Morus and His Legacy. Humanism, Utopia, Modernity
Second Helion International Conference
Timișoara, Romania
6-8 May 2016
Orizont Conference Hall, Sf. Gheorghe St. 3, First Floor
Conveners: Sorin Antohi, Gregory Claeys, Mariano Martín Rodríguez, Cornel Secu
Helion, one of Romania’s oldest and most prestigious science fiction clubs, established in 1980, has a rich track record of conferences, conventions (including EUROCON 1994), workshops, and publications (a fanzine since 1981, now online at www.helionsf.eu; a quarterly since 1986, devoted to the scholarly study of science fiction, utopia, and related areas; anthologies, etc.). In 2015, to celebrate its 35th anniversary, Helion has successfully launched its international conference series. Collective volumes in Romanian, based on the proceedings of these conferences, are to be published every other year with Polirom, one of Romania’s leading publishers. Also, English-language publications based on the conferences are envisaged.
The 2016 conference explores, 500 years since the publication of Thomas More’s Utopia, the concepts and figures as well as the theories and practices of humanism, utopia, and modernity.
In connection with the conference, informal consultations related to a new project, Utopolis, are planned. Initiated and coordinated by Gregory Claeys, Utopolis aims at the creation of an online, open-access, (ideal) library of European Utopianism in English.
