European Night of Ideas and Books for Thought

On the 27th of January in London the EUROPEAN NIGHT OF IDEAS brought European thinkers, scientists, artists and journalists, together with local students and civil society activists to open a collective dialogue on recent changes in our world, find new initiatives for building together.

The event in London was a great success, with 1200 visitors onsite and 3200 visitors online. These numbers will continue to grow with  the replay option on our website. Over 40 guests from Europe and the UK contributed to the success of the event. Amongst them : Mariana Mazzucato (IT/US), Philippe Descola (FR), Anthony Anaxagorou (CYP), Jasmina Cibic (SLO) Daniel Innerarity (ESP), Douglas McMaster (UK), Renate Christ (AUT), Merve Emre (TUR/US), Leoluca Orlando (IT).

Pupils from the Lycée Charles-de-Gaulle acted on stage during a performance entitled Mapping controversies, named after philosopher Bruno Latour’s concept, and addressing the question “What status for statues”.

The French Presidency of the EU 2022 was the opportunity to create and strengthen partnerships with local European cultural institutions such as the Austrian cultural forum London, the High Commission of Cyprus in the UK, the Goethe-Institut London, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Londra, the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia and the Instituto Cervantes.

A strong collaboration was created with local universities, including King’s College London, University College London and their European Institute. Students who attended the Night conducted short interviews with guests, filmed the event and led public Q&A sessions following the roundtables. Have a look at the Replay section.

Following the nights, they created an entry piece on the event which the Institut français du Royaume-Uni and UCL published. This success is thus already showing promising future academic partnerships. British born Cypriot poet Anthony Anaxagorou wrote 5 powerful poems inspired by the general theme “Rebuilding together”, also published on the website of the Night of Ideas.

The European Night of ideas was also the starting point for a year-long series of talks with European authors of non-fiction books and British co-speakers, BOOKS FOR THOUGHT.

On the 18th of February the series started with the event “A Decolonial Ecology. Thinking from the Carribean World” with Malcom Ferdinand and Shela Sheikh. Before the event, a teach out Q&A session was coordinated together by French Institute and Shela Sheikh at the University of Goldsmiths. This was the opportunity for Malcom Ferdinand to introduce his work to a larger number of students and for the students who use his work for their research to interact with the author himself. The Q&A was completely curated by the 40 students as they asked questions related to their own work.

The second event of the series “Hidden Libraries as Landscapes of Resistance and Survival” is taking place on the 11th of October at The British Library. Discover more here. 

Stay tuned for more info!