9th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology: Full Steam Ahead

 

Modern railways were born in Britain 200 years ago. From there, they spread to the rest of the world, reducing travel and transportation times, and fostering modernisation, industrialisation and urbanisation. Facing both continuity and continuous change (including the expansion and contraction of networks, new traction technologies, and instances of nationalisation and privatisation), in the 21^st century, the railway is the most efficient and sustainable mode of transport and, particularly in the East and Global South, is expanding its tracks into the future. To honour its 200th anniversary, the 9th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology travels to the railway past to examine the international circulation of treaties, technologies, materials, and people that defined the early development of railways in Eurasia.

 

The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), and the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology.

 

PLACE:

Zoom (online meeting).

Register for FREE to get the Zoom link to the event here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/9th-east-west-workshop-on-industrial-archaeology-full-steam-ahead-tickets-1751647748569

 

 

DATE & TIME:

15 November 2025, Saturday.

10.00-12.00 London time

 

 

SPEAKERS & TALKS:

- Yibing FANG (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China): "A Review of Research on China’s Early Steel Rails Heritage"

Since 2012, the author has conducted a systematic study on steel rails collected by the National Railway Museum of China (NRMC), spanning from the late 19th century to the 1930s. This study, in collaboration with NRMC, the University of Science and Technology Beijing and the School of Materials Science at Shanghai University, encompasses rails’ information identification, material performance testing, and historical research, aiming to interpret the cultural value of NRMC’s rail collection and address several historical issues related to the manufacturing of modern steel materials in the Chinese early industrialisation process. This endeavour represents an attempt at archaeological research on China’s steel industry, which also sheds light on several challenges faced by industrial archaeology in China.

 

- Paulina ROMANOWICZ (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland): "Rediscovery of a Brickworks Narrow-Gauge Industrial Railway Tunnel in Stołczyn, Poland"

During the construction works of the infrastructure for the Szczecin Metropolitan Railway in 2023, a construction team came across a forgotten railway tunnel running between a clay pit and Alfred Brandy’s brickworks, which the Eisenwerk Kraft Ironworks later took over. A change of administration in 1945 and a flexible approach to space management during the Polish People’s Republic period meant that only a few people remembered that this railway passage was located in this place. A careful study of photographs and maps made it possible to interpret the discovery. This talk describes the findings of this railway site and its preliminary investigation from the perspective of industrial archaeology, and introduces new data revealed by the ongoing redevelopment works in the area.

 

- Arida Fitriana YASMIN (University of Groningen, Netherlands): "Follow the Tracks: Railway Heritage Management at the Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto, Indonesia"

The introduction of the railway in West Sumatra is indebted to the founding of coal mining in Sawahlunto in the late nineteenth century. Suddenly, the need for better and more reliable transportation became urgent for the Dutch East Indies Government to support the mining activities. The railway network connecting the Ombilin mines to the port of Padang, which was finished in 1894, supported the creation of Sawahlunto as a booming company town. Railway tracks, stations, iron bridges, and tunnels were built and became part of the historic landscape. In 2019, amidst the closure of the mining company, the Ombilin Coal Mining complex was inscribed as a World Heritage Site, becoming the first industrial site in Indonesia to be part of a World Heritage property. This talk investigates the significance and challenges of managing railway heritage in Sawahlunto, touching on issues such as how to deal with railway heritage and sustainable interventions to preserve the legacy of our past.

 

- Juan Manuel CANO SANCHIZ (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China / Association for Industrial Archaeology, UK): "European Early Railway Architecture in Beijing: A Perspective from Building Archaeology"

This talk offers a general introduction to and some preliminary results achieved in the project “Research on the Railway Architecture of Beijing during the Late Qing Dynasty from the Perspective of Building Archaeology”, which is supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (grant number IS23118). The talk briefly presents two railway lines with a focus on their past built environment in Beijing: The Imperial Railways of North China (later Peking-Mukden Railway), a Chinese project developed from 1881 onwards with British assistance, and the Peking-Hankow Railway, which was constructed from 1897 onwards by a Franco-Belgian group in cooperation with China. The research concentrates on the physical evidence of these lines, which is traced in the field and also in photographs from the early 20^th century. The talk pays attention to building materials, techniques and designs to shed new light on their provenance and impact on the early modernisation of the country.

