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WorkLab Conference 20262026-05-22T13:54:33+02:00

Welcome to the WORKLAB General Conference 2026

 Worklab logo

Theme: USE IT OR LOSE IT > Sustainable and Creative Use of Industrial and Labour Heritage – Sites and Buildings

The Technical Museum of Slovenia (TMS) is honored to host and organize the 2026 Worklab General Conference, taking place from 3–5 June 2026 in Ljubljana and Bistra. In professional collaboration with the Slovenian Museum Association, ICOMOS Slovenia, and TICCIH Slovenia, this year’s event addresses the urgent challenges and creative potentials of preserving industrial sites.

The conference addresses the “Use It or Lose It” dilemma: balancing strict conservation with the practical necessity of giving industrial sites a new life. Hosted in the historic setting of Bistra and the creative hub of Center Rog, this event serves as a platform to exchange innovative ideas on how to transform “silent” industrial monuments into vibrant spaces for future generations.

We welcome contributions from researchers, museum professionals, architects, and practitioners working with labour and industrial heritage. Topics include:

  • 1. Built Heritage of Labour and Industrial History: Preservation and reuse of industrial sites, worker housing, and factory workshops. Exploring the impact of gentrification on working-class neighbourhoods.

  • 2. Museum and Heritage Practices Beyond Museum Walls: Creative activities in public spaces, such as city walks, labour history tours, and community-based outreach projects.

  • 3. “Heritagization” of Labour History: Processes of transforming labour-related sites and landscapes into recognized heritage, including intangible traditions like collective protests and strikes.

  • 4. Digital Documentation and Sustainability: Innovative use of 3D scanning, surveying, and digital data for documenting and preserving industrial heritage.

  • 5. Museums and Industrial Heritage Sites in Historic Buildings: Sustainable, visitor-oriented uses of historic industrial buildings as museum spaces where the building itself is part of the experience.

Worklab is an international network of museums and institutions dedicated to the preservation, research, and presentation of the history of work, industrial heritage, and the labour movement. Our association connects experts from around the world who strive to ensure that the culture of work remains a living part of our shared heritage.

The primary mission of the Worklab organization is to foster cooperation among professionals dealing with the heritage of work and the working class. We believe that the history of work processes and the lives of workers (co)shape our present; therefore, we support:

  • Knowledge Exchange: Connecting curators, historians, and researchers.

  • Professional Development: Organizing conferences and workshops on contemporary museum challenges.

  • Preserving Memory: Ensuring the collection and interpretation of both tangible and intangible work heritage.

Location: Center Rog, Ljubljana

Trubarjeva cesta 72, 1000 Ljubljana

16:00 – 17:30

Welcome Reception & Opening Remarks
Official welcome to the Worklab General Conference 2026.

Welcome address:
Renata Zamida (director of the Center Rog),
Natalija Polenec (director of the Technical museum of Slovenia),
Søren Bak-Jensen (president of WorkLab),
Alenka Černelič Krošelj (president of Slovenian Museums Association),
Sonja Ifko (president ICOMOS Slovenia and TICCIH Slovenia)
17:30 – 19:00 Guided Tour: Center Rog
Exploring the creative hub in a repurposed historic bicycle factory.
19:15 – 20:00 Industrial Heritage Walking Tour
A guided walk through the industrial history of Ljubljana’s city centre.

Location: Technical Museum of Slovenia, Bistra near Vrhnika

Bistra 6, 1360 Vrhnika

07:45 Organised transport from Ljubljana to Bistra
Meeting point in front of the B&B HOTEL Ljubljana Park, Tabor 9, Ljubljana. PLEASE, BE ON TIME.
08:30 – 09:00 Arrival to the Technical Museum of Slovenia, Bistra near Vrhnika and registration
09:00 – 09:10 Welcome notes
Natalija Polenec (director of the Technical Museum of Slovenia) and Søren Bak-Jensen (president of the WorkLab)
09:15 – 09:40 Keynote speech
Matevž Čelik Vidmar (State Secretary at the Slovenian Ministry of Culture):
Use it or lose it: Castles After Socialism: From Workers’ Property to Public Responsibility
09:45 – 11:00 Presentations — Session I
Moderator: Kalle Kalio

  • 09:45 – 09:55 | Konrad Gutkowski (LWL-Museums of Industrial Heritage): Use It or Lose It: Archival Foundations for Preserving Industrial Heritage
  • 10:00 – 10:10 | Tara Bursey (Workers Arts & Heritage Centre): Workers’ City: Towards an Equity-Driven Mapping of Labour and Workers’ Heritage Sites in Hamilton, Ontario
  • 10:15 – 10:25 | Lena Holbein (LWL Museums of Industrial Heritage): Against the disappearance of implicit knowledge. A digital method for Documenting Historical Working Techniques
  • 10:30 – 10:40 | Hend Zeidan, Emil Henin, Sahar Ghidan (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities): Documentation and Sustainable Practices in Historic Cairo: A Framework for Reuse and Preservation
  • 10:40 – 11:00 | Discussion
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:45 Presentations — Session II
Moderator: Helena Törnqvist

