UNESCO

Chair on Heritage Futures

Regenerating the past

2026-06-26

Our movable card only exists in a very limited edition in print but is now available on Youtube:

It depicts the scenery in an Iron Age village—and what ended up enriching the soil, feeding life to this day and into the future (click on the image to see the moving bit):


The scene was inspired by recent archaeological excavations conducted by Linnaeus University at Gamla Skogsby in Mörbylånga on the island of Öland in Sweden.

Drawing: Mats Vänehem, www.vanehemillustration.com
Paper engineering: Kajsa Bornedal, www.kajsabornedal.se
Idea and coordination: Cornelius Holtorf

For more details, inspiration and sources of this project see here. A broader theoretical discussion linked to this work is available in this new paper:

Holtorf, C. (2026). Beyond the 1964 Venice Charter: cultural heritage as regeneration (ever changing never less than whole). Conservar Património, 52, 14–27.

At Nordic TAG in May 2026 in Kalmar, I presented on “Devouring the Iron Age: A Life-Centred and Culinary Approach to the Soil” in the session “Soil as Archive, Actor and Ally: Rewilding Archaeological Practice” (which I had co-organised with Ewa Domanska and Christina Fredengren). I served cheese crackers with wild oregano grown in the very soil shown on the card above.

Watch a short video clip of my presentation (with the cheese in the background) here: https://play.lnu.se/media/t/0_v66b1bak

© UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden, 2026, lnu.se/en/unescochair

Culture, Heritage, and War

2026-06-22

Cornelius Holtorf participated as a panel member in a LEIZA Dialogue for Democracy entitled “And When Things Become Serious? The Role of Culture and Cultural Heritage in Times of War” in Mainz, Germany (17 June 2026).

The evening attracted an audience of about 100, which engaged actively with an expert panel consisting of

  • Léonie Evers, Project Officer, Culture in Emergencies, Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit, UNESCO
  • Torsten Fischer, Administrative Director, LEIZA
  • Cornelius Holtorf, UNESCO Chair in Heritage Futures, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden
  • Thorsten Ilg, Brigadier General, Deputy Commandant and Director of Training, Bundeswehr Command and Staff College
  • Hermann Parzinger, Former President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and Executive President of Europa Nostra.

In my own short opening statement, I emphasized the high number of about two million war casualties in the war in Ukraine to date, reminding us that in a war there are only losers. We therefore have to prevent war. Culture and cultural heritage have a particular responsibility since, as is often said, culture and cultural heritage is what people tend to be fighting for in military conflicts. Indeed, according to the famous statement in the 1945 Constitution of UNESCO, war and peace begin in the minds of people. Culture and heritage do not only express shared values but also collective identities: they define “my people” and thus who is particularly worth defending. I quoted a Swedish official stating that “Cultural heritage gives the nation its flesh and blood.”

In short, I suggested that without culture playing that role there may be fewer wars. We should work towards a cultural heritage that serves human wellbeing and co-existence rather than the interests of competing nation-states for which their citizens are sacrificed. I concluded by calling for the creation of Ministries of Peace in addition to Ministries of Defense.

In the subsequent discussion, we talked, among others, about the need to see the gruel reality of human war victims and the inspiration of successful peace processes such as the steps taken after World War II towards the EU. Also discussed was the significance for human beings of a sense of collective belonging. I emphasized that Russia is part of Europe, European history and European culture. It was suggested that cultural institutions like LEIZA could work for peace by increasing understanding in Germany of contemporary thinking among Russians, for example. Generally, we should appreciate that we have so much more in common with people anywhere on Earth than what ultimately divides us.

The audience was particularly taken by my discussion of the sudden turn in Sweden in recent years towards rapid rearmament and the ongoing militarisation of the entire country. Particular astonished was the audience to learn that in expectation of a coming war, spaces for war graves for 5% of the population are being prepared across Sweden. They were also stunned by the propaganda statement printed in a recent information brochure produced on behalf the Swedish government and distributed to all households:

Brigadier General Ilg suggested in the discussion that in case of war, he would either be fighting at NATO’s Eastern Front or already be dead.

The aims of the event, which I had initiated and co-organised with LEIZA, included to

  • increase the importance and visibility of culture and cultural heritage in society and politics,
  • make multilateral and supranational levels of discussion more visible and thereby strengthen them,
  • encourage processes of reflection among visitors/audiences,
  • provide ideas and inspiration for how individuals can become involved in culture and cultural heritage themselves, and
  • strengthen dialogue between the cultural sector, politics, and defense.

For a full discussion of similar issues as those addressed by the panel see the recent debate in Forum Kritische Archäologie.

Futures Workshop on Nuclear Waste

2026-06-10

Cornelius Holtorf ran on 10 June 2026 a full-day workshop entitled “Futures Literacy Follow-Up Capacity-Building Session” which had been arranged for the international Expert Group on Archiving and Awareness Preservation (EGAAP) at the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA).

About 20 EGAAP members, representing Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K., participated in the workshop.

