The COAL Project International Scientific Conference

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE Landscape built on Coal

An intellectual and artistic perspective of landscape diversity in post-industrial regions

15 th May 2008
Conference Hall at The Silesian University’s Law and Administration Faculty 11b Bankowa Street, Katowice, Poland

The COAL Project partners: Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas in Katowice, Poland, Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland, Musee d’Histoire Naturelle et Ethnographique in Lille, France and Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur in Dortmund, Germany would like to invite to participate in the International Scientific Conference “Landscape built on coal. An intellectual and artistic perspective of landscape diversity in post-industrial regions”. The Conference will be held on 15th May 2008 in Katowice, Poland.

The C.O.A.L. project is part of the European Culture Programme 2007-2013, granted by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. It is an attempt at the expression of scientific theory through the multifaceted language of art, thus portraying the complexity of environmental, economic and social problems accompanying the present restructuring of post-industrial areas in accordance with the principles of sustainable development – all this in the form of an artistic representation comprehendible by the public.

The regions of Nord-Pas de Calais, The Ruhr Valley and Upper Silesia form the largest industrialised areas in Europe. Rapid development of industry and aggressive urbanisation of these areas have not always been in line with the care for the natural environment. Changes found in the landscape form a common plain for the perception of these areas, which themselves have literally been ‘built on coal’. Characteristic features here include landscape diversity and a fusion of nature and industrial architecture – this created by people with a powerful work ethos.

The objective of the conference is to present an experiment which is a merger of a scientific analysis and assessment of environmental degradation of industrialised areas combined with an artistic take on the issues at hand. The scientific analysis and environmental assessment will be accompanied here by their artistic interpretation.

We would like to extend an invitation to scientists, artists, local authorities as well as members of non-governmental organisations and teachers and students of artistic and scientific high schools to take part in the conference.

For more information please contact with:
Conference Secretariat, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas in Katowice:

Final Announcement

Registration form


The COAL project’s website www.coalexpo.eu