Shared Knowledge:

HybridFormats
IMPAKT Centre for Media Culture
Utrecht, The Netherlands

impakt.nl

Introduction

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, IMPAKT has
seen an unprecedented boost of creativity from cultural
institutions trying to engage their audiences online.
Though a challenging time for this field, many lessons
were learned and the many benefits of online events were
uncovered along the way. With the current COVID reset
and the cultural sector getting “back to normal”, institutions
and professionals are now facing new challenges as they
try to find effective ways to implement the advantagesof online events with the familiarity of offline settings in
hybrid setups. In the last few years, starting already before
the outbreak of COVID, IMPAKT has dedicated resources
for the exploration and invention of hybrid event formats
that promote an easier, more accessible form of interaction
for audiences that join events from different locations.

Hybrid Formats

IMPAKT
Centre for Media Culture

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In the section “Shared Knowledge” EMAP publishes resultsfrom internal conferences and workshops to share themwith other cultural organisations and artists. The aim is toexchange and gain know ledge within the sector of media art.
Do you want to share know ledge?
Contact us: pr@emare.eu

Definition of Hybrid: bringing together online and offline
IMPAKT defines “Hybrid” as bringing together audiences andparticipants online and offline in a shared event, which isexperienced equally by all parties. In our experiments, we focus
on ways to make this complex interaction between participantsthat are not in the same sphere (online or in-venue) easy,
inspiring, engaging and fun. We approach these experiments
and look for ideas and solutions from diverse directions such astechnological, sociological, psychological, and more.

Why Hybrid?
The EMAP network puts at its forefront the importance of
creating a network across all its partner institutions from acrossEurope. In our increasingly digital surroundings, we rely more andmore on digital means of communication in order to establish andcreate such networks that span a whole continent and even go
beyond. However, these digital tools often lack the personable
qualities we seek when interacting with others. Furthermore,when looking at these communication tools, they tend to offer
very basic communication methods. One can hear and see
the other online participants, but options for other forms ofconnections remain out of reach.
Hybrid event formats come to bridge the, sometimes, unfamiliar
feeling one gets from remote communication and the needfor interpersonal social experiences. For example, hybrid
communication formats can facilitate the joint creation ofdifferent art projects in an event that brings together artists
from different locations. If done well, hybrid events can create
an experience that exceeds the physical limitations of audiences
existing in different locations and allows for new channels ofcommunication.

Hybrid Formats

In this report, we will share our insights about developing hybrid
setups. We will sketch out the challenges and the opportunities
this format introduces, provide some useful links and inspirationand end with a case study of a hybrid event IMPAKT organisedon November 2022.

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1. Challenges when setting up a hybrid event
Perhaps the main question hybrid events raise, is how can weovercome the physical distance and create a sense of intimacy
and togetherness. Technological developments have advanced
greatly since the beginning of the pandemic and facilitatecommunication gaps between people online. However, thebiggest challenge we must overcome with each hybrid event isthat of translating the experience of the in-venue audience to theonline audience.

Hybrid Formats

The previous question introduces another pressing matter – how
can we keep online audiences active? Be it through the content
of the session or by using various communication tools, enticing
at-home or offline audiences to maintain an active part in a hybrid
event is crucial to its success.

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One of the greatest opportunities an online event provides isa broader, more international reach than that of an online event.
A crucial topic that must be addressed here is the structuraldifferences between internet users in the Global West, whereinternet infrastructures are well-developed vs. those in the Global
South, specifically in more emerging areas of the world, where
the internet connection is slower and not as accessible as for
those in the West. By asking participants for a certain internet
connection, we limit which participants that can take part in our
hybrid event. Therefore, another question that always comes tomind when setting up a hybrid event is that of accessibility –to what degree do we implement software that demand a higher
bandwidth from our online participants?