 

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Dr Yibing FANG, Doctor of Engineering, graduated from the University of Science and Technology Beijing with a specialisation in the History of Science and Technology. Currently, she is a professor of history of science and technology and a doctoral supervisor at the Institute of History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She is Secretary-General of the Industrial Archaeology and Industrial Heritage Research Group of the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology, and she was Vice-Chair of the Permanent Committee on the History of Mechanisms and Machines Science of the International Federation for the Theory of Mechanisms and Machines (IFToMM) from 2018 to 2024. Her primary research interests encompass the history of modern and contemporary technology, industrial archaeology, and industrial heritage. She has authored, co-authored and edited numerous publications in these subjects, among them, Cases of Chinese Industrial Heritage from the Perspective of the History of Technology (in Chinese).

Dr Paulina ROMANOWICZ graduated in history at the University of Szczecin in 2009, and in archaeology at the University of Łódź in 2010. In 2014, she successfully defended a doctoral thesis entitled “Ludic Culture in the Towns of the Southern Baltic Coast in the Late Middle Ages. An Archaeological Study” (in Polish). Since 2011, she has worked at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, at the Centre for the Medieval Archaeology of the Baltic Region in Szczecin. Her research interests centre on the medieval and early modern period in the Baltic area, the archaeology of childhood, the archaeology of modernity, and the history of games and play. She manages the PRELUDIUM grant awarded by the National Science Centre. 

Ar Arida Fitriana YASMIN holds a degree in architecture from the University of Brawijaya (2017, Indonesia), and an MA in the history of architecture and town planning by the University of Groningen (2020, Netherlands), where she is now a PhD Candidate in the field of history of architecture and urbanism. Yasmin is currently conducting research on the impact of railway development on architecture and town planning in the Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia, and the further implications of this complex relationship in the past, particularly in relation to current practice in heritage conservation. Her previous research experiences include visual identity in the historical architecture of Indonesia and adaptive reuse of industrial heritage. She has also contributed to the Atlas of Historic Infrastructure and Mobile Heritage of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, among other works. 

 

Dr Juan Manuel CANO SANCHIZ is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China), where he teaches industrial archaeology, critical industrial heritage studies, and industrial museology. He holds a BA in Art History, an MA in Archaeology and Heritage and a PhD in Archaeology (University of Córdoba, Spain). From 2013 to 2016, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil, and has also completed research stays in Spain, England and Germany. He is interested in the archaeology of modern and contemporary times, although his work focuses on the archaeology of industrialisation. His current research direction is the archaeology of early international railway architecture in China. 

8th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology: Heavy Metal

Metallurgy is one of the oldest human activities and was one of the first sectors to embrace modern industrialisation. The production of metals and their alloys has strongly influenced the development of most societies throughout history, and played a key role in the construction of the modern world.

The 8th E-W Workshop on Industrial Archaeology brings together archaeologists and architects to delve into the long history of metal production, its multiple contexts (technological, economic, social…), and its heritage.

 

The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), and the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology.

 

PLACE:

Zoom (online meeting).

Register for FREE to get the Zoom link to the event here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/8th-east-west-workshop-on-industrial-archaeology-heavy-metal-tickets-1309964963469

 

 

DATE & TIME:

10 May 2025, Saturday.

10.00-12.00 London time

 

 

SPEAKERS & TALKS:

- Chenyuan LI (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China): "The Evolution of Mining and Metallurgical Production Technologies in the Northern Frontier Regions of China during the Qin and Han Dynasties: A Perspective from Archaeometallurgy"

The evolution of metallurgical technologies in the northern frontiers during the Qin and Han periods reflects the innovation of production techniques under China's unified system. The Western Han's state monopoly on salt and iron led to the standardization of smelting technologies, with oval-shaped blast furnaces continuously producing tons of pig iron for large-scale casting. Mature processes like decarburization and stir-frying steel supported military defence and garrison development on the frontiers. Meanwhile, sophisticated bronze production technologies spread through cross-regional interactions, influencing areas from the Korean Peninsula and Japan to Xinjiang and the Altai region. This network not only consolidated the Han Empire's military and economic foundations but also promoted cultural integration between the Central Plains and the Eurasian Steppe through standardized iron smelting and bronze trade, laying the groundwork for early global technological dissemination. Multidisciplinary research, including analyses of metal artefacts from sites like Hohhot and Yingchengzi, reveals that Han craftsmen's technological optimizations significantly improved smelting efficiency and quality. Our research also highlights the complementarity of production technologies under agricultural and pastoral economic modes, offering a more nuanced understanding beyond simple notions of "advancement".

