Onlife: Digital Culture in Northern Europe During the Pandemic

The term 'onlife,' coined by Oxford professor Luciano Floridi, describes the blurred boundary between real and virtual in the 21st century. This article examines how Northern Europe embraced digital culture during the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing six case studies across five macro-regions: Northern, Western, Central, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. In Finland, institutions like the National Museum of Finland offered extensive digital resources via digi.museo.fi and Museo Aperto. Germany's ZKM (Center for Art and Media), founded in 1989, integrated research labs and joined the EU project Beyond Matter to create virtual exhibitions using AI. The Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands digitized its collection and launched the viral @tussenkunstenquarantine campaign, inspiring museums worldwide. The Baltic Culture Fund, established in 2018, supported cultural cooperation among Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, shifting online during the pandemic. Switzerland's MuDA (Museum of Digital Art) in Zurich, a private institution focused on code art, closed on June 30, 2020, due to financial losses from lockdown. The UK's MoCDA (Museum of Contemporary Digital Art), founded in 2018, is the first fully online museum dedicated to digital art, featuring VR, AR, XR, and crypto art. The article is part of the Digital Museum Lab project by IULM Master's students in Art, Valorization, and Market, coordinated by Prof. Vincenzo Trione.