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Nexus Symposium 2016
Dutch citizens vote in a consultative referendum on the Association Agreement between the European Union and the Ukraine on April 6. The discussion is heated. In Brussels, the EU keeps a close eye on the outcome in the Dutch referendum. At stake is not only a trade union and closer cooperation between these two parties, but also the relations between member states within the EU. Is this referendum not actually a turning point, a battle for the future of Europe?
Opponents of the treaty with Ukraine consider it an undemocratic attempt to increase the power of the EU. In their eyes, the EU is a bureaucratic monster that gradually threatens the sovereignty of its member states while simultaneously robbing them. They turn their backs to the EU, reject the transfer of sovereign power to Brussels and withdraw behind clearly defined national boundaries. Proponents of the agreement emphasize the need to stand together within Europe in order to ensure security, stability and economic prosperity for all European citizens. Without dismissing the need for questioning the current EU, they still see it as the best way to reinforce European cooperation and values such as peace, civil rights, solidarity and prosperity – values that must be accessible to everyone.
Where do Europe’s borders actually lie? Are these borders geographically, historically or culturally defined? Is further expansion of the EU necessary, and what is the role of America and Russia? ‘The Battle for Europe’ presents a lively debate between euro critics and euro lovers, between supporters and opponents of rapprochement with Ukraine and allows you to discuss with thinkers and politicians of international standing about the fundamental problem underlying the Dutch Referendum: What kind of Europe do we want?
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Previous events
Nexus Conference 2016
The news from around the world is far from positive: authoritarian regimes are on the rise, the political systems in the EU and US are fractured and ineffective, and millions of people are forced to flee from war, violence and poverty. The state of the world is precarious; yet there are also optimists who believe in the saving power of science, technology or international law and institutions, who argue that the world is really headed in the right direction and that pessimists are misguided or short-sighted.
On Saturday 12 November in Amsterdam, an international cast of activists, scientists, writers and philosophers took the stage to discuss the deeper questions behind the current political, ecological and social crises. What is the defect in our civilization? Is material progress enough, or should progress have a moral or social basis? Is technology a blessing or a curse? And what will save the world – politics, art, science, or faith?
Nexus Symposium 2018
Singer and writer Patti Smith, her guitarist and rock-and-roll-historian Lenny Kaye, and Dylan-biographer Sean Wilentz – whose father ran the 8th Street Bookshop where Allen Ginsberg’s Beat Generation gathered – lived through and helped shape the social and cultural revolt in the 1960s. Through images and music, they showed the audience what counterculture was and what it can mean for us today: An Education in Counterculture.
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• Buy a ticket for the Nexus Symposium (click add to bag)
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What is the perpetual value of the arts? How can innovative treatments of classical material comment on our fast evolving society? How to deal with ‘the other’? Listen to what Peter Sellars has to say about this!
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Nexus Friends and Supporters get free access to all the events on this platform. Contact the Nexus Institute at info@nexus-instituut.nl with your name and the postal code linked to your membership to obtain a coupon code that will give you access. Without the correct coupon code this product can not be purchased.
More events will be uploaded in the coming weeks.
Nexus Symposium 2016
What is the state of democracy today in the USA? Why do many Americans consider their political system ‘broke’? What are the consequences of this, now and in the future? With Jeb Bush, Anne Applebaum, Roger Berkowitz, Randall Kennedy, Derek Shearer and Sean Wilentz.
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How does this work?
• Buy a ticket for the Nexus Symposium (click add to bag)
• Go to your bag (upper right)
• Insert your coupon (if you have one)
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Nexus Conference 2020
A varied group of internationally renowned thinkers take a seat at the coffee table of the Nexus Institute. Together they discuss the causes of all these crises and the resulting fear phenomena, and how we can together ensure that we can leave this era of fear behind us as soon as possible.
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How does this work?
• Buy a ticket for the Nexus Conference (click add to bag)
• Go to your bag (upper right)
• Insert your coupon (if you have one)
• Proceed to check-out and finalize your order
• Watch the Nexus Conference
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• Go to ‘My account’ and log in to (re)watch the Nexus Conference
The Ring: it is a symbol of limitless power and riches, corrupting the mighty and keeping the masses in servitude. In Der Ring des Nibelungen – Wagner’s four-part opera masterpiece – this old, corrupt world goes up in flames to make way for a new world of brotherhood, beauty and love. But what will guide us when the old gods, values and traditions have been destroyed? What will a new world order look like?
‘To create intellectual clarity about life itself’ – that was Thomas Mann’s ambition with his masterpiece The Magic Mountain. In the spirit of its founding novel, the Nexus Institute has been bringing together the foremost thinkers and artists from all over the world for the past 25 years. To celebrate our 25th anniversary, the Nexus Symposium 2019, ‘The Magic Mountain Revisited’, revolved around the themes and music from The Magic Mountain.
Dictatorship, human rights abuses, damage to the environment, the suffering of refugees: Ai Weiwei addresses the most urgent issues facing the world today. His political activism and creative brilliance made him one of the world’s most appreciated and relevant artists, at great personal risk: he was arrested, had his passport confiscated and his studio destroyed by the authorities. Who better to ask about the responsibilities of an artist than Ai Weiwei?
It is the oldest tale in the history of humankind: the story of the battle between good and evil, between light and darkness, truth and lies, creation and destruction. Theologians and philosophers, scientists and politicians have debated the question for centuries: how do we defeat the forces of evil? What is evil, and do ‘good’ and ‘evil’ even exist as absolute values? And what is a good life?
Revolutions continue to occur, and questions about the destiny of humankind and society remain unanswered. Why do revolutions happen? What can we learn from the fact that the French Revolution ended in terror and the Russian Revolution degenerated into totalitarianism, while the American Revolution was successful? Which movements will bring freedom in the twenty-first century? Who will oppose power and rise against it? Where will they find strength and inspiration? And what will be the true last revolution?
