May 30, 2024
The Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications of NCSR Demokritos has kicked off a new research project named Thymele (ΘΥΜΕΛΗ), which is funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) and aims to create an innovative multimedia Dictionary for the Performing Arts, a basic infrastructure tool, accessible online, which will contain more than 600 entries.
The project officially started in March 2024, while on May 25th the kick off meeting took place at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UoA) with the participation of all partners. The project is led by the Head of Division of Intelligent Information Systems at IIT, Dr Vassilis Gatos along with collaborating researcher Dr Constantinos Palaiologos.
An interdisciplinary group of twelve different organisations from Greece and abroad constitute the partnership: the Academy of Athens, NCSR Demokritos, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Patras, the University of Crete, the Ionian University, the Athens School of Fine Arts, the University of Nicosia, Aalto University and the Hellenic Open University.
During the last three decades there has been an intense confusion in matters of terminology, a fact which is primarily due to the very evolution of artistic creation. New manifestations of the Performing Arts, open, multifaceted, fluid, ambiguous and difficult to accept any analysis, create a new need for description, meaning, and thus updating their terminology. For this reason, a broad partnership of numerous research and academic institutions aspires to establish a common and authoritative vocabulary for the Performing Arts, through which the scientific and artistic community, as well as the wider public, will be able to communicate.
The Thymele Dictionary will be created in the form of an online platform, which will offer open access and dynamic multimedia content with features of crowdsourcing, use of hypermedia and an emphasis on the promotion of the Greek language. The implementing body of the Thymele project is the Department of Theater Studies of the University of Peloponnese, with the scientific responsibility of associate professor Elena Papalexiou.
The proposal evaluation framework was highly competitive while the funding granted to Thymele is the highest for proposals of its category and amounts to 298.000 euros.