UNESCO

Chair on Heritage Futures

Miras Gelecekleri

2025-04-14

Miras Gelecekleri is “Heritage Futures” in Turkish!

I was interviewed by Erman Ertuğrul for the popular Turkish website arkeofili.

In the interview I am talking, among others, on how I got into archaeology at age 10 and then, much later, into future archaeology.

See for the English version: https://arkeofili.com/on-future-archaeology-an-interview-with-cornelius-holtorf/ and for the Turkish version: https://arkeofili.com/gelecek-arkeolojisi-uzerine-cornelius-holtorf-roportaji/

Thank you, Erman!

Various activities January – March 2025

2025-04-02

Cornelius Holtorf took part in the first meeting of the Heritage and Climate Change Working Group of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation (ICIP) (14 January 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf lectured on “Communicating Cultural Heritage with the Future” for 15 students reading the course “Cultural Heritage and Communication” as part of the Undergraduate Programme in Cultural Heritage in Present and Future Socities at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden (5 February 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf lectured on “Unesco världsarv: vad kommuniceras för framtida generationers skull?” for 15 students reading the course “Cultural Heritage and Communication” as part of the Undergraduate Programme in Cultural Heritage in Present and Future Socities at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden (10 February 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf participated in a short survey on the illicit trafficking of cultural property, with a particular focus on its online dimension, shaping discussions at the upcoming UNESCO Conference “Addressing Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property in the Digital Era” to be held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 26 June 2025 (15 February 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf had an informal meeting with Ulrik Brandén, Deputy Mayor of Mörbylånga, Emma Rydnér, World Heritage Coordinator at Mörbylånga Municipality, and Örjan Molander, Director at Kalmar County Museum, on various ideas for collaboration regarding development of the UNESCO World Heritage property Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland (20 February 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf took place in the regular meeting of the International Scientific Committee on AeroSpace Heritage of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) which discussed, among others, the recent listing of the sites on the Moon on the World Monuments Watch List 2025 by the World Monuments Fund (21 February 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf attended the 8th Annual Heritage Lecture of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre on ”Changing concepts Future of the and the ’Ethics of Repair’”, given by Aleida Assmann, Professor of English Literature and General Literary Studies, Universität Konstanz (28 February 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf presented a keynote lecture on “Time Travel – More than Learning About the Past” for ca 50 listeners in the room and another 20 online, coming together for the conference Re-Action: Time Travels in a Changing Worl – Bridging Ages 20 Years in Kalmar, Sweden (4 March 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf had an informal meeting with Steven Hartman, Executive Director of the BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition in UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations Programme (MOST), on ways of future collaboration (7 March 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf met with Shanti Morell-Hart of the Dept of Anthropology at Brown University in Providence, USA, for an informal conversation about seeds and heritage futures (14 March 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf met in Providence, USA, with Philip Segadika of the National Museum of Botswana in Gaborone, Botswana, for an informal conversation about collabloration on heritage futures (16 March 2025).

Cornelius Holtorf participated actively discussing heritage processes and futures literacy in the first Plenary Meeting of the Expert Group on Archiving and Awareness Preservation (EGAAP-1) of the Nuclear Energy Agency held online and at the OECD in Paris (19-20 March 2025).

Natural Heritage Futures

2025-03-17

I was able to develop some thoughts on natural heritage futures as an invited speaker at the conference From Menageries, to Zoos, to Everything in Between: Can we Envision a New Breed of Zoos? held at Brown University in Providence, USA (15 March 2025) for ca 50 attending participants.


My contribution was as follows:

Zoos and natural heritage futures
This talk is about zoos and the roles of natural heritage in managing the relations between present and future societies. I will present several ways in which zoos can contribute to raising significant issues that directly address anticipated needs of future societies. This includes questions on what it means to be human, the relations between human and non-human lifeforms, and how to make sense of a changing world through animals. That world will face the following challenges, among others:

  • AI/machine learning: challenging the distinction between things and people
  • Space exploration (Mars): raising questions about belonging and responsibilities in the Universe
  • Climate change and environmental destruction: blurring the boundary between nature and culture

Zoos remain significant in the future because they can be creating opportunities for engaging people in stories about what it means to be human and about a variety of ways for human societies of relating to the natural world.

UNESCO MOST Winter School

2025-02-27

I was lecturing this week on ”The Climate Heritage Paradox – towards a paradigm shift in cultural heritage” for an audience of 70+ physical and online participants coming together for the 7th UNESCO MOST Winter School held at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Köszeg (iASK), Hungary.

