ACC Symposium 2015
Pictures taken at the symposium can be found on our Photo Gallery.
Pictures taken at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Austrian Society Ottawa can be found here.
The year 2015 marked the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Austrian Canadian Council (ACC) and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Austrian Society Ottawa (ASO). To mark the occasion, it was decided to hold a week-long event in Ottawa, Celebrate Austria: A Week of Austrian Art and Culture in Ottawa, from 19 to 27 May. Contributing participants included the ACC, the ASO, the Embassy of Austria and the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies, located on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The City of Ottawa responded to this initiative by declaring that week “Austrian Week in Ottawa.”
The highlight of the event was the symposium held on Saturday 25 May in Tabaret Hall at the University of Ottawa. The symposium, entitled Reconsidering Heimat: Transcultural Identities and Relations, featured speakers from the ACC, the Embassy of Austria, the Wirth Institute in Edmonton and the Universities of Ottawa, Vienna and Graz.
There were two book presentations during the symposium. One was the presentation of the Anniversary Book that commemorates 20 years of the ACC and 50 years of the ASO. The second book was a book on the Austrian-Canadian mountain climber Conrad Kain.
The program of the symposium was as follows:
Celebrate Austria – A Week of Austrian Art & Culture
Reconsidering Heimat: Transcultural Identities and Relations
Symposium on May 23, 2015
Program
9:00 a.m.: Registration and Coffee
9:30 a.m.: Introduction, Setting the Context
Speakers:
Roland Pirker, President, ACC
His Worship Jim Watson, Mayor of the City of Ottawa
H.E. Arno Riedel, Austrian Ambassador to Canada
Dr. Joseph Patrouch, Director, Wirth Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Dr. Alfred Wirth, Honorary President, ACC
10:30 – noon: Austria & the World
Chair: Dr. Joseph Patrouch, Director, Wirth Institute, Edmonton
Prof. Heinz Gärtner, University of Vienna: 1815 – 1914 and the Future of Europe
Dr. Franz Szabo, former Director, Wirth Institute, Edmonton: n.n.
H.E. Arno Riedel, Austrian Ambassador to Canada: Austria and Canada, a Partnership with New Perspectives
Noon – 2:00 p.m.: Lunch Break
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Migration and Emigration
Chair: Prof. Agatha Schwarz, University of Ottawa
Prof. Sandra Vlasta, University of Graz: Between Würstelstand Writers and the Bible: Migrant Literature in Austria
Prof. Helga Mitterbauer, University of Graz: “Could one really change one’s language as if it were a shirt”: The Austro-Canadian writer Henry Kreisel
Ross Wilson: Reading from the works of Henry Kreisel
3:30 p.m.: Books
Dr. Joseph Patrouch on the mountaineer/pioneer climber Conrad Kain
Distribution of books on C. Kain and Begegnungen mit Fremden Kulturen by Roland Pirker
4:00 p.m.: Award of the Gerry Bonner Scholarship