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Programma’s uit het verleden

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Alle locaties SPUI25 Online Rialto Posthoornkerk Paradiso Odeonzaal Amsterdamse Academische Club (AAC) Doelenzaal Nationale Opera & Ballet De Brug (Roeterseiland) De Duif De Brakke Grond Binnengasthuisstraat 9 Aula Roeterseiland Nationale Opera & Ballet, Odeonzaal Singelkerk OBA Theater Vondelkerk Agnietenkapel

13 12 24

Defending and Rejecting Democratic Pluralism – The New American Conflict

Against the backdrop of the 2024 U.S. elections, political scientist Lilliana Mason guides us through the divide between American Democrats and Republicans on questions of social equality. She’ll dive into the GOP’s internal struggle between those resisting progress and those fighting for a pluralistic America, and its profound implications for the future of democratic life.

12 12 24

The Tech Coup

Over the past decades, under the cover of ‘innovation’, technology companies have successfully resisted regulation and have even begun to seize power from governments themselves. Facial recognition firms track citizens for police surveillance. Cryptocurrency has wiped out the personal savings of millions and threatens the stability of the global financial system. Spyware companies sell digital intelligence tools to anyone who can afford them. This new reality—where unregulated technology has become a forceful instrument for autocrats around the world—is terrible news for democracies and citizens.

10 12 24

The Politics of Pop: Tat Ming Pair

To celebrate the publication of the book It’s My Party: Tat Ming Pair and the Postcolonial Politics of Popular Music in Hong Kong, the authors Yiu Fai Chow, Jeroen de Kloet, and Leonie Schmidt, will be joined by media scholars Joke Hermes and Jaap Kooijman to discuss the Politics of Pop.

***Please note: there won’t be a livestream or recording of this event***

29 11 24

A Program by Spui25 in Spe

Expect These Symptoms: Delusional FemTech

Your menstruation app is telling you not to panic about being pregnant while your body is telling you otherwise. At the same time, your neighbour might be falsely worrying about a predictive algorithm telling them they have decreased rates of fertility. SPUI25 explores the state of FemTech software and asks whether we should be using these apps, or not.

28 11 24

War, Famine, and Paths to Peace

Spotlight on Sudan

Sudan is suffering the worst crisis of its turbulent history. With 13 million people displaced and much of the country facing famine, the toll on ordinary Sudanese is staggering. An expert panel unpacks the war’s background, the dynamics that fuel it, and discusses potential paths to peace.

27 11 24

CANCELLED: Metropolitan Nature. A Conversation with Emanuele Coccia

**This event has been cancelled due to the storm**

Eccentric philosopher and author Emanuele Coccia will share his thoughts on his latest project ‘Metropolitan Nature.’ As the recipient of the Mondrian Prize 2024, he currently resides in the former studio of Piet Mondrian in Laren. Lisa Doeland and Francesco Carrasso will join Coccia in the philosophical exploration of nature in the city, the relation between species, and the notion of home.

27 11 24

Critical Conversations

Indigenizing Philosophy through the Land

In Indigenous environmental thought, the land possesses anticolonial political power, serving as the cornerstone of Indigenous resistance to environmental destruction and cultural erasure. In conversation with Brian Burkhart, Carolina Sánchez-de Jaegher and Rolando Vázquez, we discuss Indigenous environmentalism as an anticolonial force, and the encounter between Indigenous knowledge systems and decolonial thought.

22 11 24

Out of the Darkness: The Germans 1942-2022

In his new book Uit de schaduw (Out of the Darkness), historian Frank Trentmann tells the dramatic story of the German people from World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the struggle to find a place in the world today. It is a story of ‘moral renewal’ towards a democratic society and a groundbreaking new view on modern Germany. This afternoon, we will discuss the book with the author.

18 11 24

The Role of International Law in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Israel before The Hague Courts

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful. South Africa has also brought a significant case before the ICJ concerning the prevention of genocide in Gaza, which is still pending. What are the implications of these legal cases for Israel and the international community? What responsibilities do the Netherlands and other EU states have in light of these developments?

