Agora Cultural Centre

Via delle Trombe, 6 (Piazza dei Servi, Centro Storico)
55100 Lucca Tuscany, Italy
 

 

 

Lucca is one of the most beautiful cities of Tuscany, a treasure of beauty, culture and history, preserving exquisitely the signs of past kingdoms and dominions, the beauty of nature and the works of many renown architects and artists. Dante spent a part of his exile in Lucca. Located between Florence and Pisa, Lucca is the home town of Giacomo Puccini and Luigi Boccherini. Is a town where each of the streets has a story to tell. The city walls are the best preserved Renaissance walls in the world, offering the opportunity of a relaxing and enchanting ‘passeggiata’ (promenade) or a bike ride with amazing views over the surroundings. Piazza Napoleone -one of the main squares – was built in the time of Napoleonic conquest when the city was led by Napoleon’s sister Elisa Bonaparte. It is rivaled in beauty by Piazza del Amfiteatro, built to maintain the shape of the Roman Amphitheater built during the I and II centuries that could accommodate over 10,000 spectators. A city of 100 churches, Lucca is labyrinth of small streets that hide secrets to be discovered.

Lucca is very easy to reach both by bus as well as train from both Pisa and Florence, making it perfect for anyone getting around solely on public transportation. The train station is right outside the southern walls, with an entrance below the balcony of San Colombano that brings you right behind Lucca’s cathedral and into the heart of the small walled town.

When arranging your travel by plane, book a flight to Florence (Petrola) or Pisa (Galileo Galilei) airports. The easiest way to reach Lucca is from Pisa airport that requires a 25 minutes public bus or train travel right from the airport. From Florence the travel by bus or train takes about 50 minutes. Make sure that your flight arrives earlier during the day as after 22.00 buses or trains to Lucca are no longer available. Taxis are available in Pisa airport and will cost around 50 Euro until your destination in Lucca. If your flight arrives later in the night, book a room for the night in either Florence or Pisa, and start your travel to Lucca in the morning since buses and trains are available from 5.30.

 
 
See an interactive map:

HERE

Conference participants are fully responsible for arranging the accommodation and travel to Lucca.

Conference Program

The Conference Agenda is available in the right sidebar of this page.

The extensive conference program with abstracts and available draft papers is now in process of uploading and will be accessible below by clicking on the panel number tabs and links of individual presentations. Due to technical times required by upload, a delay in the visibility of the program will occur. We apologize for inconvenience.

Thinking Europe: Philosophy, Autonomy, Culture and Identity Formation through Inclusion/Exclusion Nexuses

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  Evelyn Preuss, Yale University, USA
  Europe Is Elsewhere: Voices from the Edge of Empire Emerging as a highly contested notion, Europe, on the one hand, is conceived as the agent of ‘Empire’ and, on the other, as the last and most muscular bulwark against it—or it is even employed in both senses simultaneously. My paper will analyze these dynamics of identity construction by exploring common themes among the voices from the colonialized edges of ‘Empire,’ such as Daniela Dahn, Emir Kusturica, Pankraj Mishra, Dipesh Chakrabarty and Vasant Kaiwar.

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  Sanna Kristiina Salo, University of Oulu, Finland
  Thinking Europe: European Identity and the Enmity It is possible to identify the general practice about the means through which enemy images have been built in the history, and what is still a widespread practice taken advantage by the media and political power groups. In addition, the enemy images have been used to form identities of different social groups, a sense of togetherness, since the identity bases on idea of hostility of other. From this perspective is possible also to survey the question of European identity.

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  David Fontanals Garcia, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and English Studies, University of Barcelona, Spain
  Between the Universal and the Particular: Europe and the Ethical Commitment of Stefan Zweig This paper will argue that, in order to make the most out of Zweig’s commitment, we have to change the way we approach his legacy. That is to say, instead of trying to convert his ideas into a political discourse, we should approach them from the perspective of their ethical value. Therefore, behind Zweig’s ‘Europe’, we will find a set of notions and principles—individualism, freedom, difference/diversity, pacifism, humanism, empathy, cosmopolitanism...—that go beyond Europe itself to form a Weltanschauung that may helps us figure out both our lives in common and as individuals.

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  Gale Richardson, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, Maine, USA
  The Perceptual Experience of Past and Present Consciousness In this paper, I substantiate Merleau-Ponty’s argument that when ‘my being and consciousness’ unite together, then I am not ‘reduced to knowledge;’ rather, I am one with consciousness; and my ‘consciousness of existing’ participates with the genuine ‘gesture’ of existence itself. I call humankind to action in unlocking the primary perception of both the past and the future interconnected to the present event of subjectivity so as to avoid the duality of being behind a nationalism of isolation.

