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| Medialab Prado | |
|---|---|
| Name | Medialab Prado |
| Formation | 2000s |
| Type | Cultural center |
| Headquarters | Madrid |
| Location | Madrid |
| Region served | Spain |
Medialab Prado is a public cultural institution in Madrid focused on collaborative production at the intersection of digital culture, civic engagement, and artistic research. Founded within the networked culture surge of the early 2000s, it operates as a laboratory where practitioners from fields such as design, technology, media art, urbanism, and participation converge to develop projects, workshops, and exhibitions. The institution has become a node in European and global networks linking municipalities, cultural foundations, research centers, universities, and non‑governmental organizations.
Medialab Prado emerged amid the proliferation of digital cultural centers that followed initiatives like Ars Electronica, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Tate Modern, ZKM, and Centre Pompidou. Early collaborations connected it with institutions such as Laboral Centro de Arte, Hangar (art center), La Casa Encendida, Fondazione Prato, Documenta, and Transmediale. The center developed links with university nodes like Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Goldsmiths, University of London, University of Barcelona, and University of Salamanca. International partnerships included European Commission programs, Creative Commons, Mozilla Foundation, IETF, Wikimedia Foundation, and networks such as Resilient Cities, Cities for Children, Public Lab, Hacker Collective, and Fab Lab Network. Milestones were shaped by exchanges with festivals and labs like Sónar, SXSW, ISEA International, Ars Electronica Festival, WRO Media Art Biennale, and residencies linked to NESTA, DCA (Danish Centre for Architecture), and Culture Action Europe.
The institution’s mission aligns with civic innovation initiatives exemplified by Participatory Budgeting experiments in Porto Alegre, urban commons projects tied to Barcelona, and open data movements such as Open Data Barcelona and the Open Knowledge Foundation. Activities include co‑creation labs inspired by Maker Faire, collaborative mapping following methodologies of Map Kibera and OpenStreetMap, hackathon formats related to HackMadrid and Random Hacks of Kindness, and research practices akin to labs at MIT Media Lab, Senseable City Lab, and Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. It engages with cultural policy debates involving entities like European Cultural Foundation, UNESCO, Council of Europe, and participates in EU calls such as Horizon 2020.
Programs range across media art residencies comparable to Eyebeam, urban prototyping resembling Civic Design Lab (NYC), and community data projects echoing DataKind, D3.js initiatives, and OpenRefine workflows. Notable project types have included participatory mapping with Carto, civic tech platforms influenced by FixMyStreet and Decidim, community labs modeled after Fab Foundation processes, and exhibition collaborations with museums like Museo Reina Sofía, Museo Thyssen‑Bornemisza, and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Project partnerships extended to cultural producers such as The Kitchen (NYC), ZKU Berlin, Kunsthalle Basel, Tactical Tech, Data & Society Research Institute, New Museum, and advocacy groups like Amnesty International and Transparency International.
Facilities combine workshop spaces akin to Fab Lab Barcelona, fabrication tools similar to those found at MIT Fab Lab, digital production suites resembling Raspberry Pi labs, and exhibition areas comparable to ZKM. Technologies used include open hardware from Arduino, rapid prototyping from MakerBot and Ultimaker, software stacks drawing on Linux Foundation projects, multimedia tools used by Processing (programming language), visualization libraries like D3.js, collaborative platforms such as MediaWiki and WordPress, and geospatial tools from QGIS and OpenStreetMap. The center’s infrastructure supports audiovisual equipment in the spirit of Red Bull Music Academy studio setups, and networked research frameworks related to SensorLab and Internet Archive preservation practices.
Governance structures echo public cultural institutions including models used by British Council, Institut français, and municipal cultural departments in Barcelona and Lisbon. Funding mixes municipal support similar to Ayuntamiento de Madrid, European program grants like Creative Europe, philanthropic contributions from organizations comparable to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ford Foundation, and earned income via partnerships with entities such as Siemens, Telefonica, and Telefónica cultural initiatives. Advisory relationships have involved professionals linked to Arts Council England, EU Committee of the Regions, ICLEI, and philanthropic networks like Open Society Foundations.
Education and outreach initiatives mirror workshops from Maker Faire, digital literacy programs akin to Code Club, media literacy curricula like Media Literacy Week projects, and participatory learning influenced by Pedagogy of the Oppressed‑inspired community practices. Collaborations have included schools and universities such as Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, IE University, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and cultural mediators from British Council exchange programs. Community partners included social organizations like Caritas, Cruz Roja Española, Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción, and neighborhood associations modeled on Asociación Vecinal movements.
The center fostered collaborations with notable actors across art, technology, and civic spheres: artists and collectives in the orbit of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Cornelia Parker, Olafur Eliasson, Marina Abramović, and groups such as LabforCulture, Furtherfield, Creative Commons, Wikimedia España, Open Data Institute, Fab Lab Network, and Xnet. Impact is visible in policy dialogues referencing Participatory Budgeting experiments in Madrid, municipal open data implementations similar to Barcelona Open Data, and the growth of civic tech ecosystems akin to Code for America chapters. The institution’s work has been cited in discourse alongside events and platforms such as European Culture Forum, Smart City Expo World Congress, Festival Tsonami, Transmediale, and academic publications from MIT Press, Taylor & Francis, and Routledge.
Category:Organizations based in Madrid