ICOM INTERCOM 2026 Annual Conference

In Collaboration with Udaipur City Palace Museum📍 Udaipur, India

 

Theme: “ Building Bridges: Digital Transition and Climate Change in Museums’ Narrative Transformation”

SATURDAY OCTOBER 24TH

CLIMATE CHANGE & MUSEUMS  

08:00 – 09:00 AM
Registrations & Welcome Tea

09:00 – 10:00 AM
OPENING REMARKS

• Welcome Address – Institutional greetings: Host, Martha Ikabongo– Interim  INTERCOM Chair, Goranka Horjan – former INTERCOM Chair and ICOM Treasurer
• Introduction to Conference Theme – UDAIPUR City Palace representative, Mayank Gupta

 

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Climate Change: How it affects museums and their activities: Eystein Markusson – NATHIST Board member and Director of  Svalbard Museum

 

10:00 – 10:15 AM
Tea / Coffee Break

 

10:15 AM – 11:20 PM

PECHAKUCHA SESSION – Round 1, Moderator: IVETA RUSKULE, INTERCOM Board member
(5 Presentations × 7 minutes each + transitions)

Focus: Case Studies, Urgency, Local Responses 

• Candida Pestana: Building from the Land: How the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum Embeds Climate Thinking into Its Institutional DNA  Online
• Stephen Mwila: Addressing Climate Change Through Use of Recycled Empty Egg Trays to Make  “Mbusa” Museum Collection as Teaching Aids – Online 
• Arafat Ali: Museums for Climate Action: NMST as a Living Laboratory [online?] 
• Dorjey Yuron: From Community Conservation Area to Living Eco-Museum: A case study of Tar village, Ladakh. 
• Ar. Kajal Salgaonka: Museums as Agents of Climate Awareness and Action: A Comparative Qualitative Case Study of the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) Brazil and Indian Museums Against Climate Change (IMACC) 

 

11:20  PM – 11:45 Q &A Session

11:45 – 12:05 PM

PECHAKUCHA SESSION – Round 2, Moderator: Jurica Sabol, ICOM SEE Chair

(5 Presentations × 7 minutes each + transitions)

Focus: Innovation, Sustainability Models, Community Action

• •  Alenka Kroselj Cernelic: Managing Immovable and Movable Heritage in the 21st Century: the Brežice Castle and the Knight’s Hall, case study for managing Museums and Climate Action 
  • Jens Bortloff: How a museum can contribute to climate change mitigation from a 360-degree view 
  • Metowui Hospice Klebo: Rethinking museum practices in the context of climate change in West Africa: digital tools, participatory management and indigenous knowledge – Online 
  • Tejshivi Jain: Beyond Awareness: How Indian Museums Are Learning to Act on Climate Change 

• Azfar Ahmad & Kiriti Sen: Heritage, LiFE, and Hope: A Museum-Led Environmental Stewardship through Planet Patna

12:05 – 12:20 PM Q&A session 

12:20 PM – 02:00 PM
Lunch Break

02:00 – 03:00 PM

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION
“Museums as Climate Actors: Responsibility vs Capacity” Moderator: IVETA RUSKULE, INTERCOM Board member

Moderated multi-stakeholder dialogue 

• Audience participation encouraged 

 

03:00 – 03:15 PM
Tea / Coffee Break

03:15 – 04:15 PM

WORKSHOP –,  Alenka Croselj, Eyestein Markusson  

 

• Practical tools, frameworks and strategies 
• Interactive group work 

 

04:15 – 04:45 PM
Day 1 Wrap-Up & Reflections –  Audience

 

05:00 – 6:00 PM 

Museum Tour, Mayank Gupta

7:00 pm onwards Dinner

 

SUNDAY OCTOBER 25

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS – AI, BIG DATA & MUSEUMS

08:00 – 09:00 AM
Registrations & Welcome Tea

09:00 – 09:15  AM

Opening Remarks – Day 2 Context Setting, Mayank Gupta

 

09:20 – 10:05 AM

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
“Technology vs Authenticity: Where Do Museums Stand?” SILVIA CENDRON – Strategic Coordination MUSEO EGIZIO, Turin, Italy

 

10:10 – 10:30 AM
Tea / Coffee Break

 

10:30 AM – 11:35 AM

PECHAKUCHA SESSION – Round 1 MODERATOR MARTHA IKABONGO, INTERIM CHAIR ICOM INTERCOM
(5 Presentations × 7 minutes each)