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European Cultural Heritage (Section One): Regional, National and European Imaginary Significations of Magmatic Cultural Creation

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  Juliet Simpson, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Coventry University / Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK
  Staging/Inventing Nations: Art, Renaissances and Identities of Patrimony in Early 20th-century Europe This paper explores key, yet narratives of European cultural heritage in creating new national and transnational identities, from the late 1890s to the early 1900s. Discussion focuses in particular on the neglected importance of Germanic pre-modern and Renaissance projections of a diverse cultural inheritance, looking at significant ways via their revivals, displays and reinventions in ‘tournant de siècle’ Europe were to shape amplified ideas of ‘national’ patrimony.

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  Susan Ashley, Northumbria University, UK
  Minority Arts and Heritage: Border Work and Contact Zones Heritage expressed through the arts is a process of cultural production and active ‘making’ of individual and community senses of diversity. The paper critically inspects this as a performative and affective process by which minoritised people use ideas about the past or traditions to express creatively their place within the world, and strategically assert their voices in the public sphere. Particular attention is paid to the ways that heritage-making through the arts acts as ‘borderwork’ located outside of mainstream museums and arts organisations: as boundary-making or as contact zone or as engines of connectivity.

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  Abigail Hunt, Lincoln Business School, University of Lincoln, Brayford, UK
  How Local Is Local Heritage? A Case Study of the County of Lincolnshire This paper will argue that whilst there appears to be a current rejection of Europe and Europeans by local people in Lincolnshire, they live in a county that owes much of its rich heritage to people from countries that are currently part of Europe. It is intended that this will be the first part of a study to explore the disconnect between the European influence on their heritage and current views about Europe and European migration in the county.

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  Katja Mäkinen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
  Debating Europe: Participation in the EU’s Cultural Heritage Policy This paper is therefore based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2017-2018 at 11 heritage sites that have received the European Heritage Label. The material includes interviews with EHL actors at different levels of administration, the visitors and the locals. It is analyzed through a conceptual approach, with a theoretical framework drawing on critical heritage studies and participatory governance research. The aim is to explore the conceptions of participation in the discourses of different level EHL actors, the visitors and the locals.

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European Values and Europeanization: Migration and Asylum Policies, Alterity Making Practices and the Geographies of Orientalism

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  Catherine MacMillan, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey
  Lost at Sea? Exploring Europeanisation and De-Europeanisation in Turkey’s Migration and Asylum Policies Based on a theoretical approach to Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation in candidate countries, the paper analyses developments in Turkey's asylum and migration policies in recent years. Given the lack of credibility of accession conditionality in the Turkish case, and a general tendency towards de-Europeanisation in Turkey, overwhelming de-Europeanisation in this area may be the expected outcome. However, as this paper argues, the reality is considerably more complex.

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  Asli Bilgin, Faculty of Law, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey
  The Impact of Europeanization on Turkish Asylum Policy Through Conditionality Since the conflict began in 2011, an estimated 5 million people have fled Syria by land and sea in order to survive. Turkey has become a transition point for Syrians to reach Europe because of its geographic status between east and west. Not only the strict border protection implied by the EU but also the readmission agreement have transformed Turkey into an inn for Syrian refugees. his paper has two main aims. While analyzing the transformation of Turkish asylum policy in the light of Europeanization, the bound between the conditionality and the Europeanization would tried to be determined.

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  Ufuk Can Aksu, Independent Researcher, Sanliurfa, Turkey
  Integrating European Identity: A Massive Challenge for the EU after Migration Crisis This study aims to explore the term of “European Identity” through the integration policies of the European Union. The main argument of the study is that the “European Identity” is dominated by economic neoliberal understanding as many integration policies are focused on financial integration. Prioritization of economic concerns also creates a challenge for the idea of common European identity; therefore, the study also argues that the idea of European identity is a highly contested and illustrative concept. In this pursuit, the first part of the study focuses on the theoretical framework of European Identity and its conundrums.