  • 11:30 – 11:40 | Audhild Lindheim Kennedy, Guro Nordby (Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum): Artefacts from the ‘industrial tip’: Rethinking Industrial Heritage and Preservation in Rjukan–Notodden World Heritage Site
  • 11:45 – 11:55 | Matevž Straus, Drejc Kokošar, Lucija Eniko (ID20 Institute): The Giser House Project – Revitalizing Idrija’s Miners’ Heritage through Youth Engagement and Creative Narratives
  • 12:00 – 12:10 | R. Tuğba Kızılkuşak, Figen Kıvılcım Çorakbaş , Elif Acar, Didem Akansu (Bursa Uludag University Faculty of Architecture): Industrial Heritage in Transition: Significance, Labour Memory, and Heritagization at the Turgut Yılmazipek (Romangalle) Silk Factory in Bursa
  • 12:10 – 12:25 | Discussion
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 Presentations — Session III
Moderator: Konrad Gutowski

  • 14:00 – 14:10 | Kalle Kallio (The Finnish Labour Museum): Small Museums, Strong Spirits
  • 14:15 – 14:25 | Katariina Ruuska-Jauhijärvi (Helsinki City Museums): Memories of Minsku – The impact of an asbestos factory on the local community and environment
  • 14:30 – 14:40 | Mojca Ramšak (University of Ljubljana): Smelling the Past: Olfactory Prompts and the Memory of Industrial Heritage
  • 14:45 – 14:55 | Ines Beguš Bavcon (Regional Museum Goriški muzej and University of Primorska, Faculty of Humanities): Industrial Heritage of Ajdovščina: Inspiration for a Scattered Open-air Exhibition
  • 15:00 – 15:10 | Arafat Ali (National Museum of Science and Technology): Beyond Museum Walls: Engaging Labour Heritage in Contemporary Bangladesh
  • 15:10 – 15:30 | Discussion
15:30 – 15:50 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:30 Visit: Technical Museum of Slovenia
Barbara Rezar Grilc and Matevž Šlabnik (Technical Museum of Slovenia): Reforging the Monastery: the Evolution of the Technical Museum of Slovenia
17:45 Organised transport from Bistra to Ljubljana
(cca 30min)

Location: Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana

08:30 – 08:35 Welcome words
Mihael Dešman, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture
08:35 – 09:00 Keynote speech
Sonja Ifko: Abandoned and underused heritage sites as a sustainable capital for green transformation, Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana.
09:00 – 10:30 Presentations — Session I
Moderator: Søren Bak-Jensen

  • 09:00 – 09:10 | Helena Törnqvist (Arbetets museum – The Museum of Work, Sweden): Museums and Industrial Heritage Sites in Historic Buildings: Arbetets museum – The Museum of Work and museums of working live in Sweden
  • 09:15 – 09:25 | Marguerite Baradat (Musée de l’Histoire vivante, France): From a Bourgeois House to a Museum of Labour History: 150 Years of Social and Political History to Tell!
  • 09:30 – 09:40 | Karla Oder (Koroški pokrajinski muzej, Slovenija): The Old Ironworks at Ravne na Koroškem – the brilliance of Thousands of Hands: an Example of Museum Interpretation
  • 09:45 – 09:55 | Meta Štular (Center Rog, Slovenia): Rog Around the Clock: From Live Prototyping in a Shipping Container to an 8,000 sqm Contemporary Creative Hub
  • 10:00 – 10:10 | Kosjenka Laszlo Klemar (Technical Museum Nikola Tesla, Croatia): Evoking memories of the industrial past – cultural actions of Technical Museum Nikola Tesla
  • 10:10 – 10:30 | Discussion
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 Presentations — Session II
Moderator: Sonja Ifko

  • 11:00 – 11:10 | Raluca-Maria Trifa (“Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Romania): When the Working Class Built the City: Union Houses and the Fragile Heritage of Labour in Central and Eastern Europe
  • 11:15 – 11:25 | Bruno De Corte (Independent historian, Belgium): The Preservation of Built Heritage of Labour and Industrial History by Grassroots Movements: the Case of the Rupel Region in Belgium
  • 11:30 – 11:40 | Christella Alihonou (Erasmus Mundus, Benin): Industrial Heritage of The Colonial Era in Benin: Identifying And Recognizing Forgotten Heritage to Prevent its Loss
  • 11:45 – 11:55 | Mahmoud Amer (Aswan University, Egypt): The Last Bale of Cotton – Tracing the fabric of Mina El-Bassal, Alexandria
  • 12:00 – 12:10 | Roland Sawatzky and Elliot Walsh (Manitoba Museum, Canada): Losing It: The Struggle to Preserve Labour Heritage in a Prairie City
  • 12:15 – 12:45 | Discussion
12:45 – 13:15 General discussion and conference conclusions
Moderator: Tara Bursey

Conference Registration

Registration for the Worklab 2026 General Conference is now OPEN. To register, please click on the link below:

Link to the registration form: https://forms.gle/zGXchGd2va2mkuh27

Please note the important deadlines below to take advantage of the early registration benefits.

Registration Type Deadline Fee
Early Bird Registration Until May 4th, 2026 No Fee / Free
Regular Registration From May 5th, 2026 onwards 150 €

What is included in the registration fee:

  • Admission to all conference sessions and keynote speeches.
  • Guided tours of Center Rog and the Technical Museum of Slovenia.
  • Industrial Heritage Walking Tour of Ljubljana’s city centre.
  • Organized transport from Ljubljana to Bistra and back (Day 2).
  • Coffee breaks and networking lunches as per the programme.

SPONSORS

AVTORSKE PRAVICE © TEHNIŠKI MUZEJ SLOVENIJE. VSE PRAVICE PRIDRŽANE.
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