Chicago-Vienna-Chicago: Urban Icons and the Transatlantic Relationship

International Conference, University of Chicago, November 11 – 12, 2004

Following up on a century of dialogue and exchange, the Chicago-Vienna-Chicago conference aimed to explore their cultural links and identities. This conference examined the continuing relationship between the cities of Chicago and Vienna, focusing on a wide range of topics including cultural transfers, urban development, migration, and the role of music in the urban perceptions of both cities. The conference opened with a panel on Chicago and Vienna in the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring the urban planning and urban evolution of both cities. From there, issues of exodus and cultural transfers during the early 20th century were discussed. Additional panels dealt with various Austrian images in film and the future cultural role of Austria within the European Union.

Conference Details
(All panels will take place in the Franke Institute for the Humanities, Joseph Regenstein Library, 1100 E 57th Street, unless otherwise noted)

Program

Thursday, November 11th

9:00 to 10:00 am (Coffee and tea): Welcome and Introduction by Oliver Rathkolb (University of Vienna, Democracy Center of Vienna)

Panel 1 – 10:00 am to Noon: Chicago and Vienna in the Twentieth Century

Chair: Elisabeth Kehrer (Austrian Consulate General)
Michael Conzen (University of Chicago) "Global Chicago: Key Stages of Chicago's Urban Evolution in the 19th and 20th Centuries"
Matthias Boeckl (University of Applied Arts, Vienna) "Urban Planning in Vienna and Chicago in the 19th and 20th Centuries"
Saskia Sassen (University of Chicago) "Chicago, Global City"

Lunch, Noon – 1:00 pm: Bartlett Lounge, Bartlett Hall, 5640 S. University Ave

Architectural Tour of University of Chicago Campus by Richard Bumstead (University Planner) and John W. Boyer
1:00 – 2:00 pm

Panel 2 – 2:00 to 4:30 pm (Coffee and tea): Migration, Exodus, and Cultural Transfers in Chicago and Vienna

Chair: Friedrich Katz (University of Chicago)
Kathleen Neils Conzen (University of Chicago) "Chicago and the hidden Austrian Migration in a German City (Austrian Roots in the Melting Pot)"
Berndt Anwander (St. Balbach Art Production, Vienna) "Documenting Migration and Assimilation: Private Films of Migrants from the Burgenland in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s"
Friedrich Stadler (University of Vienna) "Intellectual Transfer and Transformation. The Example of Rudolph Carnap, karl Menger, and Hans Zeisel."
Gerald Stourzh (University of Vienna) "History, Political Science, and Social Thought at the University of Chicago Fifty Years Ago: Personal Experiences and their Transformation in an Austrian Academic Career"

Musikprogramm and Reception: Professor Philip Bohlman and his New Budapest Orchestra
5:30 – 7:00 PM Quadrangle Club, 1155 East 57th Street

Buffet dinner at Quad Club 7:00 – 8:00 PM (for conference speakers)

Bus transportation to International House for the film screening will be provided.

Der Dritte Mann: Screening of Carol Reed's The Third Man: 8:30 – 10:30 pm, Assembly Hall, International House, 1414 East 59th Street
Introduction by Oliver Rathkolb (University of Vienna and Democracy Center Vienna) and Jacqueline Vansant (University of Michigan – Dearborn)
Admission is FREE
Bus transportation to hotel will be provided. Bus will be stopping at the Lake Point Tower and the Hyatt.

Friday, November 12th

Panel 3 – 9:30 am to 12:15 pm (Coffee and tea): Fin du Siecle Pictures about 1900 and 2000: Artifacts of Modernity or Regress into a Constructed History?

