International Conference on Living Heritage (Part of the 4th World Living Heritage Festival 2018)

Garima Raghuvanshy Announcement
Location
India
Subject Fields
Architecture and Architectural History, Cultural History / Studies, Oral History, Religious Studies and Theology, Asian History / Studies

 

Introduction

The 4th World Living Heritage Festival (WLHF) 2018 aims to explore the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage through inquiries into association of oral history, rites and rituals with historic spaces, be it temples, monuments, museums or public squares in the cities.

This exploration will be both, reflective - incorporating keynote lectures and plenary sessions, and experiential - using workshops, performances, and heritage walks as avenues. Different sessions of the festival will lead-up to a joint publication by Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) and UNESCO New Delhi. This publication, a compendium of best practices in conservation of built and intangible heritage, will record some of the benchmark examples for experiencing and continuing living heritage and will provide guidelines for living heritage spaces and areas across Asia.

Focus questions of the three plenary sessions:

1. Towards an Asian approach to Heritage

This session will be a dialogue on different approaches to living heritage, with case studies from various Asian countries.

Based on examples of tangible and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and their conservation across Asia an enquiry will be made into different perspectives and approaches to these phenomena. These observations will be the starting point to reflect about the nature of ICH itself, especially in the context of India. Further, the following questions will be raised:

  • What is the role of ‘oral histories’? Are they keepers of our past or are they something more?
  • What is the role of stories in our cultures?
  • What is the relationship between rituals or festivals and built heritage spaces such as palaces, forts, temples, stepwells, ghats, squares, maidans and old neighborhoods?
  • Are these built heritage spaces just a scenic background or do they play a more significant part in our everyday lives?

And finally, in our quest to answer these questions in an Asian context, can we look to a particularly Asian approach to this living heritage? If such an approach exists, what is it?

2.Rethinking temples – An exploration of Agamashastra and everyday Indian experiences:

Plenary session with Agamashastris (experts on Agamashastra), Sthapathis (those who build and maintain temple buildings), and caretakers of ancient temples. The aim of this session is to explore the traditional (and enduring) Indian approach to temples as living spaces and transmitters of traditions.

Today, more than any other kind of site, temples continue to be living heritage spaces across India. Given this fact, we will investigate the traditional Indian approach to living heritage sites taking temples as our focus point. This session will raise the following questions:

  • Is it possible to discern a traditional Indian approach to living heritage by focusing on temples in India?
  • If yes, what is this traditional approach, with reference to temples?
  • Are there any differences or significant points of departure between the mainstream international, institutional approach to and the traditional Indian approach?
  • What can the traditional and mainstream approaches learn from each other?

This attempt to identify and reflect on a traditional Indian approach to heritage is important because, first, we need to recognize that there might be different ways of thinking about and conserving heritage - this acknowledgement only makes us richer in terms of intellectual and practical resources. Second, because it is important to ask what role, if any, a traditional approach could have played and plays in keeping our living heritage – ancient temples – alive.  The purpose of this panel will be to bring traditional practitioners and perspectives to the discussion table, and to expose ourselves to this knowledge system.

3. Stories

This plenary session invites individuals who have worked with living heritage in diverse ways to share and reflect on their experiences in the field. Using case studies, the session will address the following questions:

  • What does it mean to capture a tradition through a film, book, or other medium?
  • How can one do work that helps revive fading ways of life, art forms, and knowledge?
  • What are the realities on the ground?
  • What best practices can we look towards, what hasn’t worked in the field?

And finally, through their reflection on their own experiences, panelists will enquire into the nature of their subjects themselves – be they examples of built or intangible culture heritage.

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Each day of the festival will address these questions within the ambit of a different subtheme - intangible heritage vis-à-vis (i) monuments, museums, and historical sites, (ii) temples, and (iii) public spaces. Each day’s performances, panel discussions, workshops, and heritage walks/trails will be inter-linked by one of the subthemes and set in venues that are themselves iconic living monuments, temples, and public spaces in the city of Udaipur.

Complete programme at www.worldlivingheritagefestival.org (visit to register and for updates in the programme, speakers, and artists at WLHF 2018)

Registration fee: Rs. 3500 (students and scholars), Rs. 7000 (faculty and others)

Early bird discount: Rs. 500 off until early bird passes available

Registration fee includes:

• Access to Ashwa Poojan ceremony on Day 1, i.e., the 17th of October

• Access to all events mentioned in the programme: keynote lecture and panel discussions featuring national and international experts, heritage walks within the City Palace Complex and in the walled city of Udaipur, experiential workshops, and morning and evening performances within and outside the City Palace Complex

• Lunch and tea/coffee on Day 2, 3, and 4 of the festival

 

Contact Information

Garima Raghuvanshy

Research Associate
Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation
Eternal Mewar
The City Palace
Udaipur 313 001, Rajasthan - India
Telephone: +91 294 241 9021 - 29 Extn: 2445
Fax: +91 294 241 9020

Contact Email
wlhf@eternalmewar.in