4-5^th March participants from 14 counties met in Bridging Ages 18^th International Conference. The Conference was hosted as a hybrid conference by Kalmar County Museum and Bridging Ages International in Kalmar, Sweden. On site were 36 delegates with another 51 online. During the Conference, the focus was both on the past 20 years as well as new adaptations and new ideas.  We had presenters both on site and online. Our Keynote Speaker, Prof. Cornelius Holtorf from Linnaeus University, talked about from Time Travels, more than engaging in history.

During the first day we celebrated the 20^th anniversary of Bridging Ages by launching a publication: I will never forget it, even if I try. Bridging Ages 20 years.  Connected to the celebration there is also a 20th anniversary video that can be seen below.

In connection to the conference dinner, we made a short time travel to the year 1889 in the museum’s Jenny Nyström exhibition.

The second day was more focusing on Time travel and Education in different ways. We heard about ongoing projects with time travels in the local community, collaborative cross border time travel projects, digital projects and much more.

In the final discussion a lot had to do with the relations between physical experience and the digital benefits and limitations. We will hopefully never let go of the physical experience, but the digital complement and adaptations is here to stay. The physical experience is needed for the reflection, especially when working with hard heritage but, by adapting the Time travel method, we passed thought the pandemic while continuing doing time travels. We can also stay connected even when it is hard to find funds for travelling.

Before the conference closed an idea came from the audience. How about a Global Time Travel? Locally arranged, but globally connected. To be continued…

This was an engaging conference. We would like to thank everybody that participated, on site or online. Many of the presentation can be found in the bottom of this page. If you like to come in contact with a specific speaker, send a message to Bridgingages@kalmarlansmuseum.se

Thank you!

Linda Liljeberg President Bridging Ages International