Category: Activities

Artifacts in Intercultural Encounters

Project Workshop, Iași, June 30-July 1

As part of our investigation into how intercultural encounters have been shaping the global world and may contribute to re-learning to be human for present and future times,  this workshop will focus on artifacts and their role in the meetings between cultures. Artifacts are understood here as any objects, handmade or mass produced, that reflect a society or culture.

Culture, as an assembly of customs and habits regulating the behaviour and relations of a group of invididuals, materializes in objects; such objects may be works produced and displayed to illustrate a set of civic, artistic or spiritual values, or they may be goods manufactured with the local resources and skills. Be they traditional or modern, functional or decorative, religious or mundane, these objects re-present the culture to itself and to others.

Over time, cultures have communicated through the exchange and trade of such characteristic artifacts. In fact, the farther such objects came from, the more value they carried. That is because, beyond  their material worth, the foreign items we buy and sell, from the spices of ancient times to the gadgets of present day, also carry a historical, social and cultural value.

On this background, the workshop aims to explore the role of artifacts as vehicles of culture and mediators or intercultural encounters.  We are equally interested in approaching  traditional and modern artifacts, from any cultural area, with a focus on their value in contemporary times.

To this aim, we invite all project members to submit contributions in the form of:

1) papers, 5-7 pages, to be presented in person during paper sessions

or

2) posters, size A4 or larger, to be presented in person or displayed during poster sessions

or

3) image and voice recordings, 10-20 minutes, to be presented in person or shown during video sessions

Participants coming to Iasi are also invited to bring, where possible, an artifact they consider relevant for a workshop exhibition.

Please send an email specifying the type and title of your contribution by June 1 to roleofinterculturalencounters@gmail.com and dan811@yahoo.com. Contributions should be submitted by June 15 at roleofinterculturalencounters@gmail.com  and dan811@yahoo.com.