Date: 16-18 October 2024
Venue: Royal Palace of Portici, Naples, Italy
Participation: free of charge, registration here
Languages: English and Italian
Deadline for registration: 20 September 2024
The autumn Convention of our member ICARUS – International Centre for Archival Research will be held at the Royal Palace of Portici in Naples, Italy, home of the MUSA Center of the University of Naples Federico II, and supported by the Department of Humanities and ICARUS Italia. The Convention will act as a hub for exchange of scientific and artistic experiences in collaboration with local communities, thus encouraging discussion and interaction. It will be structured in parallel and plenary sessions, offering a variety of formats from lectures to workshops, round tables, etc. to set the ground for new partnerships and collaborations, developing hypotheses and planning new projects.
Conference Topic
The central theme of the Convention will focus on exploring how GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) in Europe can be instrumental in developing the topic of TRAVEL, with particular attention to archival materials related to this phenomenon in digital form or yet to be digitised.
The theme of travel is understood as a basis for cultural dialogue and for the creation of thematic itineraries, both touristic and cultural, connecting physical places and historical periods, both past and contemporary. Travel is thus viewed as experiential knowledge, capable of connecting apparently distant places and people and of traversing time, space and borders to become the collective cultural heritage of various peoples.
The Convention provides a stimulus to tell the story of European and non-European cultural heritage from a new perspective, emphasizing the fact that, despite political and religious differences, many peoples share(d) interconnected routes for trade and travel which can be retraced by Digital Humanities. Therefore, the connection between old travel documents (diaries, travelogs, maps and images) and contemporary cultural and creative experiences becomes fundamental and the places described in the past become a source of inspiration for current artistic productions. In this regard, the contribution of participants in other Creative Europe projects (i.e. E-Routes) will be important in order to enrich the debate and exchange on these issues.
A journey through time that can also be explored through the lense of other projects carried out by the ICARUS community (Monasterium, Matricula and Topotheque) as well as through themes that overlap with those of TMO, Europeana, Archives Portal Europe and other initiatives exploring Europe’s cultural heritage.
Preliminary Programme
The ICARUS Convention will start on Wednesday, 16th October, early afternoon with the General Assembly of the Association, leading on to the official opening of the Convention at 16:00 with opening words and a keynote speech by Prof. Marina Buzzoni (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Associazione di Informatica Umanistica e Cultura Digitale/IT) diving into the Convention topic of Travel Routes with “The Devisement dou Monde between real and virtual journeys: travels within the Polo’s digital galaxy”.
The first day will also feature the traditional ICARUS soccer match and a common dinner (at one’s own expenses).
Thursday invites the participants to choose between parallel sessions, enlighting the topic of travel in connection with archival heritage from different perspectives. The afternoon is reserved for workshops on Monasterium and Didactic Education, closing off with a social gathering in the evening.
Friday morning will again offer parallel sessions, concluding around noon with a special guided tour through the Royal Palace of Portici to view the MUSA Gouache exhibition currently on display.
Preliminary Programme can be found here, as well as some information on how to get to the event location.