4th International Biennial VESTIGES OF INDUSTRY 2007
[1/2/2007]
PRAGUE - KLADNO - LIBEREC - OSTRAVA
APPLICATION
Czech Republic
The 4th International Biennial VESTIGES OF INDUSTRY will be held in 2007. Since 2001 the Biennial has been a platform for the exchange of ideas among professionals from various fields, for publication activities, and for the public dissemination of information on the topic. Each Biennial features a conference and a cycle of meetings, exhibitions and cultural events on the possibilities, significance and difficulties of converting industrial buildings and sites to new use and is an opportunity for more generally addressing the issues of heritage conservation, architectural work and art, and modern life.
Dates: The Biennial will take place the week of 17-23 September 2007.
The Biennial events and the accompanying conference will be held in four cities in the Czech Republic:
- Prague - The unique building of the Old Sewage Treatment Plant in Prague has become the traditional venue for the Biennial conference. The accompanying events will be held in various locations in the city centre and in converted industrial buildings on the outskirts.
- Kladno - a former industrial city just outside Prague, since the mid-19th century a major mining and metal-working city
- Liberec - a city in Northern Bohemia, not far from the German and Polish borders, once home to prospering textile and glass-making industries
- Ostrava - a city in Northern Moravia, up until the 1990s the most industrialised city in the Czech Republic, now strongly affected by the decline in industrial production
The 4th International Biennial coincides with the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Czech Technical University in Prague and is organised by the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage of the Czech Technical University in cooperation with the Technical Monuments Committee of the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and the Czech Union of Civil Engineers, the Czech National Committee of ICOMOS, the National Heritage Institute, the National Technical Museum, and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Support for the organisation of the 4th International Biennial is provided by the Visegrad Fund. The accompanying events are organised with the support of the City of Prague, the City of Kladno, the City of Liberec, and the City of Ostrava, along with the involvement of local organisations and institutions.
The 4th International Biennial is being held under the aegis of the Chair of the Senate of the Czech Republic and the President of the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic.
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AS A SOURCE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
/ A preliminary invitation and call for papers /
The conference is divided into four thematic blocks in which papers will be presented on the following topics and based on real current examples:
- Changing value criteria: culture, economics and politics. Post-industrial sites and buildings as the focal point of future urban development and of sustainable development of the landscape and settlements (the shared and conflicting interests of various professions)
- The significance and impact of institutions (governmental, non-governmental, universities, interest groups), their role and their limitations in identification of values and new use /adaptive re-use/ and promoting industrial heritage conservation
- EU integration – connecting the cultural trails of industrial tourism throughout Europe (compatibility of documentation and evaluation criteria applied to industrial heritage as alternative tourist destinations; linking information systems and databases for alternative leisure-time projects)
- Industrial heritage as a space for self-reflecting a place of artistic creativity and experience
Conference venue: Old Sewage Treatment Plant (now home to the Ecotechnical Museum), Prague 6-Bubeneč, Papírenská ul. 6
ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME FOR CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS
- Tuesday 18 September 2007 - before the conference opening
Morning: free programme - opportunities to visit current exhibitions and/or take a walk through ‘industrial Prague’, inspired by two new publications of the VCPD:
Industrial Prague (a guide) and
Industry_Memory_Perceptions (a photographic publication)
- Tuesday 18 September 2007 - 15:00
Industry and Faces - opening of an exhibition of archive photos (accompanying a book of contemporary photographs from 1850-1920). Venues: Old Town Hall in Prague - Architects’ Hall, Old Town Square. Informal opening of the Biennial
- Tuesday 18 September 2007 - 20:00
Concert of the BERG Chamber Orchestra. Venue: main hall of the Old Sewage Treatment Plant, in the conference space of the Ecotechnical Museum, Papírenská 6, Prague 6–Bubeneč
- Wednesday 19 September 2007 - 19:00
Opening of an exhibition of alternative projects developed by students of architecture at schools in the Czech Republic: A social event for conference participants and invited guests, which will be held in an industrial location
- Thursday 20 September 2007
Excursion to the City of Kladno (at the end of the conference), optional tour of local exhibitions, a social evening event combined with the introduction of an industrial tourism project: Industrial Trails through the Bohemian Mid-West. An artistic performance will symbolically mark the closing of the conference
- Friday 21 September 2007
One-day excursion to the City of Liberec, with tours of selected sites and examples of their cultural potential (inspired by the publication of a guide to the industrial buildings of Liberec and the surrounding area)
- Saturday and Sunday 22 and 23 September 2007
Two-day excursion to Ostrava - introduced with a thematic seminar (on the train to Ostrava) about industrial heritage in the Czech city most strongly affected by industrialisation and by the post-industrial restructuring of the economy.
A tour of some unique structures from the industrial age and some mining and metalworking sites, some of which are registered cultural monuments, and the presentation of examples of how their cultural potential can be used as a source of the city’s development
The languages of the conference are Czech and English. English translation will also be provided during the excursions.
Information on the preparation of the programme of the Biennial, related reports, a thematic calendar and information on the conference (including a ‘call for papers’) is also available and will be continually updated on the web site of the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage (
http://vcpd.cvut.cz, http://
http://industrialnistopy.cz) and on the web sites of the co-organisers.
ORGANISATIONAL NOTE
The closing date for applications, accompanied by an abstract, is 15 May 2007. The number and length of the papers in each thematic section is limited owing to the short duration of the conference and to temporal and spatial constraints. All papers presented at the conference will be published in a volume of conference proceedings.
Exact information on taking part in the Biennial and relevant dates and details on the organisation of the conference and subsequent excursions will be included in the application forms. These materials will be distributed by e-mail and posted at: www.industrialnistopy.cz in January 2007.
The organisers of the Biennial are able to mediate affordable accommodation for participants through an agency. For the terms and prices of this accommodation please go to: www.industrialnicesty.cz; or contact us for information.
