From November 23rd to 26th, 2017 the Chair of IOV-Austria, Prof. Mag. Hans J. Holz and the Chair of IOV-Poland and of the Scientific and Research-Commission for Central and Eastern Europe, Prof. Dr. Anna Brzozowska-Krajka, organised together this important scientific conference of IOV in memoriam of Alexander Veigl, the founder of IOV, at the 10th anniversary of his death.
All together 32 participants from 14 countries took part in the lectures and discussions. 18 university-professors spoke to the topic” Between Folk Culture and Global Culture in Contemporary Europe”.
Parallel to this scientific conference the Executive Committee of IOV with President Dr. Ali Khalifa from Bahrain, Vice-President Prof. Mag. Hans J. Holz, Secretary Fabricio Cattaneo from Italy, treasurer Henk Huijser and the chair of the Festival Commission Geert Nijhof, both from the Netherlands, and some national section chairs from European countries held meetings in Andorf.
As further honorary guests the wife of IOV-founder, Anna Veigl, and the chair of the IOV-World-Scientific and Research Committee, Prof. Dr. Mohammed Nouiri from Tunesia were welcomed in Andorf.
In the evenings the folk art groups of Andorf, the “Mixed Choir Andorf” and the “Pramtaler Folk Dance Group” as well as the world-renowned Zither-player Prof. Wilfried Scharf, all of them IOV-members, presented Austrian folk-music, folk-dances and folk-songs in short performances.
On Saturday evening a short visit to the wonderful baroque town Schärding and a short reception by the mayor, Ing. Franz Angerer, enriched the program for the participants and was followed by the reception of the mayor of Andorf, Peter Pichler, and his invitation to the final dinner, which ended with songs from the different countries of the participants and in happy mood about the successful and impressive IOV-Conference in Andorf.
Contribution of Oksana Mykytenko, Larysa Vakhnina (IOV Ukraine)
IOV 14th European International Scientific Conference of Folk Culture “Between Folk Culture and Global Culture in Contemporary Europe” (23-26 November 2017 Andorf, Austria) In Honor of Alexander Veigl, Founder of IOV, on the 10th Anniversary of His Death”.
On November 23–26, 2017 in Andorf, Austria, the 14th European International Scientific Conference IOV (Internationale Organisation Fur Volkskunst) on folk culture “Between Folk Culture and Global Culture in Contemporary Europe” was held, dedicated to its founder Alexander Veigl (1928–2007) on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death. The organizers of the conference were the regional sections of the IOV of Austria and Poland, as well as the International Commission for Science and Research for Central and Eastern Europe, led by Professor Anna Brzozowska-Krajka, is representing Marie Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin (Poland) and is a head of the Polish Section of the IOV.
Founded in 1979, the International Organization for the Folk Art (IOV) has the status of a non-governmental organization (NGO) and is in consultative relations with UNESCO, and today is represented in many countries of Europe, America, Asia and Africa. One of the most successful directions of its activities, defined within UNESCO programs, is the holding of scientific conferences on the most diverse issues of cultural protection, in particular, the non-material, study and preservation of the national heritage, the dissemination of knowledge related to the folk art of different peoples, etc. Initiated by Alexander Veigl, the founder and permanent leader of IOV for many years, international scientific conferences have shown the relevance of issues related to folk culture, emphasized the importance and attention that scientists around the world have given to the study of this important component of each national culture.
The theme of the discussion of this year’s conference was the problem of the culture of modern Europe “Between Folk Culture and Global Culture in Contemporary Europe”, which includes interconnected concepts of “traditional” and “global” levels, and evidences the dynamics of cultural change in modern society. The forum was attended by more than twenty scientists from different countries – Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Tunisia, Ukraine. The subject of the discussion was the processes taking place in the culture of modern Europe and related, but with the categorical differences observed in the environment of authentic culture and those innovative changes that are traced at the local or regional levels. In the center of attention, along with the facts of preserving the authentic culture, there were processes of modernization and transformation of folklore text, in particular the phenomenon of e-folklore, new forms of folk practice and presentations of folk art, folklore of everyday life, etc.
After the first plenary report by Prof. Violetta Krawczyk-Wasilewska (University of Łódź, Emerita, Łódź, Poland) “European Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Information Society”, the work of the conference was held in the plenary mode for the relevant thematic blocks. It is worth noting that almost all the speakers accompanied their speeches by presentations, and each report, which was postponed to 30 minutes, caused a keen and lively discussion. The working language was English, at the same time the reports were made in German and French.
The next reports was dedicated to Rituals and Eschatological Narratives: Prof. Valentina Novak (Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, Gomel, Belarus): “Maternal Rite of Gomel Polesye: Its Structure, Regional and Local Peculiarities”; Agnieszka Monies-Mizera, MA (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland): “Reception Rites in Polish Traditional Folklore. From Extended Ritual Complexes to Abbreviated Ludic Elements”; Prof. Oksana Mykytenko (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine): “Love Padlock and Key as the Traditional Symbols and Contemporary Attributes in the Wedding Ceremony (on the Material of the Slavic Tradition)”; Prof. Ina Shved (A. S. Pushkin Brest State University, Brest, Belarus): “Acculturation as a Factor of Change in the Folk Eschatological Narratives (based on the Belarusian material)”.
