THE GREAT THEATRE OF THE WORLD

Due to the rising COVID-19 numbers in Vienna, we have decided that no analogue events with an audience will take place at the Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue for the time being. The conversation will be recorded and will be available from 25.9.2020 on our Youtube channel retrievable.

THE GREAT THEATRE OF THE WORLD
The power of imagination in times of upheaval

„The great world theatre is a place where the world can reinvent itself.“
Philipp Blom's analysis of the current upheavals

We live in the best of all worlds: Never before have we been at peace for so long, never before have we been so rich, so secure. We tell ourselves these stories. But what if they don't correspond to reality? When democracies crumble, hatred between social groups grows, economic growth stagnates and the risk of a climate catastrophe increases? In his major essay, Philipp Blom shows how it is possible that the West is in crisis not despite, but because of peace and prosperity. Nothing in our past has prepared us for this. The signs are pointing to a storm, and the battle for the future will also be a battle of stories, in front of everyone, on the stage of the world theatre.

Petra Herczeg is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna and a freelance author for ORF
Rainer Rosenberg is a journalist at ORF, blogger and lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna
Philipp Blom studied philosophy, history and Jewish studies in Vienna and Oxford. He lives as a writer and historian in Vienna and writes regularly for European and American magazines and newspapers.

The Great World Theatre. The power of imagination in times of upheaval was published by Zsolnay in May 2020. 128 pages, ISBN 978-3-552-05980-1