Atlanta Congress – 39th Annual ICOHTEC Meeting in Barcelona
ICOHTEC 39th Symposium: Technology, the Arts, and Industrial Culture
Barcelona, Spain. July 10 to 14, 2012.
About the Symposium
The 39th ICOHTEC Symposium took place in Barcelona, Spain, the Capital City of Catalonia, in mid-July, 2012. The theme was Technology, the Arts, and Industrial Culture. The symposium examined technology through a multidisciplinary lens. Here’s an overview.
The International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC) hosted an impressive event highlighting how technology influenced architecture, artistry, and consumer design. Interesting is also this video about how Technology Creates History (Kevin Weafer at TEDxAmherstCollege):
Key questions at the 39th ICOHTEC Symposium included:
- How has technological development interacted with design, architecture, the arts, and popular culture?
- Can we call industrial culture a mix of different influences?
- Building on last year’s conference, what role do consumers play in this relationship?
Barcelona brings a strong industrial history, distinctive architecture, and rich art collections. This made and makes it a strong location for exploring how technology connects with design, form, and culture.
ICOHTEC accepted individual paper proposals, poster proposals, and full session submissions. The committee favored sessions in which presentations were building on one another.
The program included scientific and plenary sessions, poster presentations, business meetings, the general assembly, excursions, receptions, a banquet, and possibly pre- and post-conference trips. Sessions were held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.
Suggested Subthemes
These subthemes offered starting points for organizers and contributors. The bullet points gave examples, not requirements.
Technology: Socio-economic and Cultural Power in History
- Does technology control society, or does society control technology?
- How much does technology depend on socio-economic and cultural factors?
- Examples of technological momentum or path dependence
- Origins of technological innovations
Does Technology Drive the Arts and Architecture?
- Representations of technology in the arts
- Technology as a foundation for the arts and architecture: printing presses and mass literature, synthetic paint and impressionism, celluloid film and cinema
The Significance of Arts and Architecture in Technological Development
- Surrealist technology
- Representations of arts and architecture in technology
Soul of Technology: Personification of Industrial Products
- Robots and dolls as emotional objects
- Gender and technology: cars, tools, ships
- The language we use to describe technology: hoovers, wellingtons, mackintoshes
Technology and Conceptions of Beauty
- Aesthetics of industrial design
- Gender and technological beauty
- How ideas about technology’s appearance have changed
Components of Industrial Culture
- Values, habits, and group interests in industrial communities
- How machines set the pace of industrial culture
- Design and cultural values
- Old and new: what stays, what changes
- Arts and architecture in industrial culture
- Mass production and popular culture
- Industrial heritage
Technology in Making Environmental Atmospheres
- Industrial pollution’s effect on art and architecture
- Environmental heritage tied to technology, arts, and architecture
Taste of the Industry
- Industrial arts and manufactured goods
- The birth of industrial design
- Mass production of kitsch
- New materials and their effect on product quality
Consumers’ Impact on the Dialogue Between Technology, Arts, and Architecture
- Consumer-friendly versus showy technology
- Who drives choice: consumers or producers?
- How arts and architecture influence buying decisions
Technological Literacy
- Cultural differences in understanding technology
- Multidisciplinary approaches in technical education
- National styles in technical education
The committee also welcomed submissions outside the main theme, as long as they connected to the history of technology broadly.
Proposal Guidelines
The symposium covered all time periods and regions. Scholars from any discipline could participate. Graduate students were encouraged to apply, and limited travel grants were available as well.
Submit proposals were in English for faster review. You could present papers and posters in English, French, German, Russian, or Spanish. The organizers wouldn’t provide simultaneous translation.
You were encouraged to submit full sessions of three or more papers. Individual paper submissions were also welcome. You could propose papers or sessions unrelated to the main theme as well; these fit into “Special Topics” sessions.
Individual paper proposals needed:
- A 200 to 400 word abstract
- A one-page CV
Your abstract should include your name, email, a short title, your thesis, a brief note on sources, and a summary of your conclusions. If your paper fitted a specific subtheme, you should have said so in your proposal.
You’ll had 20 minutes to present, about eight double-spaced typed pages, and you could check the conference website for presentation guidelines.
After the symposium, you could submit a full-length version of your paper to ICOHTEC’s journal, ICON.
Session proposals needed:
- A session abstract (200 to 400 words) listing proposed papers and a chairperson
- An abstract for each paper (200 to 400 words)
- A one-page CV for each contributor and chairperson
Sessions needed at least three papers, though they could include multiple three- or four-paper sections spread across more than one day. The program committee could move papers between sessions or add papers to sessions. Roundtables and other non-traditional formats were also welcome.
Poster proposals needed:
- A 200 to 400 word abstract
- A one-page CV
Your abstract should have included your name, email, a short title, your thesis, a brief note on sources, and a summary of your conclusions, and indicate which subtheme your poster fits.