Conference

Title: "Regionalism and Modernity in the interwar period (1919/1940)"
Location: Ghent, Belgium
Date: 08-09 November 2007
Language: English
Contact: Leen.Meganckrwo.vlaanderen.be

Theme
Although the later - modernist - historiography minimized its role and
presence in the architectural debate and production, regionalism was an
important factor in the early twentieth century architecture.
The international and interdisciplinary conference on "Regionalism and
Modernity in the interwar period (1919/1940)", will look deeper into the
often disregarded regionalist tendencies in the interwar period. The
conference continues the theme explored in the workshop "Sources of
Regionalism" (Ghent, 2004), in which the roots of regionalism in the 19th
century were analysed. By the end of 2007 the English publication "Sources of
regionalism", based on the discussions in this first workshop, will be
available.
The roots of the regionalist concept go back to the last decades of the 19th
century. The many changes in society due to industrialisation formed the soil
in which regionalism germinated as a cultural strategy to counter alienation.
It cannot be dissociated from the Arts and Crafts movement, which stressed
craftsmanship versus the uniformity and loss of quality in industrial
production, and from the heritage movement, which reacted against the fast
disappearance of traditional landscapes and the familiar environment.
The essential feature of regionalism is the focus on regional and local
characteristics, in architecture translated in the use of local building
materials and of a local architectural vocabulary.
Massive destruction during the First World War enhanced the call for the
rehabilitation of lost heritage, and regionalism became the main principle
and official guideline for reconstruction in the devastated regions. The
great success of regionalism led to its discredit in progressive circles. The
schism between regionalists and modernists was born. A re-reading of the
modernist-regionalist dichotomy based on an analysis of both contemporary
discourse and architectural practice reveals that this schism was to some
extent superficial. Above that, notions of "Heimat" and race infiltrated the
discourse and complicate the comprehension and appreciation of regionalism.

Organisation
The conference "Regionalism and modernity in the interwar period" is an
initiative of the subgroup "Regionalism" of the international research
community "Cultural Identities, World Views and Architecture in
Western-Europe 1815-1940" (acknowledged by the FWO - Research Foundation -
Flanders).
Conference Committee:
Dr. Jan De Maeyer (KADOC-K.U.Leuven/MoSa Faculty of Arts K.U.Leuven)
Dr. Leen Meganck (VIOE - Flemish Heritage Institute)
Drs. Evert Vandeweghe (Ghent University, Faculty of Arts)
Dr. Linda Van Santvoort (Ghent University, Faculty of Arts)

Programme - Thursday 08 November 2007

MORNING SESSION - Chaired by dr. Linda Van Santvoort (Ghent University,
Belgium)
09u30 Linda Van Santvoort - Welcome & opening workshop; introduction to
the
research project
10u00 Jean-Claude Vigato (Ecole nationale supérieure d'Architecture de
Nancy, France)
Le régionalisme entre progrès et tradition. Le cas français
10u30 Coffee break
11u00 Hervé Doucet (Université de Paris IV, France) Searching for a new
image. An idealized regionalism in Lorraine
11u30 Johan Van den Mooter (Ghent University, Belgium) German reconstruction
in Belgium during WWI
12u00 Discussion
12u30 Lunch break
AFTERNOON SESSION - Chaired by dr. Leen Meganck (VIOE - Flemish Heritage
Institute, Belgium)
14u00 Björn Rzoska (VCV -Flemish centre for the study of popular culture,
Brussels, Belgium) Flemish folklorists in the interwar period: building a
national identity
14u30 Lut Missinne (Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany) Regionalism and a
European view? Gerard Walschap on the "Heimatroman"
15u00 Coffee break
15u30 Geert Palmaerts (Groningen University, The Netherlands) 'Bildung',
ethnicity and regionalism in interwar German town-planning: the case of
Alfred Abendroth
16u00 Discussion

Programme - Friday 09 November 2007
MORNING SESSION - Chaired by dr. Tom Verschaffel (Leuven University)
09u30 Leen Meganck (VIOE - Flemish Heritage Institute, Belgium) Of
patriotism, genius loci, authentic buildings and fake-farmsteads -
regionalism in interwar Belgium
10u00 Benoît Mihaïl (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) The use of
history in Art Deco architecture. Belgium and Northern France in the 1930s
10u30 Coffee break
11u00 Evert Vandeweghe (Ghent University, Belgium) Municipal Imagery and
regionalism in the aftermath of the First World War in Flanders. Provincial
agencies of the National Bank of Belgium
11u30 Elizabeth Darling (Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom) From the
Rhetorical to the Regional: relocating British modernism towards the end of
the 1930s
12u00 Discussion
12u30 Lunch break
AFTERNOON SESSION - Chaired by dr. Jan De Maeyer (Leuven University, KADOC)
14u00 Michelangelo Sabatino (University of Houston, United States) Italian
Architecture and the Vernacular: Toward a Regionalist Modernism
14u30 Rob Dettingmeijer (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) Inventing
regional traditions to facilitate the modernization of farming and resettlement
15u00 Coffee break
15u30 Hartmut Frank (HafenCity Universität, Hamburg, Germany) The
'Dächerkrieg' and the German Debates about Modern Architecture in Germany
before World War II
16u00 Discussion and closing session
16u30 Drink

Fee:
The fee attending the whole conference is € 40. This includes the conference
brochure, coffee breaks and the closing drink.
Reduced student fee: € 25 (student ID card required)
Fee per day: € 25,
Reduced student fee per day: € 15

Payment:
Can be made on the spot in cash.

Registration and information:
Dr. Leen Meganck
Senior researcher
VIOE - Flemish Heritage Institute
Koning-Albert-II-laan 19, bus 5, 1210 Brussel
Leen.Meganckrwo.vlaanderen.be