18 11 24

Jaarlijkse Jacob Israël de Haan lezing

Jacob Israël de Haan: mimicry en eigenzinnigheid

Past de dichter Jacob Israël de Haan in het verhaal van het ontstaan van de moderne poëzie in de eerste decennia van de twintigste eeuw, of was hij een buitenbeentje dat uit de pas liep met andere nieuwe dichters? Welke rol speelde zijn homoseksualiteit in dit verband en hoe kreeg dat thema een plaats in zijn werk? Sloot hij aan bij andere homoseksuele Nederlandse (en buitenlandse) auteurs of was hij werkelijk uitzonderlijk?

15 11 24

Artificial Elections? The Role of AI in the 2024 Election Year

Rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed the political landscape. Many have feared that AI threatens democracy itself. In this event we want to look back at elections of this year: has AI really been the destructive force that so many feared it to be? And what about the future?

**Due to technical issues there won’t be a livestream/recording available**

14 11 24

Over zijn nieuwe roman 'Vrij spel'

Een avond met Richard Powers 

Deze avond gaat Richard Powers in gesprek over zijn roman, en over het krachtenspel tussen natuur en mens, klimaat en kapitaal, en de concrete en virtuele werkelijkheid.

14 11 24

Religious Radicalisations and a Crisis of Culture

In conversation with Olivier Roy, we discuss the tension and connection between the crisis of culture and religious radicalisations in both Islam and Western societies. How should we understand the call for Jihad? And what does ‘European culture’ mean today?

**Due to technical issues there won’t be a livestream/recording available**

This program is fully booked.

07 11 24

Air and Love: A Story of Food, Family and Belonging

**Due to technical issues there won’t be a livestream available**

In her new book, Air and Love: A Story of Food, Family and Belonging, Or Rosenboim explores the history of modern displacement by retracing micro-histories of family migrations from Samarkand and Riga to the Middle East in 1860-1960. She reconstructs long-lost migration routes and retraces the food that migrants cooked on the road, to explore questions of identity and belonging, that have shaped not only individual lives but also global order. By weaving these stories into the larger narratives of contemporary history, Rosenboim offers a new perspective on the history of the modern world.

07 11 24

Between Hope and Hype: What’s the (Real) Business Case for AI?

**Due to technical issues there won’t be a livestream available**

Artificial intelligence has been hailed as a productivity booster that can turbocharge firms’ and countries’ growth. More recently, the mood has sobered. Even as companies pledged to go ‘all in’ on AI, many have struggled to make money with it. So have AI hopes been exposed as all hype? And what is the (real) business case for AI?

04 11 24

A Conversation with UvA’s Americanists

Emotion Commotion on Election Eve

US elections are occasions for a range of emotions, including anger, melancholy, and relief. On November 4, Americanists from the University of Amsterdam will inspect the election on its eve.

***Fully Booked***

01 11 24

The European Literature Prize of Literature 2024 & The State of European Literature

An Evening with Olga Tokarczuk

This evening, none other than Olga Tokarczuk will be at the Aula of the Lutheran Church. She will engage in a conversation about the state of European literature, the importance of translation and her oeuvre.
**This program is fully booked**

28 10 24

The Architects of Dignity

Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization

In his new book, The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization, Kevin Pham introduces Vietnamese political thought to debates in political theory, showing how Vietnamese thinkers challenge Western conventional wisdom. These thinkers’ arguments are worthwhile for anyone concerned with freedom, democracy, and cross-cultural thinking. Tonight, Pham will discuss his book with scholar Yen Vu.

25 10 24

New Directions in Sonic History

What Are Sound Studies?

Professor Holger Schulze will give us a Brief Introduction to a Very Young and Very Old Field of Research: Sound Studies. He will shed light on the more recent history of Sound Studies and the current developments in the 2020s to decolonize sound studies and investigate aural diversity.

24 10 24

A Conversation with Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí

Disrupting Colonial Practices of Gender

Professor Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí offers a transformative perspective on gender, challenging Western ideas and its global application. The pioneering sociologist will dive into her most influential research, discussing how African perspectives can reshape our understanding of gender, women’s rights, and knowledge production.

