The International Conference of Heritage and Affect, co-organized by Angela Person (associate professor of Architecture, University of Oklahoma) and Jacque Micieli-Voutsinas (assistant professor of Museum Studies, University of Florida), will take place online in late November and early December 2023. The conference brings together dozens of leading scholars from around the world to explore the affective, visceral, and more-than-representational atmospheres of heritage landscapes.
The International Conference of Heritage and Affect is a collective exploration of heritage environments through their affective and emotional lifeworlds. Papers will engage themes such as: performativity and negotiations of affect, embodiment, and subjectivity, in heritage environments; emotionally-transformative curation at sites of difficult heritage; immersive technologies of affectious storytelling and place-making; new methodological advancements in intangible heritage, as well as ethical dilemmas of evocative heritage design on contemporary publics.
This conference is organized into six thematic sections, with each section organized by a pair or trio of scholars and practitioners working at the leading edges of their disciplines. A core objective of this scholarly project is to provide a meaningful snapshot of the state of the research and museum practices relative to affect-driven design within heritage architectures through a broad range of rigorous, global case studies. Taken together, these sessions will address important questions of ethics, embodiment, and immersive and transformative experiences that have emerged at the forefront of affect studies, and museum and heritage studies.
Additional OU community members participating in the conference include Tiziana Proietti (Interior Design/Architecture) and Felipe Flores (Architecture), as well as Robert Bailey, Alicia Harris, Nathan Young, and Pete Froslie of the OU School of Visual Arts.
Conference paper presentations have been pre-recorded, and videos to these recordings are linked within this conference program. Participants are encouraged to view the presentation recordings associated with each session in advance of the session meeting. Each conference session (90 – 120 minutes) will take place via Zoom and will be moderated by the session chairs. During the session, a panel discussion will take place.
Note: In some cases, authors have requested additional time to upload their recordings thus their presentations are listed as “pending.” For this reason, updates will be made to the conference program periodically.
For more information or to request accommodations, contact Angela Person (a@ou.edu).
The Gibbs Design in Action Awards (GDAA) program, led by Dr. Wanda Liebermann, has announced its 2026–2027 funded student projects. The initiative supports design and research work that addresses social, cultural, and economic issues in the built environment through collaboration with faculty and community partners.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) 2024 collaboration with the Historic Threatt Filling Station has been recognized in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's newly released Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity – a story-driven publication exploring how road trip culture and place-based tourism can fuel economic growth in rural communities.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Camille Germany, Chief of Staff, has been named the 2026 recipient of the university-wide Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award.
