Content
Art nouveau & Society is a 15 minutes multimedia presentation about the artistic movement around the turn of the 20th century and its relation to people of the time. Art nouveau was a pan-European phenomenon that was expressed differently across Europe. One of the aims of the movement was to express contemporary life and culture. It was a period of peace and economic growth and society was rapidly changing through industrialization and urbanisation. New technology changed people’s everyday life and leisure time became a new concept. The struggle between the rich and poor; national identity and internationalism where all key issues of the period. The story of Art Nouveau and its relation to society is told through examples all over Europe, including 16 of the Réseau Art Nouveau Network partners: Ĺlesund, Bad Nauheim, Barcelona, Brussels, Glasgow, Havana, Helsinki, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Łódź, Ljubljana, Nancy, Provincia di Varese, Regione Lombardia, Reus, Rīga and Terrassa.

Concept
The presentation Art nouveau & Society is aimed at the general public, giving them an opportunity to experience Art nouveau and society hundred years ago. The presentation is translated into 11 languages to ease communication to the public. The story is told in present tense to get the audience involved and is presented in a contemporary spirit, with the use of audiovisual means as a vehicle to disseminate awareness of our common European cultural heritage. The presentation is so rich that it is impossible to visually grasp everything by first time viewing : it can therefore be put in a loop and the audience can experience the screening as long as they will find it satisfying. The ambition of the production is to stimulate the discovery process and the visitor's intellectual and emotional connection to the Art nouveau heritage, the goal being to light a spark of curiosity without people being snowed under with information.

Design
The multimedia presentation has been created on a digital platform allowing different kinds of screening technologies. Produced in a DVD format, it can be screened in various public meeting places, from a school to a shopping mall, the most complex being a projection on three large widescreens that requires a dedicated screening room in a museum or in a historical house.
As the production is digital, the presentation can be screened in many different cities simultaneously or according to the local agenda, when it suits the individual partner city. The production is available in 11 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Netherlands, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Slovenian)

Production
Art nouveau & Society presentation is a result of a collaboration between the curator David Aasen Sandved, the production company Instamatic, especially Jack van Domburg and Kai Fridstrøm, and 16 of the Réseau Art Nouveau Network partners: Ålesund, Bad Nauheim, Barcelona, Brussels, Glasgow, Havana, Helsinki, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Łódź, Ljubljana, Nancy, Provincia di Varese, Regione Lombardia, Reus, Rīga and Terrassa. The compact production started in October 2005 and the presentation will be launched in May 2008 in many different Europeans cities (see agenda above).

The production was made possible with the support of the Culture 2000 programme of the European Union.

See final credits