 

- Rhys MORGAN (Black Mountains Archaeology, Britain): "Rediscovering Copperopolis: The Hafod Plate Rolling Mill, Swansea"

The Hafod-Morfa Copperworks, located in Swansea, South Wales, UK was one of the largest copper producing sites in the world throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. The copperworks was also situated at the heart of ‘Copperopolis’; a significant industrial landscape with over three centuries copperworking history that spanned much of the Lower Swansea Valley. In the Winter of 2021, Black Mountains Archaeology Ltd conducted an archaeological excavation at the former site of the Hafod Rolling Mill. At the site, copper was rolled into sheets and plates in preparation for both national and international shipment. The site formed an important element of the wider Hafod-Morfa Copperworks and was in operation between approximately 1910–1980. Within this talk, the results of the archaeological excavation will be detailed, which offer a rare glimpse into the life and evolution of a 20th century copper rolling mill.

 

- María Isabel PAYER IBÁÑEZ (Payer Arquitectura / University of Seville, Spain): "Metallurgy as Industrial and Urban Development in Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo, Spain"

The mineral wealth of the Guadiato Valley has marked the evolution of the peoples of the high mountainous region of northern Cordoba in southern Spain from the earliest times. As made evident by archaeological findings, the economic development of this area was linked to the mining of argentiferous galena since the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. The metalliferous seams of the Guadiato Valley, which were exploited in different stages of ancient history, reached their peak with modern industrialisation when coal was also found in the region. The exploitation of both metallic ores and fuels led to the arrival of French investors. They first built a lead smelter in the late 19th century, which quickly evolved into an extensive industrial area including other subsidiary factories. The formation of this industrial complex in an empty territory gave rise to important urban and social developments and the creation of a new city with distinct characteristics. This presentation offers an audiovisual immersion into the industrial heritage of Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo. In doing so, it introduces the Virtual Tour project developed within the framework of the UNESCO Chair Built Urban Heritage in the Digital Era, CREhAR (Creative Research and Education on heritage Assessment and Regeneration).

 

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Dr Chenyuan LI is a lecturer at the Institute of the History of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. His research focuses on archaeometallurgy. Dr Li was born in Changchun, Jilin Province. He obtained his PhD in the History of Science and Technology from the University of Science and Technology Beijing (2013–2019), his MSc in Materials Processing Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden (2010–2012), and his BSc in Physics from Jilin University (2005–2009). Dr Li's research primarily centres on the identification and conservation of ancient Chinese non-ferrous metals and iron and steel mining and metallurgical relics and artefacts. He is particularly interested in the mining and metallurgical production and material circulation patterns in the northern frontier regions of China under different subsistence modes and social structures.

 

Dr Rhys MORGAN works as a project officer for Black Mountains Archaeology Ltd and is based in South Wales, UK. After completing his PhD at the University of Southampton in 2021, Rhys began working full-time in commercial archaeology. During this period, Rhys has studied and excavated many significant industrial sites across South Wales, including within the Blaenavon World Heritage Site. As a result, Rhys has gained a keen enthusiasm for industrial heritage more broadly. Previously, Rhys has published works in the themes of copperworking and industrial transport yet is also interested in ironworking and coalmining. In addition, Rhys is a fluent Welsh speaker and is currently learning Mandarin Chinese.

