IIC 2012 Vienna Congress

The International Institute for Conservation
of Historic and Artistic Works

PRESS RELEASE

IIC 2012 Vienna Congress – Call for papers announced

IIC Congress 2012 – The Decorative: Conservation and the Applied Arts

The twenty-fourth IIC Congress will be held in Vienna in conjunction with the Universität für angewandte Kunst (the University of Applied Arts) from 10th to 14th September 2012 and will focus on a topic that is uniquely well-suited to Vienna’s wealth and scope of decorative and applied arts heritage. Ornamentation and the decorative have been evident in human endeavour since the beginning of recorded history, ranging from the bold clarity of Ancient Egypt to the clean-lined, discreet styles of the 1930s and the exuberant revivals of today. Whether civilisations have grown in Europe, Asia, the Americas or Australasia, many of their forms of cultural expression can be considered ‘decorative’ or ‘applied’ arts. The conservation of this heritage, tangible or intangible, is thus the conservation of much of human endeavour and as such is central to our cultural life.

The range of work that this IIC congress will cover is very broad: architectural decoration and styling; ceramics from pottery to porcelain; glassware, including painted and stained glass and studio glass; furniture; hardstone carving, including pietra dura work and engraved gems; metalwork in all its forms; jewellery; ivory and bone carving; textiles including tapestries, embroideries and costume; mosaics; painted decoration; wallpapers and wall coverings; work in terracotta; plaster work; bookbinding and leatherwork. This is by no means an exclusive list.

A capital of cultural heritage awaits you…

Vienna lies at the heart of Europe on the mighty River Danube at the cross-roads of centuries of cultural traditions and of trade between East and West from Roman times and earlier. Well known for its grand Baroque buildings and the later Jugendstil and Secession architecture, Vienna displays a wide and rich range of architectural styles and applied artistry, of paintings, drawings, metalwork, photography, sculpture and decorative artifacts in a variety of workshops and ateliers, galleries and museums. The birthplace of Haydn and Mozart, Schubert and Schönberg and the home of the Strauss waltz, the city is also the heart of a more intangible heritage of music, dance theatre. Vienna is situated near other important European cultural centres: Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Cracow, this proximity reflecting Vienna’s importance as a centre of Europe’s cultural network. The beautiful Danube Valley, with its vineyards and castles, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Call for Papers

We now invite the submission of proposals for a paper at this event. A requirement of submission is that one of the authors of each selected paper must attend the congress to present that paper to the audience. Papers presented at an IIC Congress and published in the preprints undergo a rigorous peer review process. To this end, IIC Council appoints a Technical Committee of international experts who will make selections from the proposals received and will then invite draft papers. The drafts will be reviewed and the content of the programme will be determined by the Technical Committee. Final contributions will be edited for publication by the IIC Editorial Committee.

Please remember that submissions should not have been presented and/or published elsewhere before the date of the Congress.

IIC encourages you to submit your proposal for a paper early via the web; go to www.iiconservation.org/conferences/vienna2012/send_abstract.php

Further details may be found at the home page of the IIC web site – www.iiconservation.org – just follow the link to Congress.

A call for posters will be made later in 2011.

Deadline for receipt of summaries: 30 April 2011.

You will receive a response from the Technical Committee by the end of June 2011. Draft manuscripts will be required by 30 September 2011 and the Technical Committee will make their selection by the end of November. Final manuscripts will be due on 15th January 2012.

Contact Details:
Graham Voce, Executive Secretary
International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC)
6 Buckingham Street, London WC2N 6BA, UK.
tel:  +44 (0)20 7839 5975
email: iic@iiconservation.org
website: www.iiconservation.org