Date: 21-23 October, 2009

Venue: Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), Kaunas, Lithuania

Organiser: Vytautas Magnus University (VMU)

The Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Humanities of Vytautas Magnus University invites to participate in the international conference about interpreting history”The Past Is Still to Change: Performing History from 1945 to the Present”, which will take place in Kaunas, Lithuania.

 The conference is focused upon an important issue for contemporary society – that of interpreting the past and writing its history. The subject of the conference refers to critical historiography, proposing that history is not a stable body of fact(s) but a shifting range of meanings produced by different cultural, social and political practices (such as rituals of public memory, historical re-enactments, museums, memorials et al.) and that the general images of the past are substantially affected by art (literature, visual arts, theatre, film, performance). The conference will open a discussion concerning the performative means of (re)constructing the past, going beyond a passive interpretation of historical texts, activating a participation in the ‘performing’ of history. The act of performing history also describes history as an academic discipline which is involved in (re)construction and (re)interpretation of the past. Consequently the conference will discuss the problems of research and evaluation of the past as it is faced by researchers of the legacy of the Cold War, especially in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic region.

One of the major aims of the conference is to discuss these problems on an interdisciplinary basis, to reveal the complex multidimensional significance of the concept of performing history. Contributions are invited from different fields and disciplines – history, political science, social sciences, culture studies, literary research, theatre studies and visual art studies – both concerned with the past and the forms of remembering the past in contemporary society.

Suggested topics include:

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Date: 30 September - 3 October, 2009
Venue: Reval Hotel Lietuva, Vilnius, Lithuania
Organisers: KTU Regional Science Park, Kaunas Regional Innovation Centre, Kaunas University of Technology, Ministry of Economy The Republic of Lithuania, Enterprise Europe Network, Representation of European Commission in Lithuania, Baltic Association of Science/Technology Parks and Innovation Centres, Agency for International Science and Technology Development Programmes in Lithuania.

The 2009 Baltic Dynamics Conference – The Dynamics of Innovation Spaces: Bringing Innovation to Society – will be held in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania on 30 September to 3 October, 2009. The conference organisers are delighted to invite experts and policy makers from around the world involved in innovation and SMEs development as well as in technology transfer – innovative companies, representatives from SME support institutions, public authorities responsible for SMEs and innovation – to participate in the conference, present your experience and discuss the issues and new initiatives in the field.

The Baltic Dynamics Conference is annually organised Baltic countries initiative aiming at a promotion of international co-operation in the fields of innovation, SMEs support and technology transfer. The Conference is organised since 1995 in turn by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and attracts participants from a broad range of countries from all continents around the globe. It promotes exchange of experience and adds to the successful development of innovation and economy.

The Conference will aim at promotion of innovativeness among policy makers, business, science, education and society. Submissions from academics, policy makers, consultants, managers in innovation management, technology transfer as well as in SMEs support field are strongly encouraged and should focus on the following topics:
Triple Helix – Implications for Policy and Practice
Regional Innovation Environments and Innovative Regions
International Co-operation in Knowledge Transfer
The Role of Traditions in Innovation Processes
Innovative Approaches in Business Management
@Innovation
Creativity and Innovation Management
new Entrepreneurship Development Policies and Initiatives

Draft programme of the conference can be accessed here

Extension houses one of the Old Town’s biggest conference centres

The official opening of the renovated building at the rear of Artis Centrum Hotels in Vilnius took place on Thursday. The building hosts in the city’s Old Town. Like the main section of the hotel before it, the structure has risen out of the ashes of a series of formerly dilapidated residential buildings between Liejyklos, Totoriu and Benediktinu streets.