Athens School of Fine Arts

A collection of study works reflecting the artistic evolution and historical journey of Modern Greek Art

PostScriptum announces the completion of the project “Digital Transformation and Promotion of the Cultural Heritage of the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), 1837 – 2021. A Collection of Study Works Reflecting the Artistic Evolution and Historical Journey of Modern Greek Art.”

The artistic production of Greece’s oldest educational institution for the visual arts has been digitized, documented, and presented online. Twenty years after the initial recording of the ASFA Collection (1837 – 1980) under the framework of the Information Society, this project extends and enriches the recording of the Collection up to the present day, according to new digital data. Thus, an “online collection” is created, a modern repository of works of all expressive categories, which artists, curators, art historians, theorists, and the general public can visit and explore without temporal or spatial limitations.

The digitized collection includes selected paintings and photographs, sculptures, prints, installations, video works, multimedia digital works, and more, created by students throughout ASFA’s historical journey up to the present day (1837 – 2021). The international collection management system MuseumPlus is used for hosting and managing the digitized collection. The digitized works are accompanied by rich metadata, following international documentation standards, compatible with the thesauri of the National Documentation Centre and Europeana.

At the same time, aspiring to bring the general public into contact with ASFA’s rich artistic production and to highlight its contribution to the field of visual arts and contemporary culture, the project develops various digital interactive applications inspired by its history and work.

Applications include virtual tours of the digital collection, a 360° virtual tour of exhibitions, exhibition infrastructure, the historical building complex, and ASFA’s artistic annexes as significant historical monuments of architectural heritage. Furthermore, applications like the digital interpretive exhibit – interactive documentary “Who is Who,” the Digital Museum Kit – Educational Application for teenagers, the “Contemporary Museography Platform,” and the “VR Exhibition Development in Virtual Worlds” application form a multi-layered program of digital actions that invite both domestic and international audiences to get to know and interact with ASFA’s history and work.

About the Project

The digitization and documentation of the archive as well as the design and development of the applications were carried out by PostScriptum – Information & Communication Technologies Ltd. on behalf of the Athens School of Fine Arts. Expert researchers, museologists, art historians, and cultural managers shaped the narratives and presentations of the archival material, while IT professionals and developers created flexible, fully functional, and user-friendly digital applications aligned with the contemporary cultural and digital landscape.

The project “Digital Transformation and Promotion of the Cultural Heritage of ASFA, 1837 – 2021. A Collection of Study Works Reflecting the Artistic Evolution and Historical Journey of Modern Greek Art” was implemented through the Operational Program “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation” (EPAnEK) 2014 – 2020, co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund – ERDF).