Another difficulty that arises when setting up a hybrid event isthat more experts must be included in the preparation process.
Here, beyond a curator and producer, an institution must confer
with a tech specialist and take into consideration the limitationsof technology when planning a hybrid event. This might narrow
the event and limit the possibilities for presentation andengagement with the audience.
Finally, an institution must also take into consideration the costsof hybrid events, which tend to be higher than the costs ofa “regular” event. Of course, including more team members in
the preparation process of such an event adds to its cost but theexpenses of software, cameras, microphones and other tools thatan institution must acquire to execute a hybrid event, must be
taken into account as well.

Hybrid Formats

Though all of these challenges are crucial to consider whenplanning a hybrid event, it is equally important to explore themany opportunities that this format of events can introduce.

52. Opportunities introduced by hybrid events
As mentioned above, perhaps the main benefit introduced byhybrid events is their accessibility. Through hybrid events,
institutions can reach international audiences, introduce
a multiplicity of voices and feature international artists, scholars
and others that can not travel for various reasons.
By experimenting with hybrid events, institutions develop newtechnologies and tools for international communication andartistic creation. This is a huge asset that hybrid events bringto the cultural field.

Hybrid Formats

Though listed as a challenge above, team effort can lead tothe development of many great ideas. Including experts fromdifferent fields in the planning of a hybrid event can result increating an experience that can resonate with audiences that
won’t usually attend a cultural event.

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After looking into the challenges and opportunities that hybrid
event formats introduce, we would like to sketch out a few great
examples, projects and further information about various formats
of hybrid experiments.
For suggestions on how to set up a hybrid event, including theproper equipment, please refer to the technical setup of
the case study presented below.

3. Links and information
on organisations and projects
that practice and promote hybridity
Tool Kit For The Inbetween
A how-to knowledge base offering tools, frameworks, andinspiration for designing a valuable hybrid experience. The toolkit
provides an overview of existing, privacy-friendly platforms andtools for creating hybrid experiences. It also offers practicaltips and a vocabulary for how these tools can contribute to an
online and onsite audience experience. The toolkit is born out ofextensive research into hybrid experiences and their dynamic
lineage of experimentation under­taken in the art and cultural
sector. The Toolkit for the Inbetween is a partnership between
The Hmm, affect lab, and MU Hybrid Art House.

Hybrid Formats

Digital Earth

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This organization’s mission is to create a planetary movement.
Only when this movement is as global and diverse as the usersof the technological systems, we can redesign our planet’s
technological infrastructures. Digital Earth propels systemicchange by producing films, campaigns, events and shares theinsights of their global community and informs the public. Digital
Earth was a research fellowship (2018-2022) for artists thinking
through questions of digital futures. The program aimed atdiversifying dialogue and debate in society through the power ofart to bring about structural social change.

International Art & Wine Tasting Event
IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture]
This International Art & Wine Tasting Event was an informal
hybrid art event that connected audience members andparticipants from six European countries across the online/offline
divide. This hybrid event took place physically at the picturesque
Oud Amelisweerd estate in Utrecht, where five tables were set
up. We were joined online by five other tables at the following art
organisations: Antre Peaux in Bourges, France; Werkleitz in Halle(Saale), Germany; Onassis Stegi in Athens, Greece; Kontejnerin Zagreb, Croatia; and Laboral in Gijón, Spain. We asked eachof them to share their favourite local wine, and we tasted anddiscussed their wine selections with wine experts.
I want to delete it all, but not now
Roos Groothuizen (2021)
I Want To Delete It All, But Not Now is an unsolvable escaperoom that challenges our personal motives for escaping thedata industry. The artist set up a physical ‘room’ in Tetem, where
physical visitors could enter it for 60 minutes to find clues
on the disappearance of a fictional person. At the same time,
online players could observe the space through the camerathat the physical players wore on their bodies. Both sides would
cooperate to solve physical and digital puzzles that challenged
them to search for the origins of their own digital dilemmas about
online addiction, privacy, and responsibility.

Hybrid Formats

HEALINGdenialofservice.fail8

In a run of HEALING, half of the players participate live onsite. Awaiting them there is a multi-storied venue, combining
the barren charms of a mental institution with the pulsating
aesthetics of game shows. In this immersive play world, there
is always something to be discovered. Weird figures andtheir stories, an elaborate technical surveillance apparatus,and futuristic greenhouses. In cooperation with professional
performers, the players themselves bring this fictional
entertainment show to full life. The other half of the audienceis playing online – they are the TRIBUNAL. Through a custombuilt 3D-game-environment, they are able to follow, access,and control the proceedings via video, voice, and text chat andcan observe everything via the in-house surveillance system.
Their task is to control and evaluate the other players – buteveryone has their own secret agendas as well. Careful: even the
TRIBUNAL is constantly being evaluated and controlled.

Unboxing Past
Helgard Haug / Rimini Protokoll (2020-present)

Hybrid Formats

Accompanied by three cameras, archaeologist Dr. Thorsten
Sonnemann ​​started in mid-2020 in a specially designed room toopen the archive boxes and systematically record the contents.
He spent almost a year opening the boxes and measuring,numbering, photographing, looking at, analyzing and making
an inventory of the stones, tiles, shards, utensils and everyday
objects, as well as parts of the brutally destroyed Torah ark. With
his work, he contributes to making the contents of all 105 archiveboxes digitally accessible. So you can observe for many hours
what otherwise only takes place in secret: Unboxing Past not
only shows how the finds themselves come to light again. For the
first time, it is also shown in great detail how the archaeologist
handles the finds. The online audience can meet up for a 2-hour
online conversation in groups of three, look at one of the archiveboxes, and exchange ideas about what and how they remember
and what that means for the finds in the Börneplatz synagogue.
At the end of the conversation, they decide whether theirconversation will be made available on the website.

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4. A case study: Hybrid formats,merging online and offline
On Friday, 4 November 2022, IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture]
hosted an EMAP capacity-building workshop focused on the
production and development of hybrid event formats. This workshop
was part of the Professionals Programme of the IMPAKT Festival 2022.

Content of session
In this collaborative session, we showcased the latest steps
IMPAKT has made toward developing successful hybrid formats andfocused on the knowledge of different artists and organisers who
work on and with hybrid formats. For this discussion, we focusedon the technical aspects of facilitating such events, as well as thesociological and psychological aspects of hybridity. Each participant
in this session engages with hybridity differently and even has
distinct views on what hybridity means.

Hybrid Formats

The participants in this session:

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Moderators: Marijke Hessels (tech-dramaturg at Ulrike Quade
Company) and Arjon Dunnewind (General director IMPAKT)Patricia Villanueva (Laboral Centro de Arte, Gijon)
Heracles Papatheodorou (Onassis Stegi, Athens)
Sandra Sterle (Kontejner, Zagreb)
Sander Veenhof, Angelique Spaninks and Babusi Nyoni(METAVERSES CHA-CHA-CHA dance party)
Artist Benjamin Pompe
Artist Casper de Jong

Through various views and experience working with hybrid event
formats, the session aimed to give an overview of current hybrid
experiments that different institutions and/or artists are currently
engaging in. At the beginning of the session, each participant
shared their work. After all the participants presented, we opened
the discussion to a broader audience, allowing for questions andremarks from both our online and in-venue participants.

Cases/inspiration for hybrid events:•

International Art & Wine Tasting Event
International Hybrid Wine Tasting Event: This event is describedabove, under the section “Links And Information On Organisations
That Practice And Promote Hybridity”.

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Metaverses CHA-CHA-CHA dance party
The metaverse, often described as ‘persistent, shared, 3D virtual
spaces’, doesn’t yet exist, but that hasn’t stopped big companies
from capitalising on it. It’s this moment when the metaverse iscoming into being, that opens up space for us to bring in our ideasof the metaverse and shape our own ‘metaverses’. During the
METAVERSES CHA-CHA-CHA dance party, participants danced into
a new reality. Sander Veenhof presented three of his latest hybrid
AR experiments and creative coder Babusi Nyoni was the architectof our dancing metaverses. This experimental event and workshop
series was part of the Toolkit for the Inbetween, a research projectand how-to knowledge base offering tools, frameworks, andinspiration for designing a successful hybrid experience where
online and on-site audiences come together. The Toolkit for theInbetween is a partnership between The Hmm, affect lab, and MU.

