GA2020 Scientific Symposium

05 Oct 2020

The GA2020 Scientific Symposium will be held from 5 to 9 October 2020 at the ICC, Sydney and associated venues. The Scientific Symposium offers a major research, information sharing, training and capacity-building opportunity for delegates, who will be able to present and attend papers, seminars, workshops, site visits and other sessions. Importantly, the Scientific Symposium will provide a significant platform for peer to peer exchanges, instigation of mentoring relationships and showcasing best practice methods. The opportunities for inquiry and learning will be available and accessible from the most senior levels, through participation by outstanding keynote speakers, to entry-level practitioners, who are engaging with international colleagues for the first time.

The overarching theme for the GA2020 Scientific Symposium is ‘Shared Cultures – Shared Heritage – Shared Responsibility’. The theme recognises that globalisation, transnationalism, digital connectivity and the willing or forced movement of people have contributed to the making (and unmaking) of hybrid, pluralist places, practices and collections. In this sense, places, practices, objects and collections (collectively termed ‘heritage items’) are frequently connected with and valued by multiple and diverse groups and communities.
However, the idea of ‘shared’ is intentionally provocative. In an historic sense, cultures and societies have commonly shared cultural practices, ways of doing, and ideas. Nevertheless, in some cases these features have been forced upon populations and resisted rather than collectively adopted (religious beliefs, for example). In other instances knowledge and practice may be closely guarded and thus not shared (in many Indigenous cultures, for example). Additionally, some heritage items have been destroyed or damaged for what they symbolise (the Bamiyan Buddha’s, for example), thus resisting any sense of sharing or ideological tolerance. More typically in the work of heritage, places can be contested with regard to their conservation status (Sydney’s Sirius building, for example).
In adopting the term ‘shared’, the GA2020 Scientific Symposium invites participants to explore the idea of sharing—and its counterpoints, contestation and resistance—in relation to culture and heritage. We invite reviews of traditional thinking on the topic and seek new and diverse perspectives and insights that encourage discussion and dialogue. Contributions may be in the form of case study examples that illustrate different experiences or viewpoints; and academic positions that support, revise, and/or challenge contemporary scholarly work.

https://icomosga2020.org/program/