Realising Utopia: 1968, Then & Now

A day-long workshop focusing on the context and significance of the events of 1968, then and now, internationally and in Ireland. The workshop will explore the utopian dimensions of the student rebellions and protest movements of that year, their continuing and available ‘utopian surplus’ for on-going political movements.

Gretchen Dutschke-Klotz is an author and former student activist. Born in the U.S., Gretchen moved to Berlin in 1965 where she met German student leader Rudi Dutschke. The couple married a year later. After his untimely death in 1979 due to brain injuries sustained in an assassination attempt on 11 April 1968, she returned to the U.S. Among her publications are ‘Wir hatten ein barbarisches, schönes Leben: Rudi Dutschke - Eine Biographie’ (1996) & an edition of the diaries, ‘Rudi Dutschke: Jeder hat sein Leben ganz zu leben. Die Tagebücher 1963–1979‘ (2003). Her memoirs ‘1968: Worauf wir stolz sein dürfen‘ was published in 2018.

Presented in partnership with the Umbrella Project Arts Organisation, Ormston House Cultural Resource Centre and the Centre for Irish-German Studies at the University of Limerick.
Supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland.

Tickets are available here.

Programme

9.15 am - Opening Address
Helen Kelly-Holmes, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, UL

9.30 - 10.30 am - Session I: The Relevance of May ’68
Chair: Jeremy Leaman (Loughborough University)
Keynote Lecture: Gretchen Dutschke-Klotz (Berlin) - '1968 in Germany: Memory and Legacy'

10.30 - Coffee Break

10.45 am - 12.15 pm - Session II: 1968 in France & the U.S.
Chair: John Horgan (Dublin)
Speakers:
• Sarah Waters (University of Leeds)
• Helena Sheehan (DCU)

12.15 - Lunch

1.15 – 3.00 pm - Session III: The Visual Culture of '68, Then & Now
Chair: Niamh NicGhabhann (University of Limerick)
Speakers:
• Interview: Eoin Devereux (University of Limerick) & Paul Tarpey (LIT Limerick School of Art & Design): 'Art Practice, Limerick, May 68'
• John-Paul Dowling (National College of Art and Design, Dublin): 'Graphic Design and May 68'
• Dara Waldron (LIT Limerick School of Art & Design): 'Film Culture and May 68'

3.00 pm - Coffee Break

3.15 – 3.45 pm - Session IV: Community, Political Rights & the Irish Language/Pobal, Cearta Polaitiúla agus an Ghaeilge
Chair: Michael Kelly (University of Limerick)
Speaker: Sorcha de Brún (University of Limerick): 'Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta / the Gaeltacht Civil Rights Movement: A Short Documentary and its Background'

3.45 - 5.00 pm - Session V: '68 in Ireland, Then & Now
Chair: Tadhg Foley (NUI Galway)
Speakers:
• Margaretta D’Arcy (Galway)
• Brian Hanley (The University of Edinburgh)

5.00 - 5.30 pm - Closing Discussion
May ’68: Today & Tomorrow
Chair: Harry Browne (Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)


Accompanying Exhibitions

Exhibition of screen printed posters that re-envisage the ‘Atelier Populaire’ in a contemporary context designed by a multi-disciplinary team of students from across the School of Design at National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

Exhibition of bilingual German-English wall newspapers about the German student movement of 1968, its aftermath and its contemporary legacy produced by 4th year students of German at the University of Limerick.