Block of Folk Music and Folk Dance was presented by reports: Prof. Ursula Hemetek (University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria): “Dynamics of Change in the Music of Roma in Austria”; Prof. Rimantas Astrauskas (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, Vilnius, Lithuania): “Lithuanian Traditional Culture in the Process of Change”; Prof. Victor Kitov (East Siberian State Academy of Culture and Art, Emeritus, Orenburg, Russia): “Instrumental Folk Performance in Orenburg City”.
The ratio of traditional and modern in folk costumes, actualization of folk elements as a direction of industrial production demonstrated reports: Aija Jansone Ph.D. (Latvia University Riga, Latvia): “Authenticity and Modernity in Today’s Latvian Folk Costumes”; Kinga Czerwińska Ph. D. (Silesia University Cieszyn, Poland): “Folk Costumes: Tradition – Changes – Perspective. Examples from the Southern Poland: Cieszyn Silezia, Żywiec Beskids, Podhale”.
A separate unit was devoted to issues of cultural policy in the field of folklore and folk art, where next reports were delivered: Prof. Letizia Bindi (University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy): “Walking Traditions …: Intangible Cultural Heritage as a Multi-located Fieldwork”; Maria Ochab M.A. (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland): “Contemporary Folk Art as an Element of Cultural Diplomacy in Europe”.
Thematic unit dedicated to ethnic minorities was actually interesting: Prof. Larysa Vakhnina (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine): “The Study of the Ukrainian-Polish-Belorussian Ethnocultural Borderland”; Katarzyna Marcol Ph. D. (University of Silesia Cieszyn, Poland): “Shaping Determinants of the Ethnicity of the Silesian Minority in Ostojićevo (Serbian Banat): Polish Folk Dances, Costumes and Folk Songs as An Invented Tradition”
Finushing block of reports was focused on contemporary processes in folk art and non-traditional forms of folklore: Prof. Alexander V. Morozov (Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, Minsk, Belarus): “A Social Dynamics of the Belarusian Folklore in the Second Decade of the 21st Century: between Folk Culture and Global Culture”; Prof. Anna Brzozowska-Krajka (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland): “Religion and Neo-folklore: The Sacred and the Profane in Polish E-wishes”.
A separate meeting was devoted to the memory of Alexander Veigl (1928–2007), the founder and General Secretary of the IOV for many years. The memoirs were delivered by the conference participants, in particular IOV-President Dr. Ali Khalifa (Bahrain) Vice-President. Prof. Mag. Hans J. Holz (Austria), IOV members from different countries – Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Russia, who emphasized that international meetings of experts in the field of folk culture are a continuation of activity and the business of A. Veigl who always emphasized that folklore and folk art “are building bridges of mutual understanding among peoples”.
Prof. Oksana. Mykytenko, Doctor of Philology, a leading researcher of Department of Ukrainian and Foreign Folklore Studies of M. Rylsky Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine) told about Aleksandr Veigl, who in May 2001 visited Kyiv at the invitation of this institution. Then many colleagues of the Institute became members of the IOV and now are actively involved in the work of this international organization. A. Weigl in every way supported the holding IOV Scientific Conference in M. Rylsky Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the NAS of Ukraine. On initiative of the International Commission for Science and Research for Central and Eastern Europe the conference “Roots and Routes of Traditional European Cultures in the XXIst Century” was held June 27 – July 5, 2013 (Kyiv–Sevastopol) and became the 13th European Conference of the IOV. IOV president Carmen Padilla attended its work. According to the materials of the conference a collection (Editor-in-Chief, Academician H. Skrypnyk) “Roots and Routes of Traditional European Cultures in the XXIst Century / 13 International Scientific Conference of Folk Culture” (K, 2017) was published and its presentation was held during the conference in Andorf. The publication was presented by Prof. Larysa. Vakhnina, the responsible editor and compiler of the collection, the head of the Ukrainian section of the IOV, the head of the Department of Ukrainian and Foreign Folklore Studies M. Rylsky Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine).
The presentation of the collection was made by the chairman of the International Commission for Science and Research for Central and Eastern Europe Professor Anna Brzozowska-Krajka , Executive Director of the IOV of Central and Eastern Europe, Professor Wieslaw Krajka (Lublin, Poland), Chair of the IOV World Science Commission, Chair of the International Commission on Science IOV Professor Mohammed Abdullah al Nuiri (Tunisia), and authors from different countries. At the final meeting, the decision was also made to hold the next European Conference on Folk Culture after two years in Latvia, as well as the extension of the powers of the International Commission for Science and Research for Central and Eastern Europe, which has acquired a new European-wide status.
The conference was greeted by Mayor of Andorf (Austria). Andorf’s amateur folk groups demonstrated their art to its participants.
It should also be noted the huge personal contribution Vice-President of the IOV Hans Hans to the organization and holding of the conference in Andorf, owing to whose support East European scientists were able to take part in this venerable European event.