 

Ar. María Isabel PAYER IBÁÑEZ graduated in 2004 from the School of Architecture of the University of Seville, Spain, where she is currently researching for her PhD. She is the director of the Virtual Tour “Cerco Industrial” [industrial complex] of Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo, which is developed within the framework of the CREhAR UNESCO Chair. She redacted the technical documentation for the declaration of this industrial heritage site as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC – the maximum level of protection in Spain), and has led various related projects, among them: the Historic Mining Centre, the Rehabilitation of the Nordon Building, the Rehabilitation of the Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo Station, the Enhancement and Consolidation of the South Enclosure of the Industrial Complex, the Rehabilitation of the Structure and Roof of the Central Warehouse, and the Restoration of the Chimney of the Paper Mill. Besides her professional experience in the field of industrial heritage protection and rehabilitation, Payer has published several research papers on industrial heritage and is the co-author of the book El Cerco Industrial de Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo, Córdoba. Piedra a Piedra [The Industrial Complex of Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo. Stone by Stone] (2005).

The Ecological Turn of Industrial Museums: A Comparative Analysis Britain-China

 Artículo

Autores: Li, J.; Cano Sanchiz, J.M.

Revista: Diferents. Revista de Museus

Páginas: 26-45

Número: 9

Año: 2024

 

Fig. 2: Recycled industrial spaces in Shenyang Industrial Museum

ABSTRACT: Museums are undergoing an ecological turn aligned with current global strategies for sustainable development. This shift is also occurring in the industrial museum/heritage sector, notably in Britain and other Western countries, where new environmental concerns and actions are reshaping the way in which the industrial past is represented and used. In this paper, we analyse how this approach is developing in China. To do so, we take the British experience as a model and combine quantitative and qualitative analyses to study five British and four Chinese case studies. We claim that industrial museums have the responsibility to contribute to the healing of some of the wounds of industrialisation (in this case, climate and ecological damage), which can be achieved through sustainable planning and environmental education.

KEYWORDS: industrial museums; sustainability; environmental education, climate change; Ecological Civilization.

FULL TEXT HERE

7th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology: Weaving the Industrial Period

 

The production of fabric and its transformation into clothes was worldwide one of the first sectors to embrace modern industrialisation, even though continuities (of domestic working spaces, traditional production processes, manual technologies, etc.) often coexisted with changes (the factory, the factory system, the power loom…). The 7^th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology revisits the capital importance of the textile sector in the development of the industrial period. This edition focuses on the heritage and archaeology of the textile industry from the East, the West and the world to explore its commonalities (transfer of technology, building materials, typologies, etc) and singularities (chronological disparities, heritage practices, etc.)

 

The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), and the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology with its Young Members.

 

 

PLACE:

Zoom (online meeting).

Register for FREE to get the Zoom link to the event here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/7th-east-west-workshop-on-industrial-archaeology-tickets-1072988229679

 

 

DATE & TIME:

23 November 2024, Saturday.

10.00-12.00 London time

 

 

SPEAKERS & TALKS:

- Yiping DONG (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China): "Complexity of the Conservation of Textile Heritage in China"

The textile industry was one of the most important engines for global industrialization. Chinese modern industries were established mainly in port cities through two channels: foreign investments and the "Westernization Movement" after the Opium War. The new manufactory demanded a new type of building--the modern industrial buildings--which had a crucial influence on the modernization of Chinese architecture. From the perspective of technology transfer in East Asia, this research explores the modern textile factories in the Yangtze Delta region of China and the further localization of textile production with the modernization of urban spaces. However, this industry has a long pre-industrial tradition in China, especially in the Yangtze Delta region. How did the new techniques of mechanical mass production impact the region, one with its own rich timber construction tradition? Focusing on the historical origins of Chinese modern industrial buildings and routes of technology transfer, this paper will take early textile mills in Yangzi Delta region as examples to reveal the process of modernization in the building industry in China. The textile industry also significantly impacts urban development with its booming and declining, meanwhile the narrative of industrial past also shifted its discourses in the past decades.

 

- Ian MILLER (The University of Salford, Britain): "Salford Twist Mill: Uncovering an Iconic Textile Factory"

The Salford Twist Mill of 1799–1801 has attracted much attention as a pioneering example of an iron-framed building, the first textile mill in England to have benefited from steam heating and one of the earliest buildings in the world to have been permanently lit by gas. Aspects of the mill’s development have been debated since its destruction in the mid-20th century, although several points of contention were clarified during an archaeological excavation and associated research conducted by the University of Salford in 2016–17. In particular, fragments of structural ironwork recovered from demolition layers yielded fresh evidence for the building’s internal cast-iron frame, enabling a definitive account to be drawn up of one of the first iron-framed mills.

