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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

01 12 25

The Blocked Republic: Germany between the Past and the Future

Populism, migration, the economy, war – where is Germany heading to? In his new book Die blockierte Republik, German-British historian Frank Trentmann puts the nation to the test. How did Germany get into this crisis, and how does it get out of it? Trentmann finds answers by looking at history and beyond national borders. He will be talking about his book with historian Hanco Jürgens.

28 11 25

Fragments, Clues, and Surprises in Literary Biographies: Writing Cavafy’s Life

Following the release of a new biography of the Greek diasporic queer poet Constantine Cavafy, author Gregory Jusdanis will read from the book alongside selections of Cavafy’s poetry. He will then engage in conversation with Dutch literary biographer Koen Hilberdink on the thrills and challenges of literary biography as a genre.

27 11 25

Building Networks of Consent and Spaces of Joy in the Ruins of Social Media

Social Media: We Can Change the Defaults

Christine Lemmer-Webber, best known as co-author of ActivityPub, the decentralized social networking protocol, will speak about the crisis technologists face. Why must we revise the default assumptions of the web 2.0 era? She will introduce the work the Spritely Institute is doing to make a positive future possible.

26 11 25

Femicide en geweld tegen vrouwen in literatuur en theater

Welke verhalen over femicide en geweld tegen vrouwen hebben we van vroeger meegekregen? Hoe hebben die ons beeld van geweld tegen vrouwen en vrouwenmoord gevormd? En wat kunnen literatuur en theater er vandaag de dag aan bijdragen om femicide als maatschappelijk probleem bespreekbaar te maken?

25 11 25

From Liverpool to Rotterdam, from Marseille to Detroit

Port Cities: Racism, Urbanism, and Resistance

This is the Amsterdam book launch of Sam Wetherell’s award-winning book, Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain (Bloomsbury, 2025). The book explores deindustrialization, racial divides, decolonisation, and the impact of the built environment on society, and offers new ways to think about port cities: such as Rotterdam, Marseille, Detroit, and Baltimore.

24 11 25

Antifa: Portrait of a Radical Left-Wing Movement in Germany

The Antifa-movement polarizes. For some, it makes an important contribution to the fight against right-wing extremism, while for others it jeopardizes the state’s monopoly on the use of force and thus makes it a threat to democracy from the left. What are the key characteristics of this influential radical left-wing movement, and how did it evolve over time?

23 11 25

a Conspiracy Theory from Postcolonial Africa

Achille Mbembe on Freemasonry, Homosexuality and Enrichment

Why do conspiracy theories have such power over so many people? Trying to refute them seems to have little effect. The challenge with the present tsunami of conspiracy thinking and “alternative facts” is rather to try and understand their mobilizing force. Achille Mbembe, Rachel Spronk and Francio Guadeloupe discuss the challenges of plot thinking and the need to historicize it.

11 11 25

SPUI25 in Spe

The Price of War: European Defense and the Military-Industrial Complex

Europe is ramping up its defenses, with discussions about militarization, strategic autonomy, and NATO targets becoming commonplace in political, mediatic, and public discourses. The perceived existential threats from Russia and doubts about the reliability of the United States appear to be driving this push toward rearmament. But how deeply are counterarguments being considered? And what are the real costs and for whom?

10 11 25

How the Netherlands received the European Convention on Human Rights

The Convention and the Kingdom

The European Convention on Human Rights is nowadays one of the most prominent human rights treaties. In particular in the Netherlands, it has become the main legal tool for fundamental rights protection. As such, it has also found itself in the spotlight: pushback has developed against its perceived excessive constraining of political options and the European Court is being criticized for interference with domestic sensitivities. 

04 11 25

Towards a common approach to Europe’s colonial past

European Integration and Co-Imperialism

Until recently, the former imperial nation states of Europe often regarded themselves as historically homogeneous nation states with a colonial past that was separate from their European continental history. Recent research shows that the European integration process was closely intertwined with modern imperialism and decolonization. Tonight, our speakers will discuss these new developments in historiography.

*This program is fully booked, please sign up for our livestream*

03 11 25

Politics, Media, and the 2025 Elections Explained

Why Did the Dutch Vote the Way They Did?

What shaped the Dutch vote in 2025? From AI and algorithm-driven content to shifting media rules, the election was anything but ordinary. Join experts from the University of Amsterdam as they unpack how tech, media, and politics collided — and what it means for democracy today.

*Please note, there will be no recording available afterwards the event*

01 11 25

Over haar nieuwe boek ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’

Een avond met Arundhati Roy

Deze avond ontvangen we niemand minder dan de bekroonde Indiase auteur Arundhati Roy. Met Casper Thomas gaat zij in de Oude Lutherse Kerk in gesprek over haar nieuwe boek ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’ en andere thema’s uit haar brede oeuvre, zoals sociale ongelijkheid, vrijheid en politiek.

31 10 25

The Dutch General Election Results 2025: How Did We Get Here?

On October 29 Dutch voters are heading to the polls for yet another General Election. What to think about the election results? At this event, political experts will discuss this and attempt to make sense of the conflicts that preceded them, as well as what the voters think.

