Modeled on a 1947 project of the Hungarian art movement called the European School, the Invisible Symposium asks sixteen public intellectuals across the globe some of the most burning questions on modern democracy. Why is it ailing? What challenges will it face in the years to come? Writers from Jacobin, N+1, and The Nation deliver a staged reading of their responses, giving voice to a virtual conversation among the world’s most important thinkers.

Directed by Judith Barnes.

Edited by Roger Conover.

NORTH AMERICA

Cornel West, philosopher, United States
Margaret Atwood, author, Canada
Naomi Klein, author, Canada

SOUTH AND LATIN AMERICA

Íngrid Betancourt, politician and activist, Columbia

EUROPE 

Carsten Jensen, author and political columnist, Denmark
Chantal Mouffe, political theorist, Belgium
Garry Kasparov, chess grandmaster, Russia
Julia Kristeva, philosopher, Bulgaria/France
Leonidas Martin, artist, Spain
Péter Nádas, writer, Hungary

THE MIDDLE EAST 

Ariella Azoulay, curator and filmmaker, Israel
Shirin Neshat, visual artist, Iran/United States
Shirin Ebadi, J.D., Iran

ASIA 
Ai Weiwei, contemporary artist, China

AFRICA
Boualem Sansal, novelist, Algeria

AUSTRALIA
Larissa Behrendt, academic and writer, Australia

Emceed and Hosted by Brooke Gladstone.
Co-sponsored by Fritt Ord and The New School.

– See more at: https://pen.org/event/2013/02/14/invisible-symposium#sthash.nRqtPHf5.dpuf

Modeled on a 1947 project of the Hungarian art movement called the European School, the Invisible Symposium asks sixteen public intellectuals across the globe some of the most burning questions on modern democracy. Why is it ailing? What challenges will it face in the years to come? Writers from Jacobin, N+1, and The Nation deliver a staged reading of their responses, giving voice to a virtual conversation among the world’s most important thinkers.

Directed by Judith Barnes.

Edited by Roger Conover.

NORTH AMERICA

Cornel West, philosopher, United States
Margaret Atwood, author, Canada
Naomi Klein, author, Canada

SOUTH AND LATIN AMERICA

Íngrid Betancourt, politician and activist, Columbia

EUROPE 

Carsten Jensen, author and political columnist, Denmark
Chantal Mouffe, political theorist, Belgium
Garry Kasparov, chess grandmaster, Russia
Julia Kristeva, philosopher, Bulgaria/France
Leonidas Martin, artist, Spain
Péter Nádas, writer, Hungary

THE MIDDLE EAST 

Ariella Azoulay, curator and filmmaker, Israel
Shirin Neshat, visual artist, Iran/United States
Shirin Ebadi, J.D., Iran

ASIA 
Ai Weiwei, contemporary artist, China

AFRICA
Boualem Sansal, novelist, Algeria

AUSTRALIA
Larissa Behrendt, academic and writer, Australia

Emceed and Hosted by Brooke Gladstone.
Co-sponsored by Fritt Ord and The New School.

– See more at: https://pen.org/event/2013/02/14/invisible-symposium#sthash.nRqtPHf5.dpuf

Modeled on a 1947 project of the Hungarian art movement called the European School, the Invisible Symposium asks sixteen public intellectuals across the globe some of the most burning questions on modern democracy. Why is it ailing? What challenges will it face in the years to come? Writers from Jacobin, N+1, and The Nation deliver a staged reading of their responses, giving voice to a virtual conversation among the world’s most important thinkers.