International Colloquium: Revival after the Great War: Repair, Rebuild, Remember

By DOCOMOMO Belgium / January, 25, 2018 / 0 comments

INT. COLLOQUIUM | 8-9 May 2019 | Leuven, Belgium

“In 2018, in order to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the City of Leuven and the University of Leuven are organising the international colloquium ‘Revival after the Great War: Repair, Rebuild, Remember’.

On 8 and 9 May we welcome experts from all over the world to present their latest research. Several sessions will look into different aspects of reconstruction and recovery in the 1920’s from an international perspective: human war damage and post-war recovery, the global reception of the reconstruction effort in Belgium, the transformation and modernisation of cities and the countryside, and the role of the arts in the re-establishment of society after the Great War.

One century later public debates frequently refer to “the coming of the new 20’s”, in recollection of the 1920’s. This colloquium is an attempt to answer the challenging question as to what history of the Great War and its aftermath we actually need. In other words, how and why do we want to remember what about the First World War and its far-reaching consequences?”

source: kuleuvencongres.be

DAY 1: 8 MAY 2018

09.20-10.20		Registration and welcome coffee
Opening session Chair: Luc VERPOEST (KU Leuven, BE)
10.20-10.40		Welcome by Luc VERPOEST (KU Leuven, BE), Conference Chair
10.40-11.00		Welcome by Luc SELS (Rector of the KU Leuven, BE)
11.00-11.20		Welcome by Louis TOBBACK (Mayor of the City of Leuven, BE)
11.20-12.20		Keynote lecture by Pierre PURSEIGLE (University of Warwick, UK / President of the International Society for First World War Studies and Editor-in-Chief of First World War Studies)
12.20-13.20		Lunch break
Session 1: Human War Damage and Recovery Chair: Pieter VERSTRAETE (KU Leuven, BE)
13.20-13.30		Introduction by Pieter VERSTRAETE (KU Leuven, BE)
13.30-13.55		Lecture by Pieter VERSTRAETE and Marisa DE PICKER (KU Leuven, BE): In between dream and reality: the re-education of Belgian disabled World War One veterans, 1914-1920
13.55-14.15		Lecture by Joris VANDENDRIESSCHE (KU Leuven, BE): Competition over Care. The Campaign for a New Medical Campus at the University of Leuven in the 1920s
14.15-14.55		Lecture by Heather PERRY (University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, USA): Making Taxpayers out of Charity Cases: Disability, Medical Innovation, and National Regeneration in WWI Germany
14.55-15.20		Q&A
Session 2: Reconstruction in a Global Perspective Chair: Jan Schmidt (KU Leuven, BE)
15.20-15.30		Introduction by Jan SCHMIDT / Martin KOHLRAUSCH (KU Leuven, BE)
15.30-15.50		Lecture by Jan SCHMIDT (KU Leuven, BE): When ‘Postwar Preparation’ became ‘Reconstruction’ – The Long End of the First World War and High Expectations in Japan, 1917-1923
15.50-16.10		Lecture by Ana Paula PIRES (Universidade Nuova de Lisboa, PT): The act of giving: humanitarian responses to violence in Portugal in the aftermath of the First World War
16.10-16.30		Lecture by Maria Inés TATO (Universidad de Buenos Aires, AR): An Argentine witness of the occupation and reconstruction of Belgium: Roberto J. Payró’s chronicles
16.30-16.55		Lecture by Carolina GARCIA SANZ (Universidade de Sevilla, ESP): Thinking a New Postwar Order from the Spanish Struggle for Regeneration (1918-1923)
16.55-17.20		Q&A
Evening program
TBC		Lecture by Jay WINTER (Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA)
TBC		Lecture by Richard PLUNZ (Columbia University, New York, USA)
TBC		Lecture by Joke BUIJS (City of Leuven, BE) and Luc VERPOEST (KU Leuven, BE), Curators

DAY 2: 9 MAY 2018

Session 1: Transformation of City and Countryside Chair: Pieter UYTTENHOVE (UGent, BE)
08.50-09.00	Introduction by Pieter UYTTENHOVE (UGent, BE)
09.00-09.40	Lecture by Philip WAGNER (Universität Bielefeld, DE): The internationalism of the British Garden City Movement and the Rebuilding of Belgium
09.40-10.05	Lecture by Yves SEGERS en Dries CLAEYS (KU Leuven, BE): Regionalism and rural architecture: the reconstruction of farms after the First World War
10.05-10.25	Lecture by Maarten LIEFOOGHE (UGent, BE): Assessing and valorizing the values of Belgian reconstruction cityscapes today. Revisiting Labo S’s engagement with Ypres and Heuvelland
10.25-10.50	Q&A
10.50-11.10	Coffee break
Session 2: Arts after the Great War Chair: Rajesh HEYNICKX (KU Leuven, BE)
11.10-11.20	Introduction by Rajesh HEYNICKX (KU Leuven, BE)
11.20-12.00	Lecture by Helen BROOKS (University of Kent, Canterbury, UK): ‘Peace and the Theatre’: The British Stage after the Great War
12.00-12.40	Lecture by Volker WELTER (University of California, Santa Barbara, Cal, USA): Reconstruction, Recovery, Reconceptualization: Modern Architecture and the Great War
12.40-13.00	Q&A
13.00-14.00	Lunch break
Session 3: Remembrance Then and Now Chair: Leen ENGELEN (LUCA School of Arts/KU Leuven, BE)
14.00-14.10	Introduction by Leen ENGELEN (LUCA School of Arts/KU Leuven, BE)
14.10-14.35	Lecture by Kaat WILS (KU Leuven, BE): A war to learn from. Commemorative practices in Belgian schools after the First World War
14.35-15.00	Lecture by Christina KOTT (Université Paris 2, Paris, FR) and Hubert ROLAND (UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, BE)
15.00-15.40	Lecture by Tammy PROCTOR (Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA): Reclaiming the Ordinary: Civilians Face the Postwar World
15.40-16.20	Lecture by Leen ENGELEN ((LUCA School of Arts/KU Leuven) and Marjan STERCKX (UGent, BE): The urge to remember: temporary war memorials as early memorial practices
16.20-17.00	Q&A and final discussion
17.00-17.30	Break
Closing session Chair: Luc VERPOEST (KU Leuven, BE)
17.30-18.10	Keynote lecture by John HORNE (Trinity College Dublin, IRL): Reconstruction, Reform and Peace in Europe after the First World War
18.10-18.20	Word of thank and concluding remarks by Luc VERPOEST (KU Leuven, BE) , Conference Chair
Evening program
TBC	Visit to the exhibition ‘HERLEVEN. Leuven na 1918’ at CERA HQ, Leuven
TBC	Reception at City Hall Leuven