 

- Mark WATSON (Historic Environment Scotland, Britain): "Global Textile Industries and their Built Heritage"

The East-West and West-East trade in textiles- raw materials and finished goods- has left a trail of mills and factories, craft skills and know-how, that mean rich cultural connections, some more or less exploitative. Mark will comment on these and draw on what we have yet to learn about the industry, its role in bringing economic development, commonalities in types of mill, and differences. The story begins locally in New Lanark and crosses the world, an attempt to put that place in context for UNESCO, and the assistance of TICCIH (the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage) in achieving that overview. The global pandemic in 2020-2022 actually made some places better known and some voices heard through online discussions that replaced in-person meetings that were intended to take place in Europe. Is the east-west balance imperfect but better? 

 

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Dr Yiping DONG is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, Design School at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Coordinator of History, Theory, and Heritage LAB. As a trained architect and architectural historian and conservation researcher and practioner, she is active in the research of architectural history and heritage. Her research interests include:  Heritage theory, Chinese architectural history and theory in a global context, industrial heritage and heritage-led regeneration, architectural design in context, and the adaptive reuse of buildings. She is deputy secretary of the Urban-Rural Built Heritage Committee of the Architectural Society of China, an academic member of IAHAC (Industrial Architecture Heritage Academic Committee) of China, a Board member and National Representative of TICCIH (International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage), and Vice President of ACHS (Association of Critical Heritage Studies). She is the academic coordinator and program leader of the WHITRAP-XJTLU advanced training course for Sustainable Development and Built Heritage (2019 and 2020) for the Asia Pacific Region. She was invited as the Visiting Professor for Sapienza University of Rome in 2023. Dr Dong’s recent research focuses on the cultural revitalization of the urban-rural heritage in China and the anthropological approach to understanding landscape, urban, and architectural history. She co-initiated the China Yanping Art Harvest 2018/2019/2020 project, the Safeguarding Heritage and Community of Shuangta Research Project (2021-2023), and the 2024 Kunming Dianchi Art Festivalis.

 

Ian MILLER has been a professional archaeologist for more than 35 years, working primarily in north-west England where he has gained recognition as a regional specialist in industrial archaeology. His particular research interests include the development of Lancashire’s textile and glass industries, their buildings and the associated growth of industrial townscapes, with special reference to Manchester and Salford. In 2008-15, Ian led the Lancashire Textile Mills Survey, a strategic research project that was funded by Historic England that aimed to quantify all the textile-manufacturing sites in Lancashire and provide a qualitative assessment of the surviving buildings. Building on the success of that survey, Ian led similar studies of textile mills in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, and compiled the illustrated text for a dedicated volume on textile mills for inclusion in Historic England’s ‘Introduction to Heritage Assets’ series of guidance documents. Ian is currently Director of the Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service, which is housed in the University of Salford and provides specialist advice on archaeological matters to Greater Manchester’s ten district planning authorities. Ian is also Co-editor of Industrial Archaeology Review, the leading international journal for industrial archaeology.

 

Mark WATSON, from the External Relations and Partnerships Directorate of Historic Environment Scotland, is a joint author of the TICCIH (The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage) comparative study The Heritage of the Textile Industry (with Heike Oevermann and Bartosz Walczak). He has degrees in History (University of Oxford) and Industrial Archaeology (University of Birmingham), worked in museums and then joined what is now Historic Environment Scotland, listing buildings and managing change to historic buildings and conservation areas across Scotland. He wrote the nomination for New Lanark’s inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List (inscribed 2001) and parts of that for the Forth Bridge (2015). He has also contributed to two Europa Nostra award-winning projects (Knockando and Stanley Mills). Watson is the UK national representative TICCIH. He researches textile industries, engineering, architecture and industrial heritage.

Industrial museums with Chinese characteristics: theories and practices

 Artículo

Autores: Long, L.; Cano Sanchiz, J.M.

