November marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. ICOM EUROPE, together with ICOM Germany, takes this important event as an opportunity to reflect anew on the extent to which this historical dimension had consequences for the museum landscape and to what extent the united Europe of today itself is in demand to actively position itself. Social responsibility and awareness of democracy are essential factors that promote free sciences and art, but at the same time also allow scope for the establishment of museums and their contexts. The developments within the museum as an institution have undergone enormous processes of change, especially in the last decades, in which not least the questions about the contents, the history of the collection and the currently held debates have been and will be challenged. In the context of progressive digitization, once again huge transformations are coming to the institution. This is why during this conference we want to reflect to what extent museums, borders (former as well as new) and European responsibility could be key concepts, questioning, exploring and transposing this historical dimension from the end of the First World War to current processes and issues.

Registration is possible until 16 November 2018! We hope for your understanding that the registration can only be made online.

PROGRAM

Friday, 23 November 2018

13:00 – 15:00 Registration / Visit of Ludwig Museum

15:00 Opening remarks

Claudia Roth, Vice-President, German Federal Parliament tbc.
Beate Reifenscheid, Director, Ludwig Museum, and President, ICOM Germany
Luís Raposo, Chair, ICOM EUROPE ALLIANCE
Margit Theis-Scholz, Deputy Mayor for Culture, City of Koblenz

16:00 Keynote lecture

Museums, European Society and Legacy of 1918
Neil Forbes, Professor of International History, Coventry University

Reception and Tours at Ludwig Museum

Saturday, 24 November 2018

09:00 – 09:30 Registration

09:30 – 11:00 Session 1 - Situating artefacts: how did museums collect, interpret and display history from WW1 till today?

Session Chair: Giuliana Ericani

Commemorating together 1918/19: 30 exhibitions in France, Germany and Switzerland
Markus Moehring, Three-Countries-Museum, Lörrach

The Centennial of World War I and the National World War I Museum and Memorial: Special Exhibitions
Doran Cart, National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City

Reflecting on the First World War
Karen O’Rourke, Museum of Liverpool

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 – 13:00 Session 2 - Connecting people: how has the perception of museums changed between a hundred years ago and today; how do museums situate themselves as political agents and actors; how do they master the role of democratic institutions; how do museums establish global networks and how did this lead to the creation and development of ICOM?

Session Chair: Luís Raposo

Cymru’Cofio/Wales Remembers – Commemorating and Researching the First World War at Amguddfa Cymru
Ulrike Smalley, National Museums Wales

A Democratic Way of Understanding the Great War
Jonathan R. Casey, National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City

Why it is so difficult to remember 1918?
Juliane Haubold-Stolle, Topographie des Terrors, Berlin

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break

14:00 – 15:30 Session 3 - Crossing borders – real and digital: how do museum act and respond to changing borders; breaking boundaries; and digital collections (that do not stop at borders)?

Session Chair: Monika Hagedorn-Saupe

Beyond Borders: Representing the First World War in a transnational museum
Kieran Burns, House of European History, Brussels

“Compelled to act”: museums in a post-centenary world
Deborah Tout-Smith, Museums Victoria, Melbourne & ICOM Australia

From the trenches to the web - Europe's "hidden" history on Europeana 1914-1918
Ad Pollé, EUROPEANA Foundation

15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break

16:00 – 18:00 Project Slam

Social event

Sunday, 25 November 2018

09:30 – 11:00 Session 4 - Museums in the 21 Century: what are the risks museums and democracy face; what is the responsibility of curation, and what are the challenges and perspectives for museums in the 21st century?

Session Chair: Jacques Terriere

Where do we go from here? This is the real dope
Maria Vlachou, Cultural Management and Communications Consultant, Lisbon

Stars and Stripes at the "Deutsches Eck" - the American Occupation at Rhine and Moselle 1918-1923
Marc Holzheimer, IGL, University of Mainz

The House of Austrian History: Establishing a 21st Century museum in a changing political landscape
Monika Sommer, Haus der Geschichte, Vienna

11:00 – 12:00 Closing lecture

Out of the comfort zone
Taja Vovk van Gaal, Creative Director, House of European History, Brussels, Belgium