The workshop chose the so-called Key Information File (KIF) of repositories of nuclear waste as a concrete reference point for illustrating practical implications of the capability known as “futures literacy”. This capability was developed by UNESCO and during the workshop, the Organization was represented by Christine Kavazanjian.

One participant stated at the end that in his opinion, the KIF we design today would be entirely meaningless at the time of repository closure a minimum of ca 100 years ahead. What mattered was, however, the lessons learned during the process of designing it. Some such lessons were learned during the workshop today, e.g. about the need to take a broader range of possible futures and multiple truths about nuclear waste into account.

Climate, Heritage, and Policy

2026-05-30

Around 20 specialists in cultural heritage and climate change from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, the UK, and the US attended the workshop on “Climate, Heritage, and Policy: Dialogues in Learning”, organised by Marcy Rockman at Linnaeus University on campus Kalmar (27-30 May 2026). The workshop was supported by a grant from the Swedish Research Council.

The workshop related directly to heritage futures, i.e. the role of cultural heritage in managing the relations between present and future societies. Its aim was to develop a framework of learning and dialogue to promote a body of practice that integrates across fields of climate change, archaeology/heritage, and governance practices.

The discussions generally prioritised people over objects, change over preservation, global over national concerns, and the future over the past.

The workshop asked a series of timely questions over the course of the four days. What I have been taking away includes thoughts about the following issues (others will have taken away different thoughts):

  • how are we to discuss climate change in relation to cultural heritage that is deeply problematic?
  • what happens when we recognise that knowledge about climate change is based on social truths?
  • how are we to draw on the potential of cultural heritage to make climate change deeply personal?
  • are there better terms than the homogenising notion of “community” for describing the humans affected by climate change?
  • is unlearning possibly more important than learning?
  • how can we best harness the power of engaging with collaborators as human beings rather than as experts?
  • is climate change necessarily a threat or can it also be considered as an opportunity?
  • who do we want to be and how do we want to live, now and in the future?

Among the ways of working were group work, artistic expression, and fieldwork in Kalmar, involving all the senses.

The creativity and playfulness in methods amounted to what participant called “epistemic disobedience”. It also resulted in much enjoyment among the participants and led to concrete discussions of future collaboration in a number of specific contexts.

Importantly, we had glorious summer weather throughout the workshop and even on the excursion day to Öland on the final day!

The following members of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures participated in addition to Marcy Rockman and myself: Anders Högberg, Gustav Wollentz.

A more detailed report about the precise aims and results of the workshop is being prepared and will be made available via this blog in due course.

UNESCO Chair at Nordic TAG

2026-05-12

Nordic TAG at Linnaeus University Kalmar was the largest archaeological conference in Scandinavia in 2026. It was co-organized by Gustav Wollentz and Emily Hanscam (together with two colleagues).

The theme of the conference was ‘Activating Archaeology for Just Futures’, exploring the interface between research and activism and the potential for archaeology as a practice – from the contract archaeology trenches to the university lecture halls – to be an active and engaged partner in building just futures.

The conference included nearly 200 participants, ran for 3.5 days with 19 sessions and 4 workshops.

Helena Rydén organised and ran a table with publications and other information about the work of the UNESCO Chair at Linnaeus University (7-8 April 2026).

Helena Rydén organised and ran a table with publications and other information about the work of the UNESCO Chair at Linnaeus University (7-8 April 2026).

Anders Högberg, Gustav Wollentz and Emily Hanscam co-organized and co-chaired a half-day session on “Reconceptualizing Heritage for Lasting Peace”. They also gave a joint introductory paper with the same title as the session (8 May 2026).

Marcy Rockman also presented in the session on “Reconceptualizing Heritage for Lasting Peace” (8 April 2026).

Gustav Wollentz and Leila Papoli-Yazdi co-organized a workshop on ”Imagining Novel Futures for Archaeology”, with 15 contributors (9 April 2026). 

Cornelius Holtorf presented a paper entitled “Alternative Futures: How can cultural heritage be mobilized for peace rather than war?” in a session on “Reconceptualizing Heritage for Lasting Peace” (8 May 2026)

Gustav Wollentz presented a paper entitled “Reimagining heritage through hope and potentiality” in a session on “Reconceptualizing Heritage for Lasting Peace” (8 April 2026).

Cornelius Holtorf co-organised as session on “Soil as Archive, Actor and Ally: Rewilding Archaeological Practice” for an audience of cirka 30 participants (8 May 2026).

Cornelius Holtorf presented a paper entitled “Devouring the Iron Age: A Life-Centred and Culinary Approach to the Soil” in the session on “Soil as Archive, Actor and Ally: Rewilding Archaeological Practice” (8 May 2026). The paper was presented outdoors:

Cornelius Holtorf presented the paper “Devouring the Iron Age: A Life-Centred and Culinary Approach to the Soil” during the session Soil as Archive, Actor and Ally: Rewilding Archaeological Practice (8 May 2026). The presentation took place outdoors, featuring an oregano plant grown in soil from an archaeological excavation on Öland.
Cornelius Holtorf presented the paper “Devouring the Iron Age: A Life-Centred and Culinary Approach to the Soil” during the session Soil as Archive, Actor and Ally: Rewilding Archaeological Practice (8 May 2026). The presentation took place outdoors, featuring an oregano plant grown in soil from an archaeological excavation on Öland.