On the same panel were also also Gábor Soós, Secretary-General of UNESCO Hungary, Klaus Wölfer, former Ambassador of Austria, Anna Zeichner of ICCROM, and Tamás Fejérdy of ICOMOS and iASK, among others

The meeting was organised in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainability held by Professor Ferenc Miszlivetz at the University of Pannonia, Hungary.

The Climate Heritage Paradox – towards a paradigm shift in cultural heritage

For the cultural heritage sector to address adequately the global challenges of climate change, it needs to resolve the Climate Heritage Paradox which consists of two conundrums. Firstly, in contemporary society, when humanity anticipates and prepares for climate change and associated transformations, cultural heritage predominantly looks backward and emphasizes identities and continuities over time. Secondly, when humanity on Earth needs panhuman solidarity, trust, and collaboration to be able to face enormous global challenges together, cultural heritage is still managed and interpreted within frameworks of regional/national governance. There is, therefore, a need for developing new understandings of cultural heritage that (a) are predominantly about stories of change and transformation rather than continuity and spatial belonging, and (b) express a need for humanity to collaborate globally and overcome national boundaries. Such a paradigm change in cultural heritage will protect and enhance the benefits of cultural heritage for the future in the age of climate change.

Heritage Futures – origins and significance

2025-01-30

In an interview published by the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, I am talking about origins and significance of ‘heritage futures’, both for me and my work and academically in a more general sense.

Specifically, I am answering the following questions:

  1. What inspired your interest in the concept of “heritage futures,” and how do you see this concept reshaping the field of heritage studies and archaeology?
  2. Your work challenges traditional approaches to heritage by emphasizing its dynamic nature in contemporary society. Could you provide some examples of how this approach has influenced your own research or projects?
  3. In your view, what is the role of archaeology and heritage studies in addressing global issues such as climate change, sustainability, and cultural identity? 

The Power of History and Heritage

2025-01-29

Donald Trump’s Inaugural Speech on 20 January 2025, demonstrated the significance of history in building a narrative for national politics. These are some of the key passages in his speech:

“The American dream will soon be back and thriving like never before.  …

“Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor, and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization. …
 
“The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation — one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons.  …
 
“Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers.  The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts.  The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls. 
 
“Our American ancestors turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the most extraordinary citizens on Earth.  No one comes close.
 
“Americans pushed thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness.  They crossed deserts, scaled mountains, braved untold dangers, won the Wild West, ended slavery, rescued millions from tyranny, lifted billions from poverty, harnessed electricity, split the atom, launched mankind into the heavens, and put the universe of human knowledge into the palm of the human hand.  If we work together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve.“

We will come to see to what extent the Trump administration will even employ cultural heritage to signify its ‘historical’ mission. And whether heritage will be seen as a tool for future-making.

While campaigning for his first Presidential period, there was one example of Trump possibly using a type of ‘heritage futures’. That was the occasion of the fictitous war memorial erected in 2015 on one of his golf courses. The River of Blood monument was installed at the Trump National Golf Club in Lowes Island, Virginia, which purports to mark an American Civil War battle site even though no records to that effect are known. The intention seems to have been to connect Trump’s patriotic America-first agenda with a heritage site commemorating an imagined historic event during the American Civil War.

Lets see how all this plays out over the coming years.

The Atom & Cornelius

2025-01-27

Chairholder Cornelius Holtorf got interviewed by film-maker Vicki Lesley in her series entitled “The Atom & Us“. Vicki was the Director of The Atom: A Love Affair (2019).

She introduces the interview with Cornelius like this:

“Cornelius is a Professor of Archaeology, originally from Germany but now based in Sweden. But in an unusual twist, his work doesn’t focus on the past, but instead, on the future. And more particularly for our purposes, on the legacy of nuclear waste and what we in the present can leave behind to empower generations far in the future to manage this legacy safely.

“I’m fascinated by his work as these questions of nuclear knowledge and deep time have been a preoccupation of mine ever since I first got interested in nuclear issues back in the mid 2000s – and of course, they remain a live and pressing issue now, not just in the UK where I am, but in places across the globe who’ve experienced the footprints of nuclear activity, be they military or civilian.

“I find his perspective on this as an archaeologist insightful and stimulating. And on top of that, he also has a vivid tale to tell about his own personal relationship to the atom, shaped by the particular time and place he grew up in, as well as impactful encounters later in life.”

