UNESCO

Chair on Heritage Futures

Remembering the Past in the Future

2022-11-23

Cornelius Holtorf attended the conference “Remembering the Past in the Future” arranged by the Expert Group on Awareness Preservation of the Nuclear Energy Agency at the OECD at the Tabloo Visitor Centre in Dessel, Belgium (22-24 November 2022).

He organised and chaired a session on “Conceptualising Remembrance Across Generations” which was attended by an audience of more than 60. His own paper was entitled “History or heritage? Understanding cultural processes over time”. Anders Högberg participated virtually in the session and presented on “Futures literacy – Why it matters to transmit information on high-level radioactive waste to future generations.” The session ended in a lively discussion on what exactly the message might be that the present needs to send to the future in relation to long-term memory of final repositories of nuclear waste.

COP 27 on loss and damage

2022-11-18

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) held in November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, featured among many other events a session entitled “Losing the Irreplaceable: Loss & Damage, Culture & Heritage” which was arranged as part of the Resilience Hub on 17 November 2022.

This session, which Cornelius Holtorf attended digitally, was about cultural dimensions of loss and damage as a result of climate change. It asked: How does one grieve from the loss of the irreplaceable? What is the price of cultural extinction? Does loss mean the same thing in every culture?

In this perspective, heritage represents something irreplaceable that needs to be saved from loss and protected from damage.

But another way of looking at some of these issues is by asking: can heritage help us to increase resilience and adapt culture and heritage to changing natural conditions? What heritage is being created as a result of climate change? How can we enhance wellbeing of future generations despite major transformations we anticipate? 

As Hannah Fluck of the National Trust in the UK explained, one innovative strategy forward is focussing on “adaptive release”.

First Nordic UNESCO Chair meeting

2022-11-17

Cornelius Holtorf participated on 17 November 2022 in the first Nordic UNESCO Chair meeting with 11 chairholders from Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

Among the themes we are jointly interested in are sustainability, rights, and education/training – all engaging with some grand challenges for global societies and/or the planet.

We agreed to have more collaboration in the future and look for ways to meet up physically. Maybe we could find resources that will allow us to document and discuss the value of our work for society, UNESCO, our national UNESCO Commissions, and our universities…

Review by Sergiu Musteata

2022-11-16

Professor Dr. Sergiu Musteata, History and Geography Faculty, “Ion Creanga” State University, Chișinău, Moldova reviewed our book Cultural Heritage and the Future (Holtorf and Högberg 2021) in the Romanian journal Plural 10 (1), 2022, 177-181. Contact address for the author: sergiu_musteata@yahoo.com

Here are some excerpts machine-translated into English:

“The introductory part, the coordinators of the volume note that the research of the future and its relationship with cultural heritage is quite a field again and started to be addressed only a few years ago. The need for one such research comes from the circumstances to which the world is exposed today – rapid changes in all spheres of life, uncertain future, etc. … The collection of studies is practical the fruit of the effort of an international team for ten years that comes with an authentic, innovative and critical approach to a topic that deserves much attention greater, both from academic and political circles. …

“In conclusion, we highlight the fact that practically all authors noted that inheritance culture and the future are closely linked and that it should be a priority for the academic environment, for young people and for all those who are active in the fields of museography, cultural heritage, archaeology, anthropology, architecture, conservation, restoration, sociology, history, geography, etc. The present volume contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between the future and cultural heritage, which is an under-researched area. Because, cultural heritage and cultural heritage management must occupy a distinct place in the construction of a sustainable future. … Although the volume does not cover all aspects of cultural heritage and its relationship with the future, I am sure that this work will contribute to a better and wider research on the role of cultural heritage in building strategies and processes of the future. That is why I recommend this collection of studies not only to experts in the fields of cultural heritage, but also politicians and other professional categories who are concerned with the future of humanity. Because only through one approach visionary and interdisciplinary we can achieve the expected results, he anticipates certain risks, increase the confidence and security of the citizen, plan and build a sustainable future based on cultural heritage.”

The full review is available here.

The Future of Cultural Objects

2022-11-08

Cornelius Holtorf contributed to a course in challenge-based learning near Trento, Italy (8 November 2022). The course was organised by the The European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU) where learners, teachers and researchers cooperate with society and businesses to solve real-life challenges. The challenge was put together by Francesca Odella of the University of Trento and focused on the future of cultural objects.

My presentation was held at the Trentino Folklife Museum in San Michele all’ Adige and entitled “Heritage Futures: how culture and heritage must change for the future”. Some students joint via link.

Delphi Study on UN Foresight plans

2022-11-05

The Millennium Project, a global participatory think tank with 70 “Nodes” around the world has published its report: Five UN Foresight Elements of Our Common Agenda: Results of a Real-Time Delphi Study.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued Our Common Agenda, a bold report on UN reforms that includes five foresight elements; these elements were assessed by The Millennium Project. The five elements are:

  • UN Futures Lab
  • UN Summit on the Future
  • UN Envoy for Future Generations
  • Periodic UN Strategic Foresight and Global Threats reports
  • Re-purposed UN Trusteeship Council as a Multi-Stakeholder Foresight Body

a global study of 189 futurists and others from 54 countries. I was one of the contributors.

