Key research themes
1. How can contemporary art mediate the value and social perception of industrial monuments and technological ruins?
This research area investigates the transformative role contemporary art plays in reinterpreting, valorizing, and reconnecting industrial and technological relics to society. It explores how art interventions facilitate heritage recognition, public mediation, and social revalorization of obsolete industrial sites and objects, an endeavor increasingly important amid widespread deindustrialization and the fragility of industrial remains.
2. What business model transformations characterize the sustainable operation and tourism of post-industrial monuments?
This theme examines how post-industrial heritage sites transition from production facilities to tourism and service-oriented enterprises, focusing on evolving business models, economic sustainability, and regional development implications. It analyses operational strategies that enable heritage sites to balance conservation with economic viability, contributing to the knowledge economy and sustainable development in post-industrial contexts.
3. How can authenticity and conservation principles be operationalized in the preservation and adaptive reuse of historic industrial monuments across cultural contexts?
Focused on the practical and conceptual challenges of preserving industrial monuments, this theme explores frameworks for maintaining architectural and cultural authenticity during conservation and adaptive reuse. It emphasizes the reconciliation of heritage values with contemporary functions, structural interventions, and socio-cultural contexts to sustain the integrity and relevance of industrial heritage in diverse global settings.