— (Cornelius writes:) I found the questions really stimulating and a good opportunity to tell about some sides of my interest in ‘the nuclear’ which I haven’t previously written about anywhere.

Various Activities October-December 2024

2025-01-15

Cornelius Holtorf had an informal meeting with Maria Wilenius, new Secretary-General, and Ellinor Hellberg, responsible for culture, Swedish National Commission for UNESCO, to discuss the renewal of our UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures 2025-2029 (4 October 2024).

Gustav Wollentz lectured for two hours on heritage futures to XX students reading the course “An introduction to Cultural Heritage”, Linnaeus University, Kalmar students (TO BE COMPLETED).

Cornelius Holtorf lectured for three hours on “Cultural and heritage tourism – making choices for the future” for 14 students taking the advanced-level course on Tourism and Sustainability in the Anthropocene 15 credits in Tourism and Recreation Studies at Linnaeus University, Kalmar (10 October 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf held a class on culture and the future for about ten students taking the course “Ethics and Anthropology” at the University of Cork, Ireland (10 October 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf was invited to present for ca 50 participants of the Swedish County Museums Autumn Meeting (Länsmuseernas höstmöte) on the extent to which the Swedish County Museums are contributing to peace rather than preparing for war (17 October 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf introduced and led a discussion on the importance of the past and cultural heritage for civil defense and cultural mobilisation during the Meeting of the Scientific Council of the LEIBNIZ Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA) held in Schleswig, Germany (24 October 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf had an informal meeting with Steven Hartman, Executive Director, UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition, about future collaborations and mutual endorsements (4 November 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf held an informal meeting with Michael Münker of Milliongenerations Foundation in Utrecht, Netherlands, about future collaborations relating to global art and culture in relation to future generations (22 November 2024).

Gustav Wollentz and Anders Högberg ran a futures workshop for XX decision-makers at the Cultural Administration at Västragötalands Region in Göteborg, Sweden (22 November 2024). TO BE COMPLETED

Cornelius Holtorf was invited to contribute to a panel on 60 years Venice Charter, addressing the topic “Regeneration vs the Venice Charter”, for 20 members of ICOMOS Sweden attending the ICOMOS Sweden Advent meeting in Stockholm, Sweden (26 November 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf took part in the Transitional First Meeting of the Expert Group on Archiving and Awareness Preservation (EGAAP) of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the OECD (27 November 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf contributed as a panel member to Linnaeus University’s internal “Future Day” on 3 December 2024.

Cornelius Holtorf took part in the online round table “Exploring connections – climate action for living heritage” co-organized by UNESCO, the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL) and the ICH NGO Forum and held in the framework of the Nineteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Asunción, Paraguay (3 December 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf met with Emma Rydnér, co-ordinator of the Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland World Heritage property at the Municipality of Mörbylånga, Öland, to discuss future collaboration (4 December 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf presented an online talk on “The meaning of culture in global policy for sustainable development” for CultureSustain – a network researching Scandinavian museums’ impact on Cultural Sustainability based at the University of Aarhus, Denmark (5 December 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf had an informal meeting on heritage futures with Nataliya Oboznenko, researcher, Lecturer in Marketing, and Academic Director at the Lviv Business School of the Ukrainian Catholic University (13 December 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf lectured on “Archaeology, Climate and Sustainability” for 17 students taking the course “Archaeology I” at Linnaeus University, Campus Kalmar (18 December 2024).

Cornelius Holtorf lectured on “Global Cultural Policy” for 13 students taking the course “Possibilities and Limits of Cultural Policy”, which forms part of the Undergraduate Programme in Cultural heritage in present and future societies at Linnaeus University, Campus Kalmar (19 December 2024).

Climate action for living heritage

2024-12-08

Cornelius Holtorf was among a team of international experts contributing to a UNESCO Guidance note on climate action for living heritage, passed recently at the 19th Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Asunción, Paraguay, 2 to 7 December 2024.

Among others, the Note refers to the significance of futures thinking in stating that

“The network of UNESCO Chairs and accredited non-governmental organizations should also be engaged in promoting research and education objectives, and in advocating for research programmes as a source of funding. Specific priorities for research might address:

  • (…)
  • engagement with the new fields of artificial intelligence and futures thinking;”

Gradually, heritage futures makes its way into UNESCO thinking regarding major challenges ahead…