Summer School Heritage & Innovation: Art Nouveau, past, present & future challenges

Registration until 28/02/2023 on this link

The programme aims to offer a unique opportunity to dive into the heritage of Art Nouveau in Brussels and beyond and to explore how Art Nouveau can act as a laboratory for current and future challenges.

Participants will undertake a journey through European culture and history as well as reflect on the links between Art Nouveau and today’s challenges related to architecture, urban renovation and heritage management.

How did Art Nouveau blossom and later expanded throughout Europe and beyond? What are the links between Art Nouveau and cultural and heritage management policies? How is this revolution in art and architecture still relevant today? How is Art Nouveau valorised today? How can public and private stakeholders make Art Nouveau accessible to a wide audience?

The programme is built around two focus points. On the one hand, the programme will shed lights on the full scope of Art Nouveau as a transdisciplinary and transnational movement. Lectures will focus on how Art Nouveau blossomed in Brussels and later around Europe and beyond. It will also address how Art Nouveau infused society well beyond architecture, expanding its influence to arts, ornamentation, furniture, etc. On the other hand, the programme will invite participants to reflect on the relationship between heritage and innovation through the lens of Art Nouveau.

Lectures and discussions will focus on current issues related to urban renovation and preservation policies. They will also explore the links between cultural heritage and tourism as well as the valorisation of heritage. With a view to foster transdisciplinarity, participants will also be invited to broaden their perspectives by reflecting on hidden scientific aspects in Art Nouveau and bio-inspired and bio-mimetics structures.

Main topics addressed

• The beginnings of Art Nouveau
• Art Nouveau across Europe and beyond
• Victor Horta, a pioneer
• Brussels Art Nouveau: from Horta to van de Velde
• Politics and Urbanism
• Renovation, mediation, valorisation
• Bio-inspired and bio-mimetics structures 

Learning outcomes

Following this course, students will be able to:

• Explain how Art Nouveau blossomed in Europe and to compare Art Nouveau developments in different countries.
• Analyse the links between heritage and innovation through the lens of Art Nouveau.
• Work on the mediation of Art Nouveau heritage sites. In this context, they will be active and dynamic mediators involved in the democratization of knowledge about Art Nouveau architecture.