Revista: Museum Management and Curatorship

Páginas: 149 - 168

Número: 39.2

Año: 2024

Traditional and modern printintg technologies displayed in the China Printing Museum (Fig. 11)

ABSTRACT: Industrial museums are experiencing fast development in China, where they play important roles in industrial heritage preservation, the promotion of industrial culture, and nation-building. These uses, together with the particularities of the Chinese industrialisation process, have shaped new models in industrial museography. In this paper, we describe how some Western ideas regarding industrial museums and heritage have been adapted in China, and how the development of such ideas in theory and practice has resulted in different types of museums. In doing so, we use bibliometry, statistics, and quantitative and qualitative analyses to study the factors behind the growth of industrial museums in China, the scientific literature on the topic produced in the country, and basic data about 249 museums. As a result, we delimitate the specificities of the industrial museums with Chinese characteristics, which can enrich the international discussion on the subject with approaches less explored in the West.

KEYWORDS: industrial museums; industrial culture; industrial heritage; uses of the past, People’s Republic of China.

TEXTO COMPLETO

6th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology: Industrial Ruins

Modern ruins are radically different from those ruins of ancient times that are customarily curated as archaeological heritage. They are irrational, wild and unterminated. In modern ruins, multiple changes occur quickly, making them both fascinating and disconcerting. This edition of the workshop delves into the ancient and modern ruins of industry as particular archaeological sites that allow, and demand, different explorations. The 6^th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology brings together historians and archaeologists from the UK, China and Brazil to examine the ruins of industry as sources of information (archaeological evidence), inspiration and aesthetic experiences.

The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology, and its Young Members Board.

 

 

PLACE:

Zoom (online meeting).

Register for FREE to get the Zoom link to the event HERE

 

 

DATE & TIME:

11 May 2024, Saturday.

10.00-12.00 London time

 

 

SPEAKERS & TALKS:

- Hilary ORANGE (Swansea University, Wales): "Stuff Kicked Underfoot – The Surfaces of Industrial Ruination"

Two hundred years ago, Cornwall – a peripheral, maritime region of the UK – emerged as a world leader in mining engineering and innovation, mostly for tin and copper. Today, a rich archaeological legacy of industrial sites and features remain, including sites of production, industrial settlements and related infrastructure. These deindustrialised landscapes are not static entities. Here, as elsewhere, surfaces have formed through the actions of geological, taphonomic and climatic forces, as well as through gravity and the actions of humans and other species. In this talk, I explore how local people engage bodily with the surfaces of Cornish mining land, mostly but not only through walking interviews with a wide array of actors. The lecture aims to provide a nuanced discussion on postindustrial landscape, one that moves beyond iconic ruined structures to look instead more deeply at surface–body relations from a more-than-representational perspective.

 

- Xianping GAO (University of Science and Technology Beijing, China): "Excavating the Ruins of the Chinese Porcelain Industry: The Luomachiao Kiln Site in Jingdezhen"

Jingdezhen is renowned as the "Porcelain Capital" and is one of the earliest handicraft cities in the world. Jingdezhen represents the pinnacle of ancient Chinese porcelain craftsmanship, with the Imperial Kiln Factory established here as the sole royal porcelain factory during the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the great age of maritime trade from the 15th to the 19th century, billions of porcelain items were exported from Jingdezhen to various parts of the world. In 2012, we conducted excavations at the Luomachiao Kiln site, located in the central production area of Jingdezhen's civilian kilns during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties (13th to 19th centuries). It was also the site of a state-owned porcelain factory established in the 1950s, the factory buildings of which are still well-preserved. The excavation unearthed a large number of ceramic remnants and artefacts from the 11th to the 20th centuries, providing valuable material to understand the development trajectory, level of craftsmanship and technology, as well as the industrial heritage landscape and value of porcelain handicrafts in Jingdezhen.