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Reinventing Eastern Europe: Europe, the EU and the Est / West Dichotomies in Identity Making Practices

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  Máté Szabó, Institute of Political Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
  Europe from the East and the West Regarded from 1968 and 1989 Moments An irony of history, that 1968 which is an emblem for the radicalism and revolution in Western hemisphere and certain extent in the Eastern bloc too, for Hungary went into the history as associated with a “good bargaining” giving autonomy in foreign policy to the Soviets for receiving internal autonomy –for a while- in economic and social affairs, so a moment of world history of radicalism is a momentum of reformism and of clever opportunism in Hungarian history.

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  Monika Brusenbauch Meislová, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
  Uniting, or Driving a Wedge? Brexit and its Political Implications for the Visegrad Group This paper researches Brexit’s implications for the Visegrad Group (V4). There are, indeed, many ways in which the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU will affect the V4 countries – not only politically and economically, but also socially. Applying the three-dimensional concept of polity, politics and policy, this inquiry explores political aspects of Brexit implications for the V4 in all three dimensions of governance.

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  Zsolt Gál, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
  Why Populism and Captured States are Not Failing (Yet)? The Case of Slovakia On the long-term continuous populism, systemic corruption and the degeneration of democracy is likely to lead to relative fallback in economic growth and convergence (compared to CEE competitors) as some examples (notably Hungary but partially also Slovakia) already demonstrate.

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  Réka Deim, Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture, University of Amsterdam

  Marija Sniečkutė, European Studies , University of Amsterdam
  Populism and Contested Articulations of National and European Identities: Argumentation and Art he paper focuses on the discursive and non-discursive construction of the opposition between the people and “the other” in terms of values, which is elaborated in reference to the concept of the “heartland” (P. Taggart). The key points are exemplified by the Hungarian case, and, in particular, the analysis of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speeches, memory politics and cultural policy.

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  Karolina Bagdone, Vilnius University and Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Lithuania
  The Fundamental Incompatibility of the European and Soviet Identities In my presentation, I will briefly talk about the identity model which emerged in the creative works of Eduardas Mieželaitis and Sigitas Geda. Miezelaitis was the founder of Soviet modern poetry and presented the form of free poetic language within the context of the Soviet within the context of the Soviet internationalism regime.

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Urban Heritage, Transformation and Change in European Urban Image Construction

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  Dominik Lengyel, Faculty of Architecture, BTU University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany

  Catherine Toulouse, Faculty of Architecture, BTU University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
  Architectonic Design as Mediator for Archaeological Hypotheses Contrasting the geometric abstraction of the model, strictly based on the verbal hypotheses, our way of depicting the scenery uses traditional methods of realistic architectural photography. Leaving out any staffage, the emphasis lies on the timeless qualities of European architecture as shared patrimony, yet contributing to architecture as European Heritage. The presentation aims to demonstrate and illustrate this method by several projects developed by the authors in cooperation with archaeological research institutions like Cologne Cathedral and its Predecessors, The Metropolis of Pergamon, The Palatine Palaces.

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  Feyza Akder, Koc University / VEKAM, Ankara,Turkey
  14 Cities by Claude Aubriet and Joseph Pitton Tournefort In this paper I will discuss if Aubriet’s compositions exemplify the utility of transcultural model as landscape depiction: Aubriet’s depiction reminds of 16th century city-atlases of Georg Braun the cartographer. Aubriet, highlights architecture and topographical elements. Thus, they exhibit a similar cartographic method with some European city depictions. Also, they are general views, portraying the city as a whole, as if it were one of the local people Tournefort narrated about. Aubriet’s cities are supposed to illustrate the text however the compositions of the landscapes are different then the text. Are they a dual representation of the same land in the same book, by European scientist/artist/traveler?

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  Rolly Rosen, The Department of Anthropology, Haifa University, Israel
  Between the Intercultural City Ideal and the Reality of the New Wars The paper follows the glocalization of the Intercultural Cities Network principles in various European Cities in the years 2015-2017. It included interviews with heads of integration departments or mayors in various cities which are members of the ICC, as well as observations in trainings and other meetings held by the network.

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  Marta Rabazo Martín, Architect at Balmori Associates (NY) / Università Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
  Including Parking Lots in the New Urban Imaginary Parking lots belong to that kind of lost spaces that have a secondary role within the urban machine but are mandatory to make it work. Forgotten from a design point of view due their lucrative character, their great impact on land use, their capacity to relieve the city of the increasing presence of cars and their importance within an ecological and sustainable framework where the proper use of its materials can help reduce impervious surfaces, fight heat islands, and contribute to the control of water runoff and effective groundwater recharge, make them claim our economic investment and our attention as designers of our urban environment.