Chair: Oliver Rathkolb (University of Vienna and Democracy Center of Vienna)
John W. Boyer (University of Chicago) "Turning the first Fin de siècle: Vienna and Chicago from 1890 to 1919"
Marcus Graeser (University of Frankfurt/Main) "Vienna – always a nostalgic pleasure city? Vienna Images in Chicago and Berlin and the World Exhibition 1893"
Heidemarie Uhl (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna) "A View from Vienna: Chicago Images and Public Opnion: Wien soll nicht Chicago werden?"
Philip Bohlman (University of Chicago) "The role of musical 'lieux de mémoire' (realms of memory) in the urban images of Chicago and Vienna"
Terry N. Clark (University of Chicago) "Reconceptualizing the City: the New Chicago School"

Lunch: 12:30 to 1:30 pm, Bartlett Lounge, Bartlett Hall, 5640 S. University Ave

Panel 4 – 2:00 to 4:00 pm (Coffee and tea): Viennese/Austrian Images in British, US, and Austrian Films

Chair: John W. Boyer (University of Chicago)
Jacqueline Vansant (University of Michigan-Dearborn)
Franz Grafl (Universities of Innsbruck and Vienna)
Philip Bohlman (University of Chicago)
A Montage of Film Images: Projected Country – Country of Projection – Arrival in the Present (40 Minutes)
Vienna Images in 20th Century Films, e.g.: La Ronde (1950), Max Ophuels; Merry-Go-Round (1923), Erich von Stroheim; Merry Widow (1925), Erich von Stroheim; Liebelei (1932) Max Ophuels; The Emperor Waltz (1948) Billy Wilder; The Third Man (1949) Carol Reed; Sound of Music (1965), Robert Wise; The Night Porter (1973), Lilian Cavani; Invisible Adversaries (1976), Valie Export; Bad Timing (1980), Nicolas Roeg; Before Sunrise (1996), Richard Linklater

7:00 – ?: Dinner at Dean Boyer's House

Transportation to hotel will be provided by taxis.

Saturday, November 13th

Architectural Tour of Chicago: Historic Skyscrapers (1870s – 1930s)

Description: Out of the charred landscape that resulted from the Great Fire of 1871 acrose the prototype of the modern industrial metropolis. Discover the historic beginnings of the Chicago School of Architecture and the early skyscrapers built between the 1870s and the 1930s. Building include the art deco Chicago Board of Trade Building; the Auditorium Building, a Louis Sullivan masterpiece; and the Rookery, a National Historic Landmark.
Time: 10:00 AM
Meet: 10 minutes before departure at the ArchiCenterShop in the Santa Fe Building, 224 S. Michigan Ave (NW Corner of Jackson and Michigan)
Duration: 2 hours

In Conjunction with the Conference:
Wien Gestern und Wien Heute: Vienna Yesterday and Today
Monday, November 8 - Friday, November 12
An Electronic Photo Exhibit in the Joseph Regenstein Library, 1100 East 57th Street

Conference sponsored by:
The College, University of Chicago
Austrian Consul General, Chicago
Democracy Center of Vienna
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for History and Society of Vienna
Filmarchiv Austria

List of Participants
Berndt Anwander, Graduate Engineer, St. Balbach Art Production, Cinema Operator, Vienna
Matthias Boeckl, Professor, University of Applied Arts, Vienna; Editor in Chief, "Architektur aktuell"
Philip Bohlman, Mary Werkman Professor, Department of Music, University of Chicago
John W. Boyer, Dean of the College and Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of History, University of Chicago
Terry N. Clark, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago
Michael Conzen, Professor and Chair, Committee on Geographical Studies, University of Chicago
Kathleen Neils Conzen, Professor, Department of History, University of Chicago
Marcus Graeser, Lecturer, University of Frankfurt/Main
Franz Grafl, Lecturer, Universities of Innsbruck and Vienna; Freelance Scientist, Vienna and Paris
Friedrich Katz, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Chicago
Elisabeth, Kehrer, Austrian Consulate General, Chicago
Oliver Rathkolb, Universitaetsdozent, Institute of Contemporary History, University of Vienna; Research Director, Democracy Center of Vienna
Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago
Friedrich Stadler, Professor and Chair, Institute for Contemporary History, University of Vienna; Founder and Director of the "Institute Wiener Kreis"/Vienna Circle Institute
Gerald Stourzh, Professor Emeritus, Institute for Contemporary History, University of Vienna
Heidemarie Uhl, PhD, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
Jacqueline Vansant, Professor, Department of Humanities, University of Michigan – Dearborn