Making Crises Visible. Crisis of democracy

Event as part of the Citizens’ University “Thinking Democracy Forward” in the winter semester 2019/2020

Democracy is in a constant process of transformation – and is in crisis in many parts of the world. However, the interdisciplinary exhibition project “Making Crises Visible”, under the patronage of the Hessian Minister for Science and Art, Angela Dorn, shows that the crisis can also always be understood and overcome as an opportunity. At the interface between science and art, it deals with diverse and man-made crises.

The presentation is the result of cooperation between the Leibniz Institute Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research, the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main, Goethe University and the Senckenberg Nature Museum. The aim is to test new ways of transferring knowledge. In the artistic visualization of the crisis, it does not appear as hopeless, but as an activating force.

Based on this, the panel discussion “Making Crises Visible – Crisis of Democracy” on February 10, 2020 at 7.30 pm, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Hörsaal im Arthur-von-Weinberg-Haus, Robert-Mayer-Straße 2, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, will discuss new and different approaches to the crisis, which can stimulate dialog in society and serve as a starting point for a new orientation.

Program

At the beginning, Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff (political scientist, Goethe University/Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research) will give a keynote speech. She emphasized the potential of cooperation between science and art to gain new insights. “Through mutual questioning and irritation, both sides gain new insights into their subject matter and generate new questions and, ideally, new answers,” said Deitelhoff.

This will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Stefan Kroll (political scientist, Leibniz Research Alliance “Crises in a Globalized World”), Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst (political philosopher, Goethe University), Prof. Dr. Verena Kuni (Professor of Visual Culture, Goethe University) and Prof. Dr. Katrin Böhning-Gaese (Member of the Board of Directors, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung / Director, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre). The moderator will be Susanne Boetsch (Head of Administration, Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research).