**This program is fully booked, the livestream is available on this page**

22 10 24

SPUI25-lezing: Ghayath Almadhoun

Pandora’s Box: An autobiography of a Palestinian poet in exile

De veelgeprezen Syrisch-Palestijns-Zweedse dichter Ghayath Almadhoun reflecteert in deze jaarlijkse SPUI25-lezing op de rol van poëzie in tijden van oorlog. Hoe geef je woorden aan het diepste onrecht en leed? Hij wordt na zijn lezing, getiteld ‘Pandora’s Box: A brief autobiography of what it means to be a Palestinian poet in exile’, geïnterviewd door Maria Barnas.

19 10 24

Who’s Afraid of Gender? A Conversation with Judith Butler

What does ‘gender’ mean today? How can we understand the increasing attacks on what conservative-religious groups, trans-exclusionary radical feminists, emerging authoritarian regimes, and fascists governments call ‘gender ideology’? How did we get here, and how do we move from fear to freedom?

**THIS PROGRAM IS FULLY BOOKED**

18 10 24

Panel International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs

Emergencies of Authoritarianism: Global Entanglements

A rich panel of internationally renowned scholars sheds light on the global entanglements of authoritarianism. Based on their specific local experiences and situated knowledge, they discuss some of the main characteristics of authoritarianism today. How are its different variations connected with each other? How are they dependent on other global developments?

**This program is fully booked. The livestream will be available on this page.**

15 10 24

Lonely Deaths in an Increasingly Contactless Society

More of us are falling out of contact with family and friends. It affects how we are cared for — in life and in death. If we die alone, what do we expect to happen to our bodies? Cities across the globe are challenged by the phenomenon of residents dying unnoticed and dead remaining unclaimed by next of kin. In this public event, international researchers and local organizers will speak about unclaimed deaths in New York, Tokyo, Japan, Los Angeles and Amsterdam. With: Sally Raudon, Mika Toyota and Joris van Casteren.

11 10 24

The Politics of Platform Regulation

Countries around the world are moving to regulate big tech. In this event Robert Gorwa talks about his new book The Politics of Platform Regulation and places these trends in comparative perspective: what motivates governments to regulate the online environment, and what strategies do they deploy?

10 10 24

Acid Clouds: Mapping Data Centre Topologies

How can we rethink the ownership and control of data? And in what ways do data centres influence our identities and societal norms? In this book launch we will discuss the themes addressed in ‘Acid Clouds’, which examines data centres through different lenses, from artifical intelligence to machine learning and from environmental impact to digital capitalism. How can we critically engage with the hidden yet pervasive infrastructures that shape our world?

09 10 24

Shaping society: fashion, culture and identity

Students from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) dive deep into the intricate relationship between fashion, identity, and cultural dynamics. Raising critical questions about identity formation, digital culture, and the ethics of cultural exchange, the speakers shed light on the intersection of fashion and broader societal and cultural phenomena.

03 10 24

The Kazakh Spring

Protests and Pro-democracy Movements in Autocracies

How can decentralized protest movements challenge entrenched, repressive, and highly resilient authoritarian regimes? This question is central to Diana T. Kudaibergen’s groundbreaking new book, The Kazakh Spring: Digital Activism and the Challenge to Dictatorship. Together with renowned political scientists and sociologists we discuss the dynamics between authoritarian regimes and democratization movements – with a focus on Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

26 09 24

The effectiveness of psychoanalysis today

What is the place of psychoanalysis in facing human suffering, in the context of the current discontents in civilization? More than a century after its invention by Freud, an attempt was made to return to Lacan’s formula that defines psychoanalysis as a therapy unlike any other.

25 09 24

Reframing Nature: Tracing Shifting Ecologies through Art

Depictions of the natural world in art offer profound insights into historical perspectives on humanity’s relationship with nature. In conversation with Estelle Zhong Mengual, Julia Kantelberg and Colin Sterling, we discuss the relation between aesthetics and ecology. How might art help us rethink our place within the natural world?

