International Conference "Modernism # Progressive Heritage"

Lectures and contributions by international experts will address the question of how the urban, architectural, cultural, and social heritage of modernism can be protected and made productive today. To this end, we will relate projects and ideals of modernism to current political trends that threaten to dismantle the democratic and emancipatory values associated with the reform projects of modernism. Such anti-democratic political agendas exist almost everywhere in Europe. Our aim is to use the discussion of these issues to identify cross-border values and, where possible, to strengthen cooperation at the European level.

Specifically, the focus will also be on the social and cultural reuse of Brutalist buildings in Europe. The venue for the conference – the northern extension of the town hall in Berlin-Tempelhof – is fitting, as it is itself a Brutalist-style building with an uncertain future.

Among the speakers are many active members of our initiative for a “European Triennial of Modernism (ETOM),” which presented itself for the first time as an association at its German predecessor, the Triennale der Moderne 2022. This initiative comprises 40 partners from 15 countries. It is an official “lab” of the “New European Bauhaus” and operates there as “ETOM NEB Lab.” The organizers had already organized similar conferences in Berlin and Halle in 2023 and 2024.


Panel guests on November 28 and 29 include:
Riin alatalu, Franziska Bollerey, Lenka Burgerová, David Crowely, Ana Ivanovska Deskova, Joerg Gleiter, Jörg Haspel, Thomas Flierl, Monika Kicová, Wolfgang Knöbl, Andrea Londakova, Tino Mager, Ákos Moravánsky, Moravčíková Henrieta, Michał Murawski, Nataliia Mysak, Uta Pottgiesser, Rusu Dumitru, Irina Scherbakowa (invited), Hubert Trammer, and Sandra Uskokovic.

• Program and registration
  
• Registration for Friday
  
• Registration for Saturday
  

Berlin program for the Triennial of Modernism - runs until December 14


Organization
The conference and the ETOM2025pilotFestival, which is taking place in parallel and is being launched for the first time, are presented by ETOMNEBLab. It is based on the cooperation between BHROX bauhaus reuse / zukunftsgerauesche GbR and Ben Buschfeld with KÉK – The Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Center, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), DOCOMOMO International, the Slovak Design Center, and Hashtag#EKA Estonian Academy of Arts. The conference is funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education.