[spectre] CFP: Cities of a new type (Dunaujvaros, 21-22 May 15)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Jerome Bazin <jerome.bazin at u-pec.fr>
Date: Oct 20, 2014
Subject: CFP: Cities of a new type (Dunaujvaros, 21-22 May 15)

Dunaújváros, Hungary, May 21 - 22, 2015
Deadline: Dec 1, 2014

Cities of a new type. New industrial cities in popular democracies after 
1945
International conference in Dunaújváros

In the socialist countries after 1945, several cities were erected from 
scratch next to an industrial complex: the main ones were Dunaújváros 
(named Sztálinváros from 1951 to 1961) in Hungary, Eisenhüttenstadt 
(Stalinstadt from 1953 to 1961) in East Germany, Nowa Huta in Poland and 
Dimitrovgrad in Bulgaria. They were supposed to become cities of a new 
type, different from the chaotic, segregated and capitalist city. They 
had to invent a socialist way of life and the population of these cities 
(mostly workers) did create a specific working class culture, even if it 
was different from the one that was expected by the authorities. Each 
city was progressively built through ideological ambitions, but also 
through concrete constraints and unexpected evolutions. The history of 
each city has so far been studied and written mostly from a national or 
regional perspective. We want to consider them from an international 
point of view and to put them in a comparative and transnational 
perspective.

We will consider the entire socialist period, from the late 1940s to the 
late 1980s. That is to say not only the time of the construction (the 
early fifties) but also the following decades, when the young cities got 
older and were transformed, according to local factors and according to 
the transformation of each popular democracy. However, we will not 
consider the post-socialist period.

The conference will focus on the four above-mentioned cities, but it 
will also consider smaller new cities (Ózd and Komló in Hungary, Nová 
Dubnica in Czechoslovakia, Nowe Tychy and Jastrz?bie in Poland, Schwedt 
and Hoyerswerda in East Germany, etc.) and new districts in already 
existing cities (for instance, Poruba next to Ostrava in Czechoslovakia 
or Halle-Neustadt next to Halle in East Germany).

We particularly welcome papers investigating topics such as:
- The comparison between the cities. The conference will examine both 
the history of the towns (plan, architecture, construction techniques, 
etc.) and the history of the people who came to the towns (migrations, 
work in the factory, everyday life, housing, etc.). For each topic, 
comparisons shed light on unnoticed facts. For instance, putting next to 
each other the plans of the new cities shows significant differences and 
leads to think about the urban morphology or about the relationships 
between the city and the factory. Similarly, comparisons between the 
pieces of furniture in the new apartments lead to think about design in 
socialist regime.

- The understanding of exchanges between the cities. Archives give 
evidence of economic and cultural collaboration, mainly through 
delegations exchanges. And these exchanges concerned the different 
involved actors: decision-makers of local authorities, party members, 
city planners, engineers, workers. What did people from Nowa Huta know 
from Dunaújváros and Eisenhüttenstadt? In what extent did these cities 
constitute a network? In this sense, the conference participates in the 
current historiographical reflection on the economic and cultural 
collaboration between socialist countries and on the integration of 
socialist space.

- The question of the models. What was presented and considered as 
model? In the official discourse, there was only one model: the USSR and 
its main new city from the 1930s, Magnitogorsk. But the actual influence 
of the Soviet Union is hard to understand. What was known exactly from 
the Soviet Union? What was imitated? Magnitogorsk seems to have been 
very far and actually little known; other building sites, like the 
reconstruction of Stalingrad, were maybe more familiar. And the USSR 
founded many new cities, all over its huge territory and during the 
entire socialist time. What was done with this knowledge? The 
contribution of specialists in Soviet history would be very appreciated.
Despite the official discourses, Soviet Union was certainly not the only 
model. The new cities in Eastern Europe also looked at what was done in 
Western Europe and also outside Europe. These cities were built through 
different derivatives and borrowings that were put together.

The conference will be held in Dunaújváros and Hungarian researchers 
will then present hitherto unseen archives from the steel factory 
Dunaferr: paintings, photographs and various sources about the 
functioning of the factory or about the daily life of workers (for 
instance Dunaferr possesses a precious collection of brigádnapló – the 
diary that each brigade had to write about work and life in the 
factory). Such archives, which present interesting resemblances with 
archives from similar cities, will contribute to the historical, nuanced 
and objective understanding of the socialist way of life.

Please send an abstract of up to 500 words and a brief academic CV to 
pepperart.dunaujvaros at gmail.com. Deadline for submission of proposals is 
1st December 2014. Conference language is English. Funding is available 
to cover travel and accommodation expenses.

Organisation committee:
Jérôme Bazin, Paris-Est Créteil University.
Mihály Molnár, Pepper Art Projects (Budapest). Dóra Molnár Pepper Art 
Projects (Budapest).
Gábor Rieder, independent art historian (Budapest).

Scientific board: Ulf Brunnbauer (Regensburg University), Sándor Horváth 
(Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Dagmara Jaje?niak-Quast (Frankfurt/Oder 
University), Katherine Lebow (Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust 
Research), Andreas Ludwig (Potsdam Center of Contemporary History), 
György Szücs (Hungarian National Gallery).

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Cities of a new type (Dunaújváros, 21-22 May 15). In: H-ArtHist, 
Oct 20, 2014. <http://arthist.net/archive/8693>.