EPOP-Lab! - Sito del progetto EPOP

The EPOP project deals with an object that has received a growing attention in the last few decades, both inside and outside academic studies: the fictional texts (both written and visual) serially produced by European culture industries between mid-XIXth century and early XXth century. Though the transnational dimension of this phenomenon has been widely acknowledged, communication among cultural institutions variously concerned with research in this domain still remains flawed. EPOP aims to surpass the cultural and linguistic boundaries that have prevented until now a true appraisal of such continental dimension by establishing a transnational network of researchers and institutions working to promote a better knowledge of this particular cultural heritage among EU citizens. Eight countries are involved in the project. The cooperation among a wide range of cultural institutions in different countries aims to produce a connection of research, didactics and popularization activities.

Several actions have been planned:

• Creation of a multilingual on line Virtual Museum of archival materials;
• publication of a catalogue for the exhibition (in English and French);
• Education/Information seminars addressed to students and teachers;
• Publication of a multilingual CD-Rom (in English, Dutch, French and Italian) with teaching resources aimed to introduce the younger generation to the history of European popular culture;
• An exhibition of reproductions of archival materials;
• Production of a newsletter whose function will be to circulate information on research and events concerning the history of European popular culture. The networking activity will continue throughout the whole duration of the project and constitutes in fact one of its main objectives.

These are the tools through which EPOP is hoping to contribute to the promotion of a better awareness of the history of European popular culture and the necessity of its preservation.