Viennese lectures
Wiener Vorlesungen - The Dialogue Forum of the City of Vienna
History and purpose
The city of Vienna has under the official leadership of Mayor Helmut Zilk launched a lecture series to life, which deals as "Dialogue Forum of Vienna" with current social issues from an explicitly critical scientific perspective. The idea was inspired by the great success of a lecture by the sociologist René König on April 2, 1987 in the Vienna City Hall. Since the spring of 1987, the Vienna Lectures have analyzed, commented on and criticized the major political, economic and cultural changes: the end of the East-West conflict , the process of European integration , the developments in a globalizing world, the confrontation with the recent past , the developments in everyday life and art , the presentation of the fascinating worlds of innovative and excellent scientific knowledge.
The Viennese lectures take place on average once a week in the ballrooms of the Vienna City Hall; often over 1000 listeners come to scientifically sound analyzes of the political, social and intellectual situation of the time. The Viennese lectures are based on an understanding of science that is obligatory for universitas; they analyze topics in an interdisciplinary manner with constant reference to current and explosive problem areas. There is therefore no subject-related or department-related perspective, but always dealing with the issues related to the problems of society and the world.
At over 1000 events, 3000 speakers from all continents of the world were in Vienna City Hall to present their findings and analyzes. Over 500,000 listeners discussed with the most famous thinkers.
Since 2018, the Vienna lectures have not only taken place in the Vienna City Hall, but also in various other places in the city.
Speakers
Since 1987 more than 3000 speakers from all continents have been guests at the Vienna Lectures at 1000 events - from A (like Marie Albu-Jahoda from Essex / GB) to Z (like Anton Zeilinger from Vienna or Harry Zohn from Massachusetts / USA), among others Aleida Assmann (literary and cultural scholar), Ulrich Beck ( sociologist ), Pierre Bourdieu ( sociologist ), Manfred Eigen ( biochemist , Nobel Prize winner ), Maurice Godelier ( ethnologist ), Jeanne Hersch ( philosopher ), Niklas Luhmann ( knowledge sociologist ), Jeremy Rifkin ( Economist ), Aminata Traoré ( social psychologist ), Jody Williams ( Nobel Peace Prize laureate ) or Jean Ziegler (sociology).
Program planning, organization, contact
The historian and cultural anthropologist Hubert Christian Ehalt was responsible for planning the program from the beginning until 2017 . He and his team in the cultural department of the City of Vienna have continuously developed the project. At the beginning of November 2017, Daniel Löcker became head of the lectures in Vienna.
Viennese lectures for reading
200 books in eight book series document the results of this lecture series:
- Vienna Lectures in the City Hall (Picus Verlag)
- Viennese lectures. Edition Social Criticism (Picus Verlag)
- Viennese lectures. Conservatories and studies (WUV / facultas or Lehner Verlag)
- Viennese lectures. Research (Verlag Peter Lang)
- Karl Kraus lectures on cultural criticism from Vienna (provincial library)
- Encyclopedia of Viennese Knowledge (Library of the Province)
- Urban Culture Library (Provincial Library)
- Austria - Second Republic. Findings, criticism, perspective (StudienVerlag)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Introduction by Hubert Christian Ehalt in: Udo Jesionek: Urban juvenile crime: punishment - rehabilitation - therapy? Picus, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-85452-552-3 .
- ^ Orf.at: Viennese lectures in a new guise . Article from January 9, 2018, accessed on January 9, 2018.
