CfA: 30th meeting of ARTEFACTS
Norsk Teknisk Museum (the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology) announces that the next and 30th meeting of ARTEFACTS will be held in Oslo, Norway, 12–14 October 2025.
ARTEFACTS is an international network of academic and museum-based scholars of science, technology, and medicine, who share the goal of promoting the use of objects in research. The consortium was established in 1996 and since then has held annual conferences examining the role of artefacts and collections in the making of science and technology and related areas. See https://www.
The theme of the 2025 meeting is CARE AND REPAIR, and we encourage proposals (see formats below) concerning how erosion, breakdown, and maintenance, instead of progress and innovation, can be starting points for research. What are the limits of our fragile world, and what work does caring do? We characterize ‘care and repair’ broadly, encompassing objects, people, and environments, but all proposals should have a focus on the material culture of science, technology, and/or medicine.
In keeping with the theme, we especially encourage proposals from museum conservators, as well as those who care for museum communities. These could potentially be joint submissions with other museum practitioners and scholars. ARTEFACTS conferences are friendly and informal meetings with the character of workshops. There is plenty of time for open discussion and networking.
Examples might include, but are not limited to:
- Conservation and restoration of technoscientific heritage; “stubborn” objects, those which require persistent care and repair; challenges while taking care of technoscientific collections…
- Working with communities on technoscientific heritage; forgotten stories of care and repair; amateurs and enthusiasts, the maker movement, and do-it-yourself (DIY) culture...
- The sustainability of technoscientific heritage; practices of repair leading towards more sustainability; making things last; waste and reuse; the afterlives of technoscientific heritage...
- Historical perspectives on technology and repair; the shaping of technology through practices of repair; how repair practices have changed over time; lost expertise / knowledge / skills; the lifespans and persistence of technology; technology’s manifold temporalities...
- Care and the medical humanities; care versus repair, with regard to hierarchies of expertise in healthcare; caregiving and the difficulties of providing and receiving care; ethical dimensions of care and maintenance; how caregiving has changed over time...
Please remember that the focus of presentations should be on artefacts.
This time, ARTEFACTS is experimenting with two tracks for submissions: (1) works to be considered for publication (a pre-circulated paper and a longer presentation based on the paper) and (2) works-in-progress (shorter presentations without a paper). Abstracts for track 1 should be 500-1000 words; abstracts for track 2 should be 200-300 words. They should be accompanied by a 75-word author biography and sent to artefacts@tekniskmuseum.no by 15 May 2025. We aim to notify accepted participants by 5 June 2025.
Registration will open formally when the program is announced in June, but in the meantime informal queries should be directed to artefacts@tekniskmuseum.no.