International Congress on “Industrial Heritage, Social Issues and Challenges for New Governance”

The IV International and Interdisciplinary Cultural Heritage Congress will be held in the city of Concepción, Chile, from 16 to 20 October 2023. This conference is part of the program “International Strategies for the Transformation of Industrial Heritage into Regional Assets, BIP 40049181-0,” presented by the Creasur Cultural Center in collaboration with Nudisur, and funded by the Biobío Regional Government.

The program aims to establish a governance network for regional cultural heritage and train those working on similar projects, whether from municipalities or community organizations. Thus, they will be able to acquire new tools with international standards to face the challenges of a new form of governance of the industrial heritage.

Since 2016, the Southern Research Nucleus (Nudisur) has been organizing the International and Interdisciplinary Cultural Heritage Congresses. This initiative emerges from the need to analyze cultural heritage as an important opportunity to decolonize our perspectives on the past. In previous editions, the congress was held in Chile, Mexico and Brazil. For the next edition the main topic will be Industrial Heritage, Social Issues and Challenges for New Governance, and it counts with the collaboration of TICCIH International.

On this occasion, the congress will be held in the headquarters of the Biobío Regional Government, where experts from Chile, India, Nigeria, Nepal, Indonesia, Egypt, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Germany and France may present their experiences around heritage and marvel at the work of social realism “History of Concepción” by the artist Gregorio de la Fuente, located in the mural hall of the building.

The program also includes the provision of the degree “Collaborative Methodologies for Heritage Projects with a Critical Approach,” sponsored by the Master in Architectural Heritage Intervention of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Chile.

The Biobío Regional Government is part of the “Mesa Regional Plan Lota: Towards a World Heritage Site,” an initiative organized since 2019 and coordinated by the National Heritage Service. The aim is to work systematically on the nomination of Lota as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Several institutions collaborate in this initiative, such as the Under-Secretariat for Heritage, the Corporation for the Promotion of Production, the Under-Secretariat for Public Works, the Under-Secretariat for Housing and Urban Development, the Illustrious Municipality of Lota and the Citizen Board of Heritage and Tourism of Lota, among other civil society organizations.

In addition to the before mentioned activities, the four sites of the UNESCO tentative list in Lota will be visited, as well as the former Bellavista Tomé Textile Factory and the San Rosendo Railway Complex. These field visits will be complemented by artistic and cultural encounters that will highlight the importance and value of the region’s industrial heritage.

More information on the congress: https://nudisur.org/en/congress (in English), https://nudisur.org/congreso (in Spanish).

Read here the official Press release in English and the Comunicado de prensa in Spanish.