A pitched battle of thinkers within the streets of Madrid | Culture | EUROtoday

Madrid has develop into full of preachers. They will not be spiritual, however philosophical, they usually lurk on many corners, able to share dialog and broaden minds. As in Ancient Greece, as in Victorian London, town has sprouted speaker’s corners (speaker's corners) in a handful of streets within the centre. “I think it's fantastic that these issues are being discussed so openly,” says Juana, a 20-year-old college scholar, as she watched journalist Marta García Aller speak about synthetic intelligence on a small stage on Calle Montera at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. The dialog is open and passers-by, though initially shocked, take part and find yourself giving their viewpoint. Not removed from there, in Plaza del Callao, writers Juan Tallón and Renato Cisneros had been speaking on the similar time in regards to the particular person and collective fears that grip our world, in a chat that sought “catharsis and liberation through the shared experience of facing and understanding fear,” mentioned Tallón.

This is the primary version of the Festival of Ideas, which for 4 days (till 21 September) takes to the streets of the capital with the intention of spreading important pondering by means of a dozen venues (the Reina Sofía Museum, the Teatro Real, the Ateneo, Plaza de España, the Círculo de Bellas Artes…) open to the general public and through which thinkers and writers of the stature of Michael Sandel, Gilles Lipovetsky, Wendy Brown, Peter Sloterdijk, Marina Garcés and Javier Gomá will focus on essentially the most urgent problems with in the present day (and historical past).

At the identical time that García Aller was talking on the street, Josefa Ros Velasco, winner of the National Research Award, was talking about boredom on the Círculo de Bellas Artes in entrance of a packed auditorium. She was speaking about how our society is “sick with boredom”, the probabilities that boredom presents and the 2 most bored teams: kids and the aged. The aged, in fact, who search “to be active in their life project, to give continuity to their biography, not to make necklaces with macaroni”. Ros Velasco spoke simply after the consultants in new applied sciences Margot Rot, Xavier Casanovas and Susana Martín Faúndez mentioned the use (and abuse) of those applied sciences, their regulation and “the possible rules of behaviour that we should all follow”.

At the identical time, on the Reina Sofía Museum, the artist Marina Núñez was taking a stroll with a bunch of curious folks, with whom she mentioned “contemporary art and its relationship with politics and emotion.” The occasions on Thursday morning are only a few of the handfuls and dozens of talks deliberate, freed from cost till full capability is reached. The afternoon storms have pressured some actions to be moved to the Círculo de Bellas Artes.

“This festival was born to promote the origin of thought, and to share it. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome,” mentioned journalist Lara Siscar on the presentation on Wednesday on an enormous stage in Plaza de España, who opened the pageant in entrance of 600 seats. All occupied. Siscar outlined the core of this primary version: “We will occupy the streets, the squares, as in Ancient Greece.” There will likely be 4 days of thought for anybody who desires to supply it, throughout philosophical walks, talks and speaker factors; a pageant conceived by “an exceptional man,” as Siscar mentioned, earlier than applause broke out for Alberto Anaut, president and director of the cultural firm La Fábrica, who died in July 2023.

Siscar was accompanied by Valerio Rocco, director of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, and Óscar Becerra, director of La Fábrica, organizers of the occasion, who defined how the pageant and its 11 venues would work. “Heraclitus said that we all tell the truth,” Rocco recalled. And that’s what they’re doing, making Madrid “think,” within the phrases of Becerra. “Today we believe that arguing is prevailing. Hopefully it will help us to see the shades of those who do not think like us,” mentioned Javier Moscoso, director of content material for the pageant, accompanied by Gonzalo Cabrera, General Director of Culture and Creative Industries of the Community of Madrid.

Some of the occasion's sponsors additionally appeared at Wednesday's occasion, corresponding to Olivia Loewe, from Allianz (“this is a perfect platform for the diversity of ideas, to understand the value of those who do not think like us”), and Sonia Mulero, from the Banco Sabadell Foundation (“these are days to work with words, which are so important for shaping the world and reality”).

Marta Rivera de la Cruz, the Culture Delegate of the Madrid City Council, mentioned: “Madrid is a city of streets. You can have a beer and watch a concert, but you also have to defend reflection and thought. That will make us freer and better.” The occasion was additionally attended by Eric Tallon, cultural adviser of the French Embassy, ​​and Fabian Krajewski, spokesperson for the German Embassy; each embassies collaborate with the pageant, which additionally organizes a “night of Franco-German thought.” The post-event speak, led by Eva Illouz, a Franco-Israeli sociologist, was interrupted by a small group of pro-Palestine activists. On the brilliant facet, it was the primary avenue confrontation of concepts of the pageant.

Just earlier than, the occasion on Wednesday was closed by Jordi Martí Grau, Secretary of State for Culture, who spoke about one of many phrases that will likely be most heard within the streets of Madrid as of late: “catharsis”. “In the contemporary world, complaints are logical, and the idea that the future no longer exists is growing. But complaints must be an activation; culture is the toolbox with which we must act,” he mentioned, earlier than calling for the creation of “a festival that is not only celebratory, but that serves to find the best ideas, and to apply them.” “Let’s hunt for useful ideas!” he urged. Let’s hunt. Let’s not go away a single thought unfastened within the streets.