AMPS: Tangible Intangible Heritages

Context:

In a time when the construction of New Towns is on the agenda in UK, entire cities are being built from scratch across China, when climate change threatens historic cities and landscapes, and socio-economic change is destroying industrial heritage leaving communities across the Western World in search of political answers from the likes of Donald Trump, what can we mean by ‘heritage’?

Our built environment of buildings, towns, cities and infrastructures are always, at inception, visions of a future. They also become – very quickly – the markings of the past. Framed as historic building, these markings of the past tend to be what we think of when discussing heritage. However, heritage is more than this. It is artistic and media representations of the present and the past. It is the social milieu which we destroy, or reinforce, as economies fade or grow. It is what we construct politically through forms of city governance. It is the physical infrastructure from which we build the future. It is often a reference point for artistic rupture.

When considering buildings, towns, cities and infrastructures then, this conference suggests we can neither think of them as isolated activities and discipline, nor as isolated in time. They are artistic visions of an aesthetic present. They are the realisation through design of what we can and wish to build. They are social constructions defining the way people live, think, develop and desire. They are economic contrivances marking out the interests of capital. They are expressions of knowledges and skills which can inform innovation. They are phenomena experienced as much through the arts and medias as they are through physical engagement. They are inevitably political at every level. The decisions we make today about this ‘heritage’ is based on the past and will inform the future.

Themes:

In redefining heritage as an artistic, media, physical, social, political, economic, and design issue, this conference attempts to open up the concept of heritage to a reading that is interdisciplinary and concerned with both the past and the future.

Within this framework, the conference welcomes specialists who will ask their own questions about heritage and thus help redefine the perspective of others. Examples of questions we expect to ask include, but are not limited to: What role did and will art and design economies have on city development? How do the arts and the media create and distort our vision of built and social urban heritage? How have and can we preserve the architecture of the past while building for the present? What happens to community and social bonds when cities are replanned? How do changing economic conditions alter how we build and live in cities? How has craftmanship and knowledge typically informed contemporary modes of production and work through innovative processes…..

Disciplines:

We seek to explore definitions of ‘heritage’ by considering it from various angles: physical form, artistic formulation, political tool, social and media construct, economic reification and digital innovation. As a result, the conference welcomes presentations from specialists from multiple fields whose work overlaps with issues of heritage broadly defined: art historians, conservationists, architects, urban designers, cultural theorists, sociologists, artists, media and press historians, planners and more.

In this regard the event follows the expressly interdisciplinary dialogue set out by AMPS and the research and publication programme PARADE (Publication & Research in Art, Architectures, Design and Environments).

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Formats:

The conference welcomes case studies; design proposals, research projects, investigative papers and theoretical considerations in various formats allowing people to attend in person, present virtually or have presentations permanently available via the AMPS Youtube channel:

Pre-recorded video (20 minutes)

Skype (20 minutes)

Conference Presentations (20 minutes)

Written Papers (3,000 words) *

Publications:

Delegates are given the option to present their work at conference either with or without an accompanying full written paper.

If written papers are submitted they should be 3000 word length. Formatting instructions will be available at the time of the conference. All papers are double blind peer reviewed and will be include in the AMPS conference proceedings series, ISSN 2398-9467.

Subject to review, selected authors will be invited to develop longer versions of their papers for inclusion in the book series and journals collaborating with PARADE. These include:

UCL Press – seeking architectural and building engineering related to sustainability  |  Intellect Books – seeking works related to new technologies and new medias  |  Libri Publishing – seeking works connected to housing design  |  Architecture_MPS journal –  seeking works for journal special issues on a range of issues  |  Vernon Press – seeking works on the role of the arts and cultural industries in the built environment  |  AMPS Conference Proceedings – collating papers in its varied conference publication series.

Key Dates:

01 April 2018: Abstract Submissions

Nb. Early abstracts will be reviewed by 01 Jan 2018 for delegates needing confirmation.

15 April 2018:  Abstract Feedback

15 May 2018:  Registration closes

14 – 15 June 2018: Conference   

01 September 2018: Full Paper Submissions (where applicable)

01 December 2018: Feedback for publication

01 April 2019: Publication process commences

Forms and Registration:

Delegate Fee: £275  |  Audience Fee: £125

Download: Submission Form_Abstract

Correctly formatted and named example:

Charlie_Smith_Yet Another Apartment Block_UEL

Please send this fully completed document to conference@architecturemps.com  |  The document must be in Microsoft Word.  |  Subject line for emails: Abstract Submission UEL  |  File name for attachment: Name_Surname_Summary Title_UEL  |  Example file name: Charlie_Smith_Yet Another Apartment Block_UEL

For more details: conference@architecturemps.com

This event is organised by the University of East London, School of Architecture, Computing and Enginerring with the interdisciplinary research organisation AMPS (Architecture, Media, Politics, Society) and its academic journal Architecture_MPS. It forms part of the AMPS program of events and publications, PARADE

Editorial / Review Board