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European Cultural Heritage (Section Two ): History, Identity Making and Cultural Influence

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  Aleksandra Rutkowska, Somerville College, University of Oxford, UK
  History Rewritten in Stone: The Revival of Castile’s Visigothic Past in the Funerary Chapel of Cardinal Gil de Albornoz in the Cathedral of Toledo De Albornoz’s chapel thus emerges as a prime manifestation of art’s ability to create and shape identities through grounding the present in imagined historical narratives. It demonstrates that objects necessarily exist, or are made to exist, in constant conversation with the past, which, rather than being stable, is constantly forged by them. Sources referred to in the course of the argument comprise both primary documents, consulted in the cathedral of Toledo and in the Spanish National Library, and secondary literature on the arts and social relations of medieval Iberia. Theoretical issued considered include history making, multitemporality, and inter-religious and inter-cultural contact.

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  Katrin Kaufmann, Institute of Art History, University of Zurich
  Alhambrism in Russian Architecture: The Islamic Heritage in Europe and Its Rediscovery in the Nineteenth Century The fact that the Alhambra’s architecture was also heavily adopted in Tsarist Russia is nearly absent from the non-Russian scholarly literature. Focusing on Russian examples, my paper considers the phenomenon of the Moorish Revival from an unusual perspective. It highlights its extent and complexity, briefly referencing its diverse manifestations in Europe, but also insisting on its consistency. Islamic landmarks were part of the European cultural heritage, and the neo-Moorish style was part of the common European patrimony. This was the result of both close connections between countries and far-reaching cultural transfers in art.

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  Firat Oruc, Georgetown University
  Europeanness in the Imaginary of Turkish Humanism This paper examines the role of European humanism in the nation-building project of a secular elite aspiring to sovereignty but looking West for an image of self. Its central claim is that the Turkish intellectual elite of the 1930-40s adopted a regime of translating, reading, adopting, and circulating the European canonical works as 'reference culture'; that is, a source culture that is recognized as a high authority and an iconic signifier by the recipient culture.

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  Jessie Blackburn, Appalachian State University, USA
  Reproducing Europe: The Old World Wine Rhetorics of a New World Wine Region Based on over 80 site visits to Appalachian wineries; rhetorical analyses; and interviews with wine makers, wine associations, and government officials involved in wine promotion, this paper will examine the ways that reproduced Italian and French cultural signifiers work to legitimize an unrecognized wine region through cultural appropriation and association. Furthermore, this paper will argue that commodified notions of Old World Europe represent a new formation of North American place-making that is simultaneously derivative and inimitable (as well as local and global) in its adaptation.

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Art, History and Identity Making Practices from European Paintings to External Representations in Sequential Art

UPLOADING IN PROGRESS

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  Judith Mottram, Lancaster University, UK

  Helen Gørrill, Lancaster University, UK
  Painting Difference: European Collections, Identities and Future Histories Digital tools provide new opportunities to look at cultural data, enabling us to observe our patterns of acquisition and sharing in different ways. Our identity as European draws upon cultural, religious and social practices that have been shaped by migration and diasporic activity from both within and beyond the borders of Europe. Traditional disciplinary models have centuries-old practices and ways of working but new technologies, as with the advent of photography, enable us to look at the manifestations of culture using a different, digital, lens.

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  Priel Cohanim, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
  Reclaiming Ishbal: Opposing European Dominance in Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist This talk explores Europe's portrayal as a violent, militaristic, colonizing force from the perspective of a Japanese manga. Hiromu Arakawa's manga series Fullmetal Alchemist (2001-2010) is set in Amestris, a fictional country where alchemy has become one of the most advanced sciences. Throughout the series, Arakawa establishes an analogy between Amestris and an early twentieth-century European country by portraying street signs and official documents in English, using German, Dutch or English names for main characters, and drawing similarities between the militaristic regime of Fuhrer President King Bradley and Nazi Germany.

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  Christos Karypiadis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
  Art and the Creation of National Identities in Europe : Art in Colonial Cyprus In Search of Identity Before Independence Studying and examining the work of Adamantios Diamantis, Tilemachos Kanthos, George Pol Gheorghiou, Christoforos Savva, Stass Paraschos and others from the dawn of the 20th century till the independence (1959), we can observe the artists' sincere concern about defining their place in the world, their own identity. From 1900 to 1974, we see a significant number of artworks that try to give answers to questions such 'what is Cyprus?', 'where do Cyprus and its people belong?'. The Cypriot identity making issue is visibly central to artistic concerns of the first half of 20th Century.

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