9th International Conference of the International Association for the History of Transport Traffic and Mobility (T2M)
Berlin, Germany – October 6-9, 2011
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin (German Technology Museum)
Call for Papers (pdf) (Extended deadline for submission until May 14th)
We were asked by a number of proponents to extend the deadline for some days, as they could not finish their proposal in time. We therefore extend the deadline for submissions with two weeks.
Last possibility for submissions is May 14th.
The International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility (T2M) heartly invites proposals for papers and sessions to be presented at its 9th International Conference to be held at the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin (German Technology Museum), Berlin/Germany, October 6th to 9th, 2011.
VENUE: Deutsches Technikmuseum
in Downtown Berlin
The Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Technology Museum), founded in 1982, stands in a long tradition of scientific and technical collections. Before 1982, one of its forerunners was the Museum for Transport and Technology. Some forerunners had their home in Berlin for more than 120 years. Some of these collections have been taken over by the Deutsches Technikmuseum, others have been destroyed during the Second World War.
Close to Potsdamer Platz, the museum occupies a historical industrial site dating back to 1874: the site of the former goods yard of Anhalter Güterbahnhof. The large museum park – containing two windmills, a water mill, a smithy and a brewery – is also an oasis of green.
The museum presents a broad spectrum of old and new technology and demonstrates the various historical connections to culture and everyday life. The museum also has a well-stocked library on the history of technology as well as historical archives. The contemporary architecture of the new extension for the aviation and maritime collections fits perfectly into these surroundings to form a fascinating ensemble. The “raisin bomber” suspended from the façade makes the extension a prominent urban landmark.
While the railways, maritime and air departments have a permanent exhibition, the road transport departments are still waiting for a permanent exhibition. The collection of urban transport is currently open to the public only on special occasions. The future exhibition will draw attention to the basic elements of everyday life, which are all too often ignored. Before the conference, the museum will open a special exhibition on automobility.
As the largest German city, Berlin is not only one of the most vibrant European capitals, but served as the testing ground for many new types of vehicles and was also an important production location for such companies as Daimler-Motorenwerke in Marienfelde, Orenstein & Koppel and the Deutsche Waggon-Union. In the 1920s, Berlin counted as the “fastest city in the world”. Since German reunification in 1990, Berlin again has become the clear political center of Germany, a a growing magnet for science, culture and youth from all over the world.
The second hosting institution, the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB, Berlin Institute of Technology), is the largest technological university
Germany. It has the highest figure of foreign students of all German universities. TUB offers strong (international) programs in transport studies, metropolitan studies, history of technology, sociology of technology and human technologies. The Center for Technology and Society, founded in 1995, is a leading research institute for studying the relations of technical, cultural and societal developments.
The local organising committee of the conference stems from both the Deutsches Technikmuseum and the Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin Institute of Technology) and integrates expertise from the university and museum.
THEME
The Conference Theme is “Transport and Mobility on Display”. We invite papers and sessions, which discuss the history and future of transport museums, exhibitions and collections and transport halls in larger technology museums and the relation of academic mobility history and transport museums. By this, T2M seeks to establish a closer collaboration between academic scholars, curators and exhibition makers in the field of transport, traffic and mobility.
The call is not limited to the history and future of transport museums and exhibitions but intends to explore different exhibitions of mobility: for instance advertising, car design, transport fairs, mobility “Luna park” as motor show or car race. In a broader perspective, all transport infrastructures, e.g. railway stations, motorways, bridges or traffic signs, are “Transport and mobility on display”, offering mobility and landscape experiences. Their sensible appearance shape the image of transport, and have an impact on transport policy and use. In addition to visual aesthetic appearance, smell, noise and other senses are important for the impact of transport on display. Thus, the call seeks for an innovative analysis of the social, economic, political and psychological impact of the manifestation and appearance of transport and mobility. It takes on questions, T2M already has discussed at the 5th annual conference in Helmond on “Transport Heritage and Design”.
Transport museums belong to the best visited museums in the world. In technology museums, departments for transport and traffic often are the most attractive halls. Counting visitor figures, transport museums and halls can easily claim to represent are a tremendous success story. On the other hand, transport museums have been criticised for presenting an often uncritical and techno-enthusiastic image of mobility, limiting its scope to the aesthetic and technological sensations of transport vehicles while undervaluing the history of traffic and mobility, of transport infrastructures, as rails, roads and rivers, and of environmental and of societal effects of transport, as societal exclusion and inclusion by accessibility. Many transport
museums are notoriously under-budgeted, often have not enough or no curatorial staff and often nearly no research infrastructures. Many transport museums are operated by volunteers, often elder male engineers.
