The theme of the IXth International DOCOMOMO Conference, “Other” Modernisms, proceeds from the consensus that the mainstream historiographic construction of twentieth-century modernism through its canonic texts and buildings has marginalized or surpressed some modern trajectories, which are now gaining an unprecedented legitimacy as the subject matter of revisionist histories. Today the exclusive, totalizing and teleological histories of modern architecture are highly suspect and the presumed internal consistency and morphological integrity of modernism is no longer taken for granted by recent critical approaches in line with contemporary scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Recent literature has shed light on the differences within orthodox modernism itself, and questioned its canonical definitions. In addition, “non-western” contexts from Asia, Africa to South America or to the east of Europe, have been increasingly studied to broaden the limits of modernist production beyond Western Europe and North America, which were hitherto seen as centers of Modernism. Instead of a modernist mainstream, we now talk about a plurality of modernisms both within the global context and within individual societies comprising it.

The IXth International DOCOMOMO Conference, to be hosted by Turkey in 2006, will focus on these “other” modernisms in their full geographical, chronological, formal, ideological, and political diversity. We see the Conference as an opportunity for a timely, critical and rigorous discussion of these revisionist trends, not only to highlight the actual plurality, complexity and heterogeneity of modernisms across the globe from the early twentieth century to the 1970s, but also to ask the question in reverse: i.e., how far can these “other” modernisms challenge mainstream or canonic modernism and yet still remain “modern”? If the modern is no longer a “movement”, nor a program or a style, how can we meaningfully delineate its theoretical, temporal and aesthetic boundaries? Or to put it differently, in the context of the new emphasis on pluralism, heterogeneity and difference, is there room for everything or are there limits beyond which “other” modernisms are no longer “modern”? Is modernism a historical phenomenon that has lived itself out after its two defining moments (interwar and postwar) or does the word “modern” designate certain trans-historical tenets that are as valid today as they were in the early twentieth century? Does the geographical and cultural diversification implicit in “other” modernisms also correspond to a chronological diffusion – i.e. different modernisms at different times?

Conference Application
Online application is available on the conference web site. Application Form and Abstract Submision Form should both be filled out for conference application. We welcome abstract submissions for paper and poster presentations. Applicants should indicate the format in which they want to make their presentations. The Scientific Committee may choose to recommend format as well: an abstract that was submitted to one of the paper sessions may be recommended for poster presentation and vice versa. The choice of sub-theme must also be indicated. Only one submission per author or group of authors will be accepted. A short résumé for each author, including presentation title, name, occupation and/or affiliation, the country of residence and/or DOCOMOMO working party by which the author would like to be identified, and contact information including e-mail and physical addresses, should be submitted as part of the application form.

An abstract of no more than 400 words should also be submitted. Abstracts should define the subject and summarize the argument to be presented at the Conference. Papers should be based on original research and/or argument and be analytical and interpretive rather than descriptive. Paper presentations will be limited to twenty minutes. Papers cannot have been previously published. All posters will be exhibited during the Conference. Poster presenters are expected to attend the Conference, and they will be asked to make presentations. The Conference presentations and publications will be in English, and simultaneous translation will not be provided.