Lea Ypi, one of today’s leading political philosophers and writers, will appear at the Ji.hlava IDFF’s discussion platform Inspiration Forum on October 24. Her talk is part of the new Big Talks series, bringing ‘big names to the big hall’ and opening these events for the first time to visitors without festival accreditation. Other guests include archaeologist David Wengrow, climate comedian Matt Winning, and political theorists Camila Vergara and Samuel Bagg.
The new Big Talks series presents four exceptional events in the main auditorium, open to the wider public.
October 24 – Lea Ypi: What Is Europe For Today?
October 25 – Matt Winning: What Can Humour Do in a Crisis?
October 30 – Camila Vergara and Samuel Bagg: How Can We Limit the Power of Oligarchs?
October 31 – David Wengrow: The Dawn of Change
Matt Winning: What Can Humour Do in a Crisis?
Matt Winning is a climate researcher and comedian who has long worked on climate policy while also using stand-up to address the climate crisis. In his show Solastalgia, which has been selling out London’s Soho Theatre, he connects climate change with fatherhood, anxieties about the future and the story of the fossil fuel industry and financial power. In Jihlava, he will discuss what humour can do with a topic so often associated with fear, helplessness and overwhelming quantities of data.
Camila Vergara and Samuel Bagg: How Can We Limit the Power of Oligarchs?
Political and legal theorist Camila Vergara and political philosopher Samuel Bagg study the concentration of political and economic power and the workings of democratic institutions. In Jihlava, they will consider how democracy can respond when political and economic power is concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people. Vergara’s work addresses oligarchisation and possibilities for democratic oversight, while Bagg focuses on democracy, political representation and institutional arrangements.
David Wengrow: The Dawn of Change
David Wengrow is an archaeologist and co-author, with anthropologist David Graeber, of the book The Dawn of Everything. The book challenges the idea that human societies developed along a straightforward path towards today’s forms of state, property and social organisation. In Jihlava, Wengrow will ask what history tells us about our capacity to change society–and whether the world we live in today is really the only possible form of society.