Cornelius Holtorf presented the paper “Devouring the Iron Age: A Life-Centred and Culinary Approach to the Soil” on 8 May 2026. The presentation took place outdoors, featuring an oregano plant grown in soil from an archaeological excavation on Öland.

Watch a short video clip here: Cornelius Holtorf demonstrating to visitors https://play.lnu.se/media/t/0_v66b1bak

Watch a short animation (postcard) here

Leila Papoli-Yazdi organized a session called “Association of Poor Archaeologists” which was held on 7 May.

Read more about Nordic TAG 2026 here (In Swedish)

A new garbology

2026-05-01

In the 1970s, garbology spearheaded, as an avantgarde, the archaeology of the contemporary world. Today, contemporary archaeology (as it has widely come to be known) has long been established as a subfield of archaeology.

Now, Leila Papoli-Yazdi published A New Garbology Manifesto (2025). So, what’s new in garbology?

Papoli-Yazdi’s book sets a new agenda for the archaeological study of waste and the way it contributes to archaeology and to society, at large. For one, this garbology is not conducted solely in the narrow framework of science. The manifesto contains the story of the personal struggle of its author in Iran and other countries including Sweden where she is currently associated with us.

For the other, this garbology is about the struggle for justice and against poverty of marginalised people. The voice speaking in the book is therefore not the voice of objectivising statistics and methodology but the voice of Leila and others telling stories about their lives. There are many anecdotal memories and dialogues in the book, with much direct speech that makes the text very readable.

The new garbology asks: “What can we, as archaeologists, do for the people who are suffering?” (p. 86). This, then, is about people in a different way than garbology was back then. Yet the new garbology’s agenda is avantgarde once again:

“In a system that buries us beneath toxins, garbage and silence, we reclaim the right to breathe, to organize and to imagine. Together, we build a future where no one and nothing is treated like a piece of garbage and to do so, we study, touch, feel, sort, smell and discover garbage” (p. 117).

Survival kit

2026-04-29

Today, Gustav Wollentz and Cornelius Holtorf attended the Vernissage of the exhibition Survival Kit at Kalmar Art Museum. I also contributed to a panel discussion held on the occasion, discussing the exhibition and the task of hopemaking.

The exhibition is part of the Småland Triennial: Anxiety – art, preparedness and resistance  and is produced in collaboration with Linnaeus University in the context of the interdisciplinary research project  
Hopemaking: Nurturing cultures of positive resistance. We are glad we were able to commission the art work Hope Studio by Kultivator (see picture).

World heritage and peacemaking

2026-04-28

Cornelius Holtorf was invited by the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) to run a Futures Workshop on 28 April 2026 in Visby om Gotland, Sweden. This was a follow-up workshop from a previous Futures Workshop held by the OWHC in September 2024 in Cordoba.

The topic jointly chosen for this workshop was World Heritage sites and global peace-making. The workshop resulted in a list of possible action items for the coming year and beyond.

Among the ca 40 participants in total were world heritage site managers and local decision-makers from Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Sweden, and the USA. This included Darius Jasaitis, Mayor of Neringa in Lithuania, Matea Dorčić, Deputy Mayor of Split in Croatia, and Wolfgang Dersch, Head of Culture in the City of Regensburg in Germany.

Proposals for priorities 2027-30

2026-04-17

I contributed to an online discussion with Swedish representatives of UNESCO-related activities as part of the consultation process in the context of developing a new strategy for the Swedish National UNESCO Commission 2027-2030.

Every four years, a new strategy is created in the context of other documents, such as now the Swedish government’s strategy for collaborating with UNESCO 2022-25 and UNESCO’s own Medium-Term Strategy 2022-29.

I made the following concrete proposals:

  1. Swedish interests should also include the world’s needs
  2. strengthen global multilateralism
  3. promote intergenerational fairness (EU Commissioner, UN Pact for the Future)
  4. shape the post-2030 agenda (cultural goal)
  5. strengthen a culture of peace
  6. strengthen trust in societies (important role of culture)
  7. strengthen collaboration with (and among) UNESCO Chairs in Sweden

We will survive

2026-04-07

Last weekend, I visited the exhibition We Will Survive: The Prepper Movement and Design at Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Göteborg. It explores how people prepare for an uncertain future and the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI) – from preppers who collect various things to secure their survival to civil contingency planning (governmental prepping) in the face of war and natural disasters.

What is the role of culture and heritage in such collections for the future? In the Röhsska exhibition, there are few cultural things recognised for their survival value. These include devotional religious offerings and family photographs providing comfort.

It is a shame that there are no cultural objects inspiring us to act collaboratively, caring and in solidarity with any human or non-human creatures in need. It is well known that a crisis can bring out the best in people. It is also an opportunity for people to create a better future world, together with others. Indeed, culture can prevent crises – which the exhibition recognised in one of its texts: