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Arts & Communication Hack the art: Yanoulis Halepas

level featured the hero in his old age, in Athens, where he 6.1.3. Online event
spent the past 8 years of his life. The script was based on the The competition was launched with a 1-day online event
life of the great Greek sculptor, who managed to overcome (December 18, 2022), prefaced by presentations of two
societal and familial obstacles, surpass his mental illness, university professors who made an introduction to the new
and free himself from the ghosts of his past to pursue his competition theme. Following this, the five awarded school
passion for art. The application of GBL techniques ensures teams from the previous competition took the digital floor
high levels of motivation, boosts creativity and encourages to present their projects and share their experiences and
students to use their logic to complete tasks, manage their skills gained. This opportunity allowed professors and
time, and compartmentalize to achieve a common goal. students to promote their digital projects and exchange
j) Digital storytelling scenario views, experiences, and expertise. They also offered
consultancy to newcomers and encouraged them to study
Another category of the competition “Hack the Art: the rich educational material uploaded on the Classroom
Yanoulis Halepas” was the creation of digital narratives platform, register, and take part in the new competition.
(video or animated video up to 5 min) based on selected
key stories related to the sculptor’s life and work. Following these preliminary actions, the implementation
Participants were briefed on the rules and steps for stage commenced.
creating digital stories and supplied with several storylines 6.2. The implementation stage
originating from Halepa’s turbulent life to use as a source
of inspiration. Digital storytelling leverages children’s The implementation stage can be analyzed in two phases.
imagination, encouraging them to express themselves During the first phase, which lasted about 2.5 months,
freely while activating their memory by combining interested school groups (consisting of more than three
knowledge and skills they obtained from other courses, students and at least one leader professor) had to submit
maximizing intersubjectivity. 34 an idea or proposal describing the development of a
digital project using historical material and data from
Children would study the stories, enrich them by adding available online institutional or open-access repositories
their findings, and make new connections derived from in Greece and abroad. The interest in participation was
Yanoulis’ life while interlocking their own unique experiences significant, with 17 valid proposals and one non-valid
in life. Through this process, students can develop their proposal submitted, involving more than 200 students
esthetic criteria, learn from their mistakes, reinforce their and 60 professors. The participants came from Greek
leadership skills, and exercise empathy during the intensive schools in Athens, Thessaloniki, Corfu Island, Crete Island,
collaboration and creative process. Guiding questions were Giannitsa, Kastoria, Kalamata, Evros, and Karditsa. Five
provided alongside the proposed storylines to support the proposals were from private schools, and 13 were from
children in articulating the rationale behind their chosen public ones. Among them, one proposal came from a
storyline, elucidating the specific means through which they special gymnasium-lyceum, and one from a private school
intend to convey it, tapping into their emotional reservoirs, that participated out of the competition (non-valid) due to
and embracing the challenge of reshaping their reality late proposal submission.
through the transformative lens of digital narration. 35,36
Regarding the categories of digital works, the
6.1.2. The digital educational platform – Classroom submissions were as follows:
(i) VR = one proposal (out-–of-competition-late proposal
All the supporting material created was organized and submission)
posted on Classroom, the open-access digital educational (ii) AR = one proposal
37
platform of the Onassis Foundation, to promote involvement (iii) Digital storytelling = 12 proposals
and visibility. This easy-to-use asynchronous educational (iv) 3D video game = four proposals.
repository encouraged interested school groups to engage
in the student competition. This web tool was developed to After an initial evaluation process by a predetermined
adequately support each of the new competition’s required evaluation committee, 17 proposals qualified to proceed to
processes: general information, registration, application the next level to implement their digital project. The results
submission, contact form, frequently asked questions, of the first phase of the competition were posted on the
announcements, new content additions, evaluation, and Classroom platform.
a digital projects gallery. All this useful content remained During the second phase, which also lasted about
on the platform after the competition ended and is freely 2.5 months, the school teams had to prepare the
available to all. deliverables of their digital projects (executable files, source

Volume 2 Issue 4 (2024) 8 doi: 10.36922/ac.2557