16 07 24

Revolutionizing Healthcare

The Twin Within

Ever heard of a virtual human twin (VHT)? It’s a digital representation of a human health or disease state. They refer to different levels of human anatomy (e.g. cells, tissues, organs or organ systems). VHTs are built using software models and data and are designed to mimic and predict behavior of their physical counterparts, including interaction with additional diseases a person may have.

04 07 24

Lecture Axel Honneth

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. Postcolonialism and the West

There are many ways to understand the theoretical and political claims of recent postcolonialism. In this lecture, Axel Honneth understands it as a powerful and fully legitimate attempt to raise awareness of the fact that colonialism is still oppressively present in the West, even in an age that presents itself as postcolonial. In order to meet this challenge, Honneth will explore in what ways European culture needs to change its own self-understanding with regard to the past, the present and the future.

01 07 24

German Climate Activism and Policy Today

After 2023 was confirmed to have been the hottest year ever recorded, NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt warned that “it could imply that a warming planet is already fundamentally altering how the climate system operates, much sooner than scientists had anticipated.” In this context, Sabine von Mering will provide an assessment of current German climate activism and policy, including the impact of the European parliament election of June 2024 and what will be at stake for climate policy in the German federal election of 2025.

01 07 24

The Female Impact: 17th Century Women on the Dutch Art Market

Since 2021 the Female Impact project has been studying the impact of women artists, patrons, and other prominent women on the seventeenth-century Dutch art market. What are their latest insights? And which hurdles lie ahead? During the project’s annual summer event, short presentations covering a wide range of topics will show where the Female Impact stands today.

28 06 24

James Montague on 'Among the Ultras'

A journey with the world’s most extreme football fans

During the UEFA European Championship, we will encounter them. At the beginning of next football season: they will dominate the debate again. They are a hugely visible and controversial part of the global game. Yet they remain unknown: an anti-establishment force that is transforming both football and politics. Ultras are football fans like no others. James Montague traveled the world and went underground to uncover the true face of this dissident force.

27 06 24

On the afterlives of history and ideological upbringing in Greece and beyond

Niki means Victory – but over what?

On the occasion of the Dutch translation in 2023 of the novel Niki (2014) by the Greek writer Christos Chomenidis – longlisted for the (Dutch) European Literature Prize – the author will have a conversation with Michel Krielaars and Elke Weesjes about the myths and realities around ideological forms of education in Greece, the Netherlands, and former communist states, and the multiple afterlives of history in the present.

25 06 24

Debating The Incarcerations in India

The Ruins of the World’s Largest Electoral Democracy

The Incarcerations, a finalist for the 2024 Orwell Prize, exposes the collapse of democracy in the world’s largest democracy through the chilling story of the arrests of the BK-16: professors, lawyers, journalists, poets fighting for the rights of India’s three main minorities – Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims – imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial.

24 06 24

Diagonalism and the Crisis of Liberalism Series

A Hero’s Journey? Ideological Entrepreneurs and Reactionary Digital Politics

This is the first talk in a series that looks at how the disruptive affordances and practices of global digital culture relate to political reconfigurations symptomatic of a broader crisis of liberalism. Tonight, Alan Finlayson will explain what “reactionary digital politics” is, how it is shaped by “ideological entrepreneurs,” and how this is reconfiguring our understanding of what it is to be political.

18 06 24

Decolonising La Mer Mortelle

Infrastructures of Displacement & Racialised Boundaries

EU countries have the most mortal borders of the world, with thousands of deaths of African and Middle Eastern people each year and many more detained or living under deplorable circumstances as “illegal”—which makes them easily exploitable and deportable people. In this third edition of Decolonising La Mer Mortelle, we will focus on the structural, infrastructural and longue durée colonial legacies in current migration policies and ideologies.

18 06 24

From the Noordzeekanaal to the ‘Weesperstraatknip’

Planning for the Future

The Dutch are famous for their tradition of landscape and urban planning. Since the abandonment of central planning in 2004 and the liquidation of the relevant ministry (VROM) in 2010, this tradition has eroded. As the negative effects of this willful neglect pile up around Dutch landscapes and communities, new and daring initiatives abound. This program will discuss what is to be gained and what is to be lost, taking as cases one major Amsterdam-related classical planning project and one recent local experiment.