 

- Guilherme POZZER (University of Sheffield, England): "Words in Ruins: Sensorial, Affective and Creative Approaches to the Ruins of Industry"

This presentation proposes a reinterpretation of industrial ruins, moving beyond their aesthetic value, often negative social perception, and static role in the urban landscape. By immersing ourselves in these spaces through sensory experiences, we can gain deeper reflection on their history, function, current state, and future, as well as the temporality of human existence. As we experience the decayed state of these ruins, a blend of melancholy, excitement, contemplation, curiosity, and nostalgia intertwines with our imagination, senses, and emotions, and with the silences, noises, and, sometimes, memories of these places. This rich tapestry highlights the potential of industrial ruins to become catalysts for individual and collective transformations. Drawing on the work "Palavras em Ruínas" [Words in Ruins] and the research project "Crafting the Past: Empowering Communities through Creative Writing, Visual Narratives, Memory, and Place-Making", themes of memory and experimentation in ruined industrial spaces will be explored to discuss the integration of sensory, emotional, and creative perspectives into research practices and approaches to the industrial past and history.

5th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology: The Architecture of Industry

Modern industrialisation changed the built environment with new materials, technologies, scales and typologies. This workshop edition explores the architecture created for or by industry, and how the post-industrial society transforms and repopulates the spaces of the industrial period. The 5^th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology looks at China, England, Greece and Spain to discuss current issues, trends, theoretical and methodological frameworks, and creative approaches in the research, protection, activation and divulgation of historical industrial architecture.

The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology, and its Young Members Board.

 

 

PLACE:

Zoom (online meeting).

 

 

DATE & TIME:

25 November 2023, Saturday.

10.00-12.00 GMT

 

 

SPEAKERS & TALKS:

- Carolina CASTAÑEDA (TICCIH-International and TICCIH-Spain): "The imprint of the Spanish tobacco industry on the urban landscape: Permanences and absences of an industrial memory"

The preservation of old industrial buildings implies their treatment as reused elements for the development of the dynamics of today’s society, in a second life where their recovery for citizenship implies a social value added to their historical-cultural importance. But this narrative is not complete without considering those intangible aspects that, unfortunately, have been lost over time and shape a memory of absences. This presentation proposes a reflection on the specific imprint left by the presence of Spanish tobacco factories in the urban landscape. It examines their different dimensions as industrial heritage in relation to the territory, the city, their architectural formalisation and the dynamics of the cigarette-makers as key workers. In this way, the importance of the activity of these factories in the cities in which they were located established a series of tangible and intangible relationships, both in their immediate surroundings and in the whole city.

 

- Fanlei MENG (Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, China): "Research on the history and architectural heritage value of industrial construction in modern Beijing"

As the important capital of modern China, Beijing witnessed the great impact of the western industrial revolution in the late Qing Dynasty, and became one of the cities that started the industrialization process earlier. After the rule of the Qing government, Beiyang government and the government of the Republic of China, Beijing gradually moved towards the industrial civilization from the agricultural era. Modern industrial construction has had an important impact on the evolution of Beijing’s urban pattern, architectural style and economic structure, forming the industrial architectural style with Beijing’s regional characteristics and unique heritage value. Based on systematically combing the evolution of the modern Beijing industry, the style characteristics and heritage values of modern industrial buildings in Beijing were analysed and studied to improve further the research of value systems for Beijing industrial heritage and show the diversified values of the industrial building heritage in Beijing from a more micro perspective.

 

- Gordon DAVIES (Cambridge Museum of Technology, England): "An industrial tale of two cities: Filming the architecture of industry around Cambridge Museum of Technology (UK) and Athens Technopolis (Hellas)"

“An Industrial Tales of Two Cities” offers a multimedia examination of 'twin’ industrial sites, which explores the question: how does the context of a ‘heritage city’ impact factors to retain, remediate, restore, redevelop or remove industrial architecture? Athens (Hellas) and Cambridge (UK) both have millennia-old (pre) industrial histories, and do not tend to be strongly associated with the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century: architecture from other periods has (historically) taken pre-eminence, especially among (tourist) guides. Yet both cities are home to significant examples of industrial heritage and host industrial museums. This presentation introduces an immersive documentary film that combines archive photography, contemporary drone videography and ambient-sound recordings, juxtaposing ‘absence’ (the redeveloped site of a former gasworks in Cambridge) with the best-preserved architectural example of the industrial-gas-making process (located in Athens). The video is commented by the producer, including explanations of the methodology behind the making of the film and descriptions of film-processing tools to explore the architecture of industry.

 

 

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