Symposium: Dealing with Fear: What Holds Societies Together

»Fear of unemployment, natural disasters, terror and disease is inextricably woven together with everyday in today’s industrial nations. Taking the place of a strong belief in the future, which motivated and drove people after World War II, a diffuse fear of the future and of change has crept into society since the 1970s. What are the causes of this? Is fear the flip side of economic and military globalization process, an indicator of it rawness and exclusivity? Do leaders fan the fires and instrumentalize fear to keep societies under control through ideological pressure? How do insurers, investors and economists – the administrators of risk – react? How do natural scientists deal with it? How do artists, architects, musicians, filmmakers and poets address the phenomenon? And how can this dynamic analyze and localize itself from a culture-historical viewpoint?« Philip Ursprung

The goal of this three-day symposium is to explore the various aspects of the topic »Dealing with Fear« from the perspective of artists and scientists from the humanities and natural sciences. This year’s fellows from various disciplines, jury chairman Philip Ursprung (University of Zurich) and the majority of current jurors will participate. The symposium will open on Thursday, October 18, 2007, at 8pm with a lecture by professor of literature Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht (Stanford University). The lecture on the topic »since when and why do we fear the future« will be followed by a discussion moderated by Philip Ursprung.

An event in the year of the humanities.

The art, science & business program is made possible through the financial support of the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg, the Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart as well as the LBBW Foundation for Art and Culture.

Please register with Catharina Märklin.
Tel. 0711-99619-134, cm@akademie-solitude.de
Admission free
Thursday 8pm, Friday 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am – 4pm.