*Please note: there will be no recording available afterwards this event*

28 10 25

Climate Politics Ten Years after the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement was hailed as a milestone in climate law and politics. What has it achieved? What is its remaining potential? As the Paris Agreement nears its tenth anniversary, the speakers take stock and look to the future: What can we expect from climate law and politics?

16 10 25

What the Merger between DPG Media and RTL Nederland Tells Us about News Media Resilience in Europe

The Precarious Situation of the News

Media concentration is a growing concern across Europe, as ownership increasingly consolidates in the hands of a few major players. High concentration can reduce media pluralism, limit the diversity of viewpoints, and increase the influence of owners over public debate. Why is news media is in such a precarious situation, and what can be done?

15 10 25

European Defence and the Trade-offs We Must (or Must Not) Make 

A roundtable discussion on one of the most urgent issues of our time: what needs to be done to shore-up European defence, and what trade-offs (if any) are necessary to do so? The debate, chaired by ACES co-director Theresa Kuhn, brings together four experts on Europe’s (geo-)politics to shed light on this question.

*Please note: there will be no livestream available for this event*

09 10 25

Which Europe do we need?

The European order, peace and prosperity are under threat as they have not been since the Cold War. Young Europeans are turning away from the EU. What we need is a convincing vision for an unsettled continent. In their new book Welches Europa brauchen wir? (Which Europe do we need?), Francesca and Gerald Knaus show new narratives that could convince majorities again to be engaged for the European Union.

02 10 25

How emotions spark and sustain (climate) activism

Fueling the Fire

From marches and assemblies to public debate, emotions are pivotal in every part of climate activism. How can we take into account emotions in our communication and organizing? How can we foster resilient activism? How can we support each other in the fight for climate justice?

09 09 25

Book launch Mieke Bal

Moments of Meaning-Making

With Moments of Meaning-Making, cultural theorist, video artist, and writer Mieke Bal has written her 50^th book. This remarkable work, published by Valiz, is both her most personal and her most associative – an ABC of concepts, memories, and reflections shaped by a life of teaching, writing, making, and thinking.

25 06 25

Infrastructures of Solidarity and Struggle

Resistant Energy

This panel examines the shifting infrastructures of resistance and repression that define solidarity from Palestine to South Africa, focusing on legal and institutional frameworks, social and material infrastructures, and social justice archives.

20 06 25

Annual Wertheim-Lecture

Can universities be antiracist? Liberal scholarship in genocidal times

The Moving Matters research group has invited Arun Kundnani to deliver this year’s Wertheim lecture on the urgent topic of how universities can become antiracist institutions in our current political context. After the lecture, the floor will be open for debate.

Fully booked, watch our livestream

18 06 25

How graphic novels strengthen historical understanding of witnesses’ experiences

Visualizing Survivors’ Voices

Mass violence and genocide are a frequent topic in the daily news coverage. Mass media confront audiences with almost countless images of the physical destruction of cities, dead bodies of victims and the unfathomable grief of bereaved relatives – most of whom remain anonymous. A growing number of graphic novels chooses a different approach. Providing a platform for survivors to share their personal testimonies, these graphic novels focus on individual fates, offering coherent and intimate portrayals in an accessible way. How can these stories help us to understand the past?

17 06 25

Ambient Extremism in Reactionary Digital Politics

In this second talk of ACES’s “Diagonalism” series, Robert Topinka engages with the idea of “ambient extremism.” This type of contemporary digital reactionary politics entails a dissolution of distinctions between democracy and authoritarianism, information and misinformation, legitimacy and illegibility. How does this phenomenon reshape the terrain of democratic discourse and, thus, democratic public life generally speaking?

16 06 25

Questions of Justice and Democracy

Bringing Climate Change to Court

Climate change affects everyone, everywhere. But the way we deal with it—especially in court—is mostly local. Lawsuits over climate issues usually happen in national or regional courts, using local laws. Meanwhile, climate change is a global problem, with impacts that cross borders and generations. This creates a big challenge: how do we balance the need for global justice with the limits of local democracy?

12 06 25

Bipolar Transitions: Situated Worlds, Uneven Futures

Energy transitions don’t simply replace one system with another — they transform how territories breathe, how bodies absorb, and how futures fragment. Today we introduce “bipolar transitions” as a name for tracing the unstable humors — manic and melancholic — that transform our planet unevenly. What persists amid all this movement? And how do we stay with what endures — quietly, unevenly?

12 06 25

In cooperation with BC and Open Science Community Amsterdam

Celebrating Open Science: The 2025 OSCAWARDS

In recent years, the Netherlands has taken significant steps toward embracing Open Science. However, as this movement gains momentum, concerns about protecting scientific output and growing skepticism toward science are also on the rise. The third annual OSCAWARDS aims to strengthen the Open Science Community in Amsterdam by recognizing and celebrating the outstanding contributions of its members in advancing Open Science.

