The project is designed to initiate new relationships and exchanges among the academic, policy, curating and artistic communities. Supported by the European Science Foundation (Humanities in the European Research Area, HERA). Traumatic pasts have complex and often dramatic influences on the present. The conference will explore creative engagements with controversial pasts in art practice, curating and museums, establishing a dialogue among diverse participants. Read more about our theme and aims on the project website: www.open.ac.uk/Arts/disturbing-pasts/ ‘Disturbing Pasts’ will publish its scholarly and creative work in a special issue of the Open Arts Journal (www.openartsjournal.org), and the conference will generate audio-visual material for the Open Arts Archive (www.openartsarchive.org). Project Leader: Dr Leon Wainwright,Lecturer in Art History, The Open University, UK Image copyright: Ziyah Gafic. Tuzla, Bosnia, December 2009. Personal item recovered from mass graves and photographed on forensic table. Photo by Ziyah Gafic / VII network. Entrance to the conference is free, but places are limited. Please reserve in advance by writing to: Julia Binter, Julia.Binter@ethno-museum.ac.at