With a focus on the Global South and Asia and Africa, HeritageLab is an independent interactive digital heritage platform, managed and supported by faculty and students at New York University Abu Dhabi, FH Muenster University of Applied Sciences (Germany), University of Amsterdam, University of Bologna, Nisantasi University (Istanbul), and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU Shanghai), as well as independent researchers.
We are academics, but also artists and heritage professionals who seek to give voice to forgotten and neglected narratives, connect heritage landscapes across oceans and seas, and share with marginalized communities the skills that empower them to unlock, document and celebrate their heritage and collective memory, as a counterpoint to UNESCO World Heritage Site narratives. Our collective projects also serve as a pedological exercise for students in both the arts and sciences, encouraging future thinkers of future heritage, including the many heritage professionals who have gotten their start with HeritageLab. With a focus on the Global South and in development for 15 years, HeritageLab launched as an online platform in 2024. HeritageLab is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in its approach and reflects how communities increasingly desire to play a pivotal role in re-imagining authorized heritage narratives. We pursue best practices while nurturing alternative approaches for inclusive and sustainable heritage management. This is a work in progress, as it still has some technical issues that we hope to resolve in the coming month.
Key Participants: (with nationalities): Detailed Bios Available at HeritageLab
- Robert Parthesius, Dhakira Center for Heritage Studies, NYU Abu Dhabi (NDL)
- Alia Yunis, Filmmaker/Writer/Research Fellow (Jordan)
- Felix Beck Professor, Digital and Museum Design (Germany)
- Francesco Arneodo, Professor, Physics (Italy)
- Nurcan Yalman, Professor, Archaeology (Turkey)
- Chen Wu Wei, Professor, Interactive Media (China)
- Li Yi Hao, Co-founding Student, now doing PhD (China)
- Niccolo Cappelletto, Co-founding Student Art History, now doing PhD (Italy)
- Matthew Tan, co-founding student now doing MA(Malaysia)
- Salam Al Faheem, researcher, NYUAD (UAE)
- Devaki Menon, PhD student, Oxford (India)
- Dev Kalindaya, computer engineering student (Fiji)