born into a digital media environment, living in a fast developing world of downloads and streaming video." "Screen Production and Exhibition in Istanbul Under Urban Transformation." "Philippe Meers" "Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "This research aims to explore the relationship between new screen production and exhibition spaces and urban transformation in Istanbul. In the last two decades Istanbul, like many other metropolitan cities, witnessed a dramatic urban transformation. The reconstruction projects created new screen production sites by transforming post-industrial areas such as old ports and docks, abandoned factories into creative locales as well as new exhibition sites such as multiplexes, luxury city club movie theaters, hotel and museum screening halls which are adapted to the neoliberal urbanite consumption trends. This research will focus on both physical and representational spaces in the city and in audiovisual fiction to provide a comprehensive understanding on the relation between media production, consumption and urban studies. The overall research uses a multimethod approach, combining relevant approaches for each individual case study (e.g. content and visual analysis for cases on screen representation; media-ethnography and institutional discourse analysis for cases on production and exhibition spaces)." "Comtemporary screen cultures in South-Eastern Europe. A multilevel research project on film and television industries, cultures and audiences in comparison with the European Union." "Philippe Meers" "Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract." "South-African screen cultures between convergence and globalisation. A multivlevel research project on media industries and audiences." "Philippe Meers" "Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract." "Culture of spectacle. An interdisciplinary platform for historical research into film, theatre, dans and music performances." "Kurt Vanhoutte" "Research Centre for Visual Poetics" "An interdisciplinary platform for historical research on film, theatre, dance and musical performance. Cultures of Spectacles is an international interdisciplinary research community of scholars working on a diversity of spectacles. Our research is generally historic and focusses on the era from the beginning of the belle époque (appr. 1870) to the definitive breakthrough of television. Before performances or spectacles moved to the living room with the advent of television, they were the prerogative of public spaces such as cinema's, theatres, concert halls, circuses, music-halls, variety theatres and multi-functional spaces such as village halls, fairs or squares. Despite variations in their dispositive, what unites these spaces is that they host attractions, or spectacles that were either performed live or projected in front of a living audience. Individual members of these audiences usually belonged to different audience groups as well: people not only went to the theatre, but also the circus or to a music performance. Moreover, very often different forms of spectacle were often consumed in the same space and they were even part of the same show. In the early 19th century for example, films were part of variety programs; circus - and vaudeville acts were performed at fancy fairs alongside musical attractions, film screenings, freak shows, etc… Despite their commonalities, these different forms of spectacle are mostly studied separately, in well-defined academic disciplines (e.g., film -, dance -, performance – and theatre studies, cultural history, heritage studies, music history…). In bringing scholars from these different fields together, we aim to break down the disciplinary boundaries between a wide range of domains focussing on different types of spectacle and open the way for future interdisciplinary research on cultures of spectacle." "Spectatorship as a Political Act. Re-Assessing the Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere" "Center for European Philosophy" "The existence of a public sphere in which citizens encounter each other and enter into a debate on public and political matters has been a central concern of democratic theory. Since the 1990s, various authors have observed that the internet provides such a 'digital public sphere'. This observation has triggered a debate on the political implications of the digital transformation of the public sphere between so-called cyberoptimists and -pessimists. Both sides of the debate make use of the public sphere theories of Jürgen Habermas and Hannah Arendt. These theories still rely on speech-based models of participating in the public sphere. However, recent scholarship has shown that the experience of participating in the public sphere has become a largely visual experience thanks to the medium of the digital screen. This implies that the assessment of the political implications of that transformation departs from an inadequate understanding of the experience of participating in the digital public sphere today. To fill this gap, this project will first develop a thorough understanding of the medium specificity of the digital screen and the immersive and interactive visual experiences of participation that the digital screen affords. Based on this, a critical analysis will re-assess which conception of politics is needed to understand the political implications of the digital transformation of the public sphere." "Defying social invisibility: a study of empowerment and social intervention in the field of contemporary digital imaging practices in South Africa." "Paolo S H Favero" "Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Erasmus Mundus. UA provides Erasmus Mundus research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract." "DICIS - Digital Cinema Studies." "Luc Pauwels" "Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "This is a fundamental research project financed by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). The project was subsidized after selection by the FWO-expert panel. The objective of the FWO's Research projects is to advance fundamental scientific research." "Dialogue for Cinema as Cultural Heritage: Identification, recognition and community-based inventory of cinemas as the intangible cultural heritage in Adana via cross-border dialogue." "Philippe Meers" "Cukurova University, Ghent University, Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "The global objective of this proposal is to promote civil society dialogue through the establishment of cooperation between institutions in Turkey and the EU, by focusing on the sector of cinema and film-making as cultural heritage values in the Çukurova Region and the city of Adana in particular. The specific objective of this proposal is to promote cross-border dialogues and networking between CSOs and other stakeholders in Turkey and the EU, by raising awareness, sharing experience/knowledge and cultural/creative production in the field of history of cinema. The main partner is Flying Balloon Children and Youth Association and we work with the Radio, Television and Cinema Department at Çukurova University. The project entails 1. field activities: Identification of cinema theatres and other cinema and film-making related places in the Çukurova Region recording, itinerary development for city cinema tours, etc.2 digitalisation activities: Building an interactive web tool for mapping of cinema spaces; digital library of Cine-House collection 3. Artistic content development activities: Film/Documentary making, compilation of film musics of the region and 4. Awareness-raising and knowledge transfer activities on cinema heritage: Seminars on cultural heritage and cinema history of the region (mainly young people), organisation of city cinema tours, training of young people as city cinema tour guides, study visits to the EU, film screening, film musics performance, etc. 5. Travel of young students to Belgium for a short training." "Screening the Benelux: A comparative research project on film policy and (trans)national identity in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg" "Philippe Meers" "Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi)" "Located at the heart of Western Europe and together serving as the direct predecessor of the European Union, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (the Benelux) are closely connected historically, politically and culturally. Nevertheless, they differ greatly in terms of national identity, making the countries particularly interesting to compare. This research project aims to make such a comparison by examining the role of the media in the contemporary construction of national and transnational identities. More specifically, the project focuses on how films and film policies in Belgium (Flanders and the French Community), the Netherlands and Luxembourg relate to (trans)national identities. The time frame of the project starts in 2009, when the Euro crisis began, and runs until 2018. The study relies on quantitative and qualitative research methods, making use of digital tools and involving analysis of films, policy documents, film (policy) production and circulation data, press documents and expert interviews. The project provides an innovative contribution to the international academic agenda due to its comparative and small media industries approach and its focus on the contemporary relationship between media and (trans)national identity in Western Europe. FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow with Ghent University as host institution (supervisor Daniel Biltereyst) and the University of Antwerp as partner institution (supervisor Philippe Meers)."