10 06 25

A Twentieth-Century European History

The Quest for Individual Freedom

In his new book, Moritz Föllmer studies the yearning for freedom as experienced by ordinary Europeans in the twentieth century. It is published in a world in which freedom is once again at stake. Looking back at past experiences of and debates on freedom enables us to put current developments in perspective. This afternoon, Hanco Jürgens will discuss the book with the author and historians Willemijn Ruberg and Josephine Hoegaerts.

02 06 25

The Future of Journalism (Studies) in the Age of AI

This panel examines the range of approaches currently used in journalism studies to analyze AI and news. It aims to identify which approaches are proving most productive, which may be less useful, and which areas are being overlooked. The discussion will also focus on key trends in the development and use of AI in journalism, as well as the implications of these developments for research and education.

30 05 25

Bosnian-Dutch Perspectives

Thirty Years after Srebrenica

Three decades after the Srebrenica genocide of July 1995, the scars of the Bosnian war remain deeply visible both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its diaspora—perhaps nowhere more so than in the Netherlands. This event explores the many facets of this war’s complex legacy and contributes to the ongoing conversation about the impact of the Srebrenica genocide in the Netherlands.

28 05 25

Trust and Power in Platform Auditing

For years, Big Tech has benefited from a lack of regulatory oversight. The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is a significant step toward holding platforms more accountable by requiring them to assess and reduce the risks they pose to society by introducing the algorithmic auditor. These private firms audit platforms’ annual risk assessments. But how consistent are their conclusions? What roles do business interests play? And how much trust can we place in this new layer of oversight?

27 05 25

Fashion and Power – Who’s In, Who’s Out, and Who Decides?

Fashion, as both an industry and a field of study, actively operates through systems of exclusion for marginalized communities, gender-nonconforming individuals, indigenous makers, disabled bodies, and others who do not align within the margins. Legitimacy over knowledge is often granted through institutions that uphold Eurocentric, capitalist, and colonial frameworks which leaves us to question “Who’s In, Who’s Out, and Who Decides?”

26 05 25

The Jewish Street: Amsterdam and Paris After 1945

Jewish urban landscapes throughout Europe changed irreversibly during the mid-twentieth century. Taking the concept of the “Jewish street” and zooming in on French and Dutch case studies, our lectures will analyse what happened to Jewish sites and quarters between the 1930s and the 1960s, with an emphasis on the post-war period.

23 05 25

Marginal and Emerging Voices

Remembering the Second Indochina War

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Indochina War, popularly known as the Vietnam War. The war has left indelible impacts on the lives of many across the world, including those living in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the United States, and European countries. This event features a roundtable of scholars and practitioners reflecting on the diverse histories, lived experiences, and postwar national and international recovery efforts following the war.

21 05 25

De Staat van de Europese Literatuur 2025: Andrej Koerkov

Op 21 mei spreekt de Oekraïense schrijver Andrej Koerkov de zevende Staat van de Europese Literatuur uit, onder de titel ‘A Garden of Unwritten Books’. De lezing vindt plaats in de Aula van 20.15 tot 21.45 uur.

20 05 25

Democracy and AI

The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in democratic societies is an ongoing concern for many researchers, albeit for different reasons. During this event, we will explore the often illegitimate but not illegal applications of AI in democratic practices, focusing on the role of the news media, political decision-making, and policy.

16 05 25

Girl Online: Symposihmm #1

Girl Online is a full-day programme hosted by The Hmm, a platform for internet cultures, taking place across SPUI25 and University of Amsterdam locations on Friday 16 May. Expect talks, performances, workshops, and more. This first ever Symposihmm will dive into girl trends, self-infantilisation, girl as a strategy in digital spaces, and the future of girlhood. It is part of This is who you’re being mean to, The Hmm’s broader 2025 year theme, exploring gender expression online.

15 05 25

Can there be a planetary citizenship?

Citizenship: New Trajectories in Law

To what extent can progressive movements become planetary movements? In what ways can discourses of citizenship and rights help imagine transnational solidarities beyond national authorities?

14 05 25

The Center Cannot Hold: A Case for Left Populism?

It has become redundant to say that the Left is in crisis. The electoral decline of traditional left-wing parties across Western democracies, fueled by the defection of their historical voter base to the populist Right, paints a bleak picture for progressive politics. The old anchors are slipping, and the Left, long the bearer of emancipatory promises, finds itself disoriented. If the far Right thrives by mobilizing populist rhetoric, could a left variant offer a viable alternative? And if so, what are the costs?

12 05 25

Agents and Agency at the EU and Mexico-US Borders

Our news media offer daily accounts of migration crises in the Mediterranean and North America. Yet much of the reality of human agency, mobility, and power in border regions remains unseen and unknown. What are the historical roots of the brutal inequalities manifested at international borders? How do migrants and residents of border regions survive, subsist, and exist? And who benefits from migration crises, as well as the narratives that surround them?

09 05 25

How to reclaim a continent

Europe up for Grabs?

The 9th of May is Europe Day. What should we celebrate in these turbulent times? In a time of geopolitical tension, democratic backsliding, and cultural upheaval, why is it important to come together now, and what does European unity mean in practice?