Focus: AI in Management, Curation, Collections, Interpretation 

• Goranka Horjan: Managing Museum Knowledge in the Age of AI
• Virginia Meredith Soenksen: From Archive to Authority: Human-in-the-Loop Agentic AI for Museum Collections Stewardship – Online  
• Yumiko Tachibana: Rethinking Museum Audiences in Japan: Using Audience Data to Inform Museum Policy and Practice 
• Tatiana Nikolaeva: Leo Tolstoy or AI? Preserving Literary Heritage in the Age of Artificial Intelligence – Online
• Ghazala Salam: Beyond Immersion: Reimagining Human Connection in the Age of AI – Online 
• Varvara Merekova and Vladislav Kolesnikov : Deaf and Voiced: Rethinking Digital Access through Sign Language
• Jurica Sabol : Inclusive Museums for the Digital Era: Accessibility, Participation, and AI-Enhanced Cultural Experiences 

11:35  PM – 11:50 Q &A Session

11:50AM – 12:55 PM

PECHAKUCHA SESSION – Round 2 MODERATOR: REENA DEWAN INTERCOM Treasurer
(5 Presentations × 7 minutes each)

Focus: Audience Engagement, Data Systems, Digital Access 

• Cristine Pieske: AI Resources in Museums: anticipating risks and increasing the operational efficiency of security teams. A case study of the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (Brazil) – Online
• Siddhant Shah: CultureD – Ability & AI Tools in Museums for Disability Inclusion 
• Sakshi Jain: From Craft to Screen: Designing AI-Driven Heritage Experiences in the Making of a New Jewellery in Jaipur
• Sana Durrani: “Future of the Museums vs. Museum of the Future: A South Asian Lens on Transforming Museums with Emerging Technologies”   – Online 
• Vinko Kovac : The Way to Heritage Is Through the Stomach: Using Artificial Intelligence to “Unlock” a Historic Cookbook

12:55 – 01:10 Q &A Session

01:10 – 02:30 PM
Lunch Break

 

02:30 – 03:15 PM

IN DIALOGUE
AI: the Reimagined Museum Ecosystem – Manuel Rabaté, the KIRAN NADAR MUSEUM OF ART, New Delhi, India 

• Ethics, access, and future frameworks Moderator: GORANKA HORJAN ICOM Treasurer

 

03:15 – 03:30 PM
Tea / Coffee Break

 

03:30 – 04:30 PM

03:30 PM – 04:00 PM – Mayank Gupta : Initiatives by the City Palace Museum on Conservation, Education

04:00PM – 04:30 PM – Meggie Savard: Presentation on Governance Models Working Group

04:30 PM – 05:00PM –  Hayk Mkrtchyan (ICOM Armenia):  Presentation on the next Conference 

05:05 PM POSTER SESSION: 

 

Nandan Shastri and Kiran Java: 3 minutes

 

05:05 – 05:20 PM
Conference Closing – 

• Key Takeaways – Host or audience
• Vote of Thanks – Martha Ikabongo, interim Chair of INTERCOM 

 

05:30 PM – 07:30PM (3:30CEST) INTERCOM annual meeting hybrid format

 

AGENDA FOR THE 2026 ANNUAL MEETING, UDAIPUR INDIA 25TH OCTOBER 2026

The INTERCOM Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, 25th October 2026, at  3:30 CEST during the conference at the City Palace Museum in Udaipur, India.

The agenda will include approval of minutes from the 2025 Annual Meeting in Dubai, the financial and annual reports, and updates on committee activities. Members wishing to propose an additional agenda item should do so during the meeting.  We apologise for the short notice which are partly due to the re-organisation of the board

We are currently exploring options for hybrid participation. Additional information will be shared if a virtual option becomes available.

 

1. Approval of the Agenda
2. 2025 Annual Report in Dubai
3. 2026 Chair’s Report
4. Financial report
5. INTERCOM Projects

-INTERCOM Spark

-Working Groups

6. Committee Activities

– Organisation of the new board 

– Participation in the Heritage on Stage

– Participation in NEMO

7. ICOM Working Group for International Committees – Ms Reena Dewan 

INTERCOM Treasurer was appointed as a member of the SAREC    

Committee

8. 2027 Sarec Projects

-Global Leadership Survey 

-ICME Postcolonial museum governance

9. Communications – miniwebsite, instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube
10. Networking – Museum Leadership House with Sofia Widmann 
11. Adoption of INTERCOM Acronym and Internal Statutes 

 

8 PM onwards DINNER