By analysing transport and mobility on display, the conference shall contribute to a material cultural history of transport and mobility and shall envision new concepts and forms of transport and mobility exhibitions. Transport history has turned to cultural history later than the history of technology. Only in the last two decades, we experience something like a boom in cultural histories of transport and a slight shift in transport history focus towards the passengers, their experiences and adventures.
Museology has claimed that the educational function of museums has somewhat decreased during the last decades in favour of more emphasis on experience, leisure and thrill. Theme parks have become competitors and models for new enter- and edutainment concepts. Interactive hands-on and children departments have become commonplace. In the world of transport exhibitions and museums, however, experience and thrill always have played a significant role even in unwritten didactical concepts. A look on the history and future of transport museums therefore can reshape our image of public use of history and heritage from educational to leisure institutions. Museum curators and academia researchers need more occasions to exchange knowledge and expertise. The conference will offer an excellent framework to bridge those two worlds.
In short: the conference shall bring together perspectives from different academic disciplines, the museum’s world, exhibitions and fairs to understand the impact of transport on display. It shall lead to a closer collaboration between museums, exhibitions and research institutions in the field of transport, traffic and mobility. Therefore, we especially encourage multi-perspective joint session proposals.
It is a T2M tradition that paper and session proposals are not limited to the general topic. We ask for paper and session proposals for all themes in the field of transport, traffic and mobility can be proposed. By this, the annual conference shall give, in a broad way, an up-to-date overview on the field of historical transport and mobility studies.
PAPERS
Participants are encouraged, though not required, to organize panels on these themes. A panel consists of a chair and normally up to three speakers; no commentator is required. We especially encourage transnational, comparative and multi-perspective approaches, and welcome proposals exploring theoretical or methodological issues as well as those of a more empirical nature. We especially invite recent entrants to the profession and doctoral students to submit proposals. Session proposals should also include a one-page overview of the session. Submitters will be notified by the Programme committee at May 20, 2011 on the success or status of their submission.
Poster Presentations
Submission of a fully completed poster form (1 page A4) is mandatory for all speakers, for T2M 2011 wants to invest more energy into communication. Posters of all oral presentations will be exhibited in the public area of the museum. This innovation will contribute to better promotion of the history of transport, traffic and mobility as a scientific discipline and as a public service. Posters will be judged. The best posters will receive a prize during the banquett. Poster forms will be made available later on the website of the conference.
DEADLINES
Please send proposals to: submissions@t2m.org.
The deadline for sending in the abstracts and a short CV (max one page each; Word or Rich Text Format only) is April 30th 2011.
Since it may be a problem for many scholars to get funding for transport, accommodation and the Conference, the Programm committee therefore will send out acceptance letters for the selected papers before the end of May 2011, in order to facilitate acquisition for funding.
The full paper of all accepted submissions and of the posters must be delivered on or before August 15, 2011. These papers will be available to all Conference participants before the conference. Individual presentations at the Conference are therefore to be limited to a fifteen-minute summary to allow for debate and discussion within the session.
All participants are required to register. For details of T2M and of previous conferences, please visit: t2m.org. Further details of the Conference (including the poster form) will be posted on a website of the Programme Committee which is currently under construction and will go online shortly.
TRAVEL GRANTS
Ph.D. students and scholars from so-called developing countries are encouraged to apply for travel grants at T2M. Please send in your application together with the proposal at: submissions@t2m.org. (Please download a travel grant form)
Deadline for applications: 1st July 2011
COMMITTEES
LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Hans-Liudger Dienel
TU Berlin, Center for Technology and Society
Sasha Disco
TU Berlin, Center for Metropolitan Studies
Alfred Gottwaldt
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin
Gunter Heinickel
TU Berlin, Center for Technology and Society
Joseph Hoppe
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin
Sabine Krick
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin
Massimo Moraglio
TU Berlin, Center for Technology and Society
Martin Schiefelbusch
TU Berlin, Center for Technology and Society
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Joachim Breuninger
Verkehrsmuseum Dresden
Anne Ebert
Technisches Museum Wien
Kilian Elsasser
Museumsfabrik Luzern
Bernhard Graf
Institut für Museumskunde Berlin
Wolfgang König
TU Berlin, History of Technology
Kurt Möser
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Ralf Roth
University of Frankfurt
Helmuth Trischler
Deutsches Museum, Munich
Richard Vahrenkamp
University of Kassel
Christopher Kopper
Universität Bielefeld
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Dirk Böndel
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, Germany
Hans-Liudger Dienel
TU Berlin, Germany
P.K. Goel
CILT, Delhi, India
Ian Gray
Charles Sturt University, Australia
Peter Norton
University of Virginia, USA
Javier Vidal Olivares
University of Alicante, Spain
Jørgen Burchardt
Museum of Southern Jutland