Lärande och framtiden

2022-10-11

Borde vi idag tänka mer på transformativt lärande för framtiden? frågar Gustav Wollentz (Nordiskt centrum för kulturarvspedagogik) i en ny blogg. Han beskriver det bakomliggande samarbetsprojekt med Växjö kommun vid Linnéuniversitetet på följande sätt:

Ur ett kulturarvsperspektiv undersöker jag för närvarade ungdomars (upp till ca 25 år) perspektiv på framtiden i ett utsatt område i Växjö, vid namn Araby. … Jag vill titta på hur en plats laddas med hopp inför framtiden genom att undersöka vilka handlingar och aktiviteter som gör att ungdomar känner hopp inför framtiden i Araby, och vad för kulturarv som skapas i den processen. Förhoppningen är att stärka banden mellan unga i Araby och kulturaktörer i Växjö. Alltså: jag närmar mig framtiden som kulturarvsskapande, vilket är en ovanlig ingång till kulturarv. Kulturarv har traditionellt sett oftare använts som en minnesinstitution snarare än en plats där vi kan skaffa oss erfarenheter som är transformativa och framtidsorienterade.

Precis som lärandet, ses kulturarv ofta som något som ska föras vidare till kommande generationer. Medan kulturarv traditionellt kopplas till något materiellt som bedöms vara värt att bevara för framtiden (såsom en staty eller en gravhög), så knuts lärande traditionellt till kunskap som är värd att föra vidare till en ny generation (såsom historien om en plats). Detta projekt är alltså ett försök till att vända perspektiven där framtiden får ett större utrymme i det lärande som sker genom kulturarv.

Responding to the climate emergency

2022-10-01

I have been attending the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development MONDIACULT 2022 in Mexico-City (28-30 September 2022). My University made a story out of it!

My formal role was an invited statement in the session “Responding to the climate emergency: new imperatives for cultural policy”, organised by the Climate Heritage Network. The session attracted an audience of more than 60 participants in the room (plus an unknown number of digital listeners) and it was very well received.

In my short contribution, I emphasized the significance of culture for mitigating the climate crisis and for preparing for a different world in the future. I also noted what I called the Climate Heritage Paradox:

  1. Heritage promotes continuity when we in fact need change.
  2. Heritage is framed in a local/national context when in fact we need global and multilateral collaboration.

(Similar issues are now also discussed in a White Paper on “The role of cultural and natural heritage for climate action” which resulted from the  International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage and Climate Change co-arranged by IPCC, UNESCO, and ICOMOS in December 2021.)

I concluded with two action items. Capacity building is necessary …

  • for the cultural sector generally: integrate foresight and long-term futures thinking throughout the sector (as also recommended in the UN Secretary General’s 2021 report on Our Common Agenda)
  • for the cultural heritage sector and education in heritage: (a) embrace more often change (or cultural diversity over time), not as much continuity and conservation, as well as (b) strengthen global thinking in the field.

Various activities July – September 2022

2022-09-29

Cornelius Holtorf was invited to present in a Plenary on Wars, Conflicts, Crises, and Archaeologies at the World Archaeological Congress 9 in Prague, Czech Republic, on the question “How can world archaeological heritage contribute to a better future for all?” (5 July 2022).

During the World Archaeological Congress 9 in Prague, Czech Republic, Cornelius Holtorf had meetings about future collaborations with Professor Valentina Figueroa Larre, Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile, Professor Peter Stone, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Property Protection and Peace at Newcastle University, UK, and Dr Isber Sabrine, Director of the international NGO Heritage for Peace based in Girona, Spain (4-8 July 2022).

Cornelius Holtorf was interviewed by Anne Bergmans of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in the context of the research project “Include” commissioned by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority on including (local) stakeholder participation in its regulatory mission (18 August 2022).

Cornelius Holtorf and Anders Högberg co-organised and co-chaired a session entitled “Archaeology as the Study of the Future” and co-presented two papers on “Archaeology and Cultural Heritage as Future-Making Practices in the Context of Climate Change (1)” and “…(2)” at the 28th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists held at Budapest, Hungary (1 September 2022). The session was attended by ca. 40 colleagues and filled its room.

Cornelius Holtorf co-organised and co-chaired a roundtable  on “Telling Stories about Impacts of Academic Research in Archaeology in Society: Wider Lessons from the UK Research Excellence Framework Experience” at the 28th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists held at Budapest, Hungary (2 September 2022).

Cornelius Holtorf attended a roundtable organized by the EAA Community for Climate Change and Heritage (CCH) held at the 28th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists held at Budapest, Hungary (3 September 2022).

Anders Högberg gave a lecture on heritage futures and futures literacy for the incoming PhD students in the PhD programme on Global Humanities at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Linnaeus University (9 September 2022).

Cornelius Holtorf spoke on the occasion of a Memorial Symposium celebrating the work and life of Professor David Lowenthal on the topic “The past – what’s new?” More than 30 colleagues attended at the event held at the Royal Geographical Society in London, UK (16 September 2022)

Cornelius Holtorf took part in his first meeting as member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum — Leibniz-Research Institute for Archaeology, Mainz (22-24 September 2022).