SOME (UN)EXPECTED EVENTS
Following the most devastating earthquake in 150 years in early 2020, Zagreb has recently been hit by the most devastating hurricane-force storm in 500 years. That’s the climate-constrained 21st century we are gathering to analyse and stand up to. It also means we’ll have to make adjustments to our venues and event expectations, as there has been widespread damage around the city. Please follow the live schedule, our website and social media channels for updates, but we’re working hard so no changes disrupt your plans and preparations.
INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION
Registration will commence at the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MSU) on Tuesday 29th Aug at 16:30, and every day just after 08:00 at the Zagreb Fair (ZV) from Wednesday to Friday. Please complete your registration on time to be able to participate in all conference events.
Our team of volunteers will be available to answer your questions and help you navigate the venues and the programme at the designated registration and information desks at ZV-KC and ZV-8 venues.
The venues are, again:
Museum of Contemporary Art – MSU: MSU-Gorgona and MSU-foyer
Zagreb Fair – ZV: ZV-KC (Congress Hall building with plenary rooms and restaurant) and ZV-8 (Pavillion 8 with presentation rooms 1-10 and lounge space).
Youth Centre Ribnjak – CMR: 3 rooms in the centre (velika, mala, klub) and 2 locations in the park surrounding the Centre. Some events will take place on the rooftop terrace of the Centre, and in the case of rain replacement locations will be provided inside and next door to the Centre.
Croatian Artists’ Association – HDLU is a monumental historic building in the city centre and a site of the exhibition accompanying the conference, as well as the book launch of a translation of Françoise Vergès’ book on Friday evening.
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
Please note that the overall conference and festival programme structure is available here, and gives you a coarse overview of the multiple formats of events taking place across the main venues in the city. The schedule is a more detailed database of all individual discursive events, with information on speakers and topics.
The general structure of the main three working days is as follows: Plenary, Parallel, Coffee Break, Parallel, Lunch, Plenary, Coffee Break, Parallel, Panels, Film/Exhibition.
In the parallel sessions we have Special Sessions, Non-Academic Sessions and Paper Sessions. Special Sessions and Non-Academic Sessions as a rule take 90min blocks in a given room. They are organised internally as their submitters see fit.
Panel sessions are festival sessions open to non-registered participnats as well, and taking place in large anough rooms to gather almost pleanry audience. But you can choose between two or more of them in a timeslot. There is usually no partciaipnts’ presentations scheduled in parallel with them.
Paper Sessions bring together 4-5 paper presentations, moderated by a moderator and organised so that either each presentation is followed by a Q&A or that all questions are collected at the end. The papers in the session don’t have to follow the order that they are listed in the programme, the presenters can organise as they agree in the room. So, please don’t expect the individual paper presentation to take place at the exact 15min slot listed in the schedule. The blocks of papers don’t all follow the same theme, and some are more densely packed than others. This is because we tried to put presentations on related topics together, following the advice of reviewers and our tireless programming team. Subsequently, due to cancellations and vis major changes some schedule slots are more densely packed than others, but still gathered round a common topic.
As a presenter, feel free to reach out to other presenters, especially those in your slot, by making your email public in the schedule (edit your bio and contact details for the schedule here). Presenters should also be available in their allocated rooms 10mins before their scheduled presentation block to set up the required equipment etc.
TECHNOLOGY
Due to various economic and infrastructural overheads in the deepening crisis, we have been denied universal Wi-Fi access for all conference rooms. We are striving to provide some Wi-Fi access points at the venues, but would encourage our EU participants to rely on their mobile roaming functions and to share it where possible with guests from further afield.
Please note that *we cannot provide internet access on all presentation computers, so bring your presentations on your USB drives*. Special sessions and non-academic sessions are expected to organise their own proceedings in the 90 minutes allotted to them. Technicians will be available at the conference rooms to help you with setting up your presentation.
We will provide access to sockets for charging computers and phones at the lounge and foyer spaces, but numbers are limited – please share. All sockets are standard European, so you will need to bring your own converters.
We are striving to minimize impact on the global environment and work in a space that is repurposed from the 20th century climate. Therefore some spaces, especially those with food or plenary meetings, will be air-conditioned, but some will rely on night-time airing. Please make use of parks the venue is embedded in, and move to air-conditioned spaces for a cool-off if you need to.
Water is potable in all facilities across conference and festival venues. In Zagreb, there is also always a bar or a café nearby.
ACCESS TO EVENTS AND FACILITIES
All sessions after lunch (from 15:00 onwards) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are open to non-registered participants as well so make sure you take your seat on time, but also enjoy the interaction with broader degrowth and Zagreb communities.
On Saturday we plan to conduct proceedings at the CMR, the cultural centre at the very heart of the city, as well as the surrounding park, and will also allow non-registered participants, especially Zagreb citizens keen to meet degrowth, to join. All registered participants will receive free lunch and coffee break refreshments at the venues. There will be a bar at the conference venue where you will be able to purchase refreshments beyond regular coffee and lunch breaks. The afternoon and evening events may be oversubscribed, so arrive on time, but also enjoy the opportunity to talk to more people than the regular conference circuit.