•

Benjamin Pompe and Casper de Jong,
two emerging artists working at the border between online andoffline, shared their experience of working at this intricate interface.

Hybrid Formats

Hybrid Technical Setup

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In the IMPAKT Festival 2022 Professionals’ Programme, we
wanted to look closer at hybridity. Throughout our previous
hybrid experiments, we sought to create formats that establish
a pleasant, casual and inspiring interaction between the online
and offline audiences. For this session, the challenge wastranslating a panel structure into a new and engaging hybrid
format. Panels usually provide a somewhat passive experience
for their audience. There is a clear distinction between the
speaker and the listener. The gap in the level of participation may
lead to disengagement from the online audience, as they are theleast active in this event.
The technical setup played a critical part in the session andenabled its hybrid component. This is the setup sent to ourtechnical producer:

Room arrangement
The room arrangement was a square of tables. On one side
the hosts, Arjon and Marijke, sat. At the other tables were thesession’s in-house participants. Right in the centre of the square
was a tripod with a webcam on all sides, facing the four sides ofthe square, each connected to a laptop. On the floor on all foursides, directly in front of the webcam tripod, were four screensof about 40” on a floor stand, each aimed at the side of the table
they are in front of (on these, the inhouse participants could see
all the zoom participants). These screens were all connected tothe same laptop, to which the webcam is connected.

Audio
On each side of the square, there was a podcast microphone withthe omni setting turned on (note that these have USB outputs
and are rather short cables). This allowed all participants on one
side of the table to be heard clearly. These were connected to thecentral direction device.

Zoom session
A session was created on a paid Zoom account. Everyone was
asked to turn on their videos. The central device is where hosting
took place and the appropriate participants were spotlighted,
muted and asked to unmute. Depending on the programme,
it may also be the case that the camera is switched off forparticipants who do not get the virtual video going.

Materials
Video
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4 webcam Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcams
1 tripod
1 cabling from the four webcams to the laptops
1 mounting of four webcams to the tripod
4 x 40” screens
4 HDMI cables 10 metres

Hybrid Formats

Audio

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4 table microphones: Boya BY-PM700
1 cabling and any adapters for the four microphones
1 set of speakers and minijack connection for central device
4 laptops, with HDMI and USB connection
1 central device

5. Conclusion

Hybrid Formats

Throughout our various hybrid experiments, we have gained
valuable knowledge on holding successful hybrid events. For
the session presented above, IMPAKT implemented some of
our acquired knowledge from previous events, extended theexperiment to try a new setup and gained new insights. One
observation we made during this event is the importanceof keeping hybrid sessions personal by making everyone aparticipant. This ensures that people are eager to participate
as everyone is considered a stakeholder. This is imperative tomaintaining active sessions such as workshops or hackathons
but proved to be a challenge when translating a panel, a normally
passive session, into a hybrid format. Through the active
participation not only of the speakers but also the audience inthis session, we learned that the smaller the distinctions are
between the people involved (participant, visitor, organiser,
guest, listener, speaker), the easier it is to have people interact
and become active contributors.

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On a more general note, hybrid event formats offer great
opportunities for cultural institutions to reach a broader audience.
Furthermore, this communication approach offers a creative
breeding ground for cultural exchanges and creations byconnecting people from different locations and encouraging
them to use technology in a new way. At IMPAKT, we refer to our
hybrid events as ‘experiments’ as a way to consider the many
developments this format needs to undergo in order to be fully
accessible and useable. That being said, we already acknowledge
and appreciate the immense value that hybridity has to offer for
cultural exchanges and technological development.

European Media Art Platform
The European Media Art Platform (EMAP),
initiated by werkleitz and co- funded by
Creative Europe since 2018, is a consortiumof leading European media art organisations
specialised in Digital and Media Art, Bio Art
and Robotic Art.
emare.eu
info@emare.eu

Contact:
IMPAKT Centre for Media Culture
Lange Nieuwstraat 4
3512PH Utrecht

Photo: © Pietr Kers / beeld.nu