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2021 "La Nuit des Idées" to discuss guide to life in the post-pandemic era

  • Date:2021-01-28
2021 'La Nuit des Idées' to discuss guide to life in the post-pandemic era

2021 La Nuit des Idées (Night of Ideas, 思辨之夜), an annual celebration of the sharing of knowledge and ideas, will take place on Jan. 28 at Taipei-based Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab).

First initiated by France in 2016, "La Nuit des Idées" is a gathering event dedicated to the circulation of ideas and knowledge between countries and cultures around the world, encompassing all disciplines, with artistic performances and philosophical debates, and an opportunity to reflect on the major issues of the time.

With support from the Ministry of Culture, the program follows a participatory format – after two roundtable discussions, participants are invited to branch out and form discussion groups on selected topics, and then conclude with a report on the proceedings at the end of these debates.

The theme for this year's edition is "Proches (Close, 近身)," to reflect on proximity as a source of danger but also of creative innovation, in the light of the global pandemic, in addition to questioning the evolution of contemporary sociality and our relationship to each other.

Four special guests are invited to share their ideas in the form of videos, including Director of the National Pilot Committee for Digital Ethnics in France (CCNE) Claude Kirchner, MakeSense Asia Director based in the Philippines Lea Klein, as well as Clément Mabi, post-doctoral researcher in Communication studies at Université de Technologie de Compiègne who spoke at the 2018 summit of "gOv," a decentralized civic tech community from Taiwan, and Rudy Cambier, co-director of Liberté Living Lab, who also came to Taiwan in 2018 as a guest of "Meet Taipei," a startup festival.

The event will begin with a performance by Formosa Circus Art (FOCA) and roundtable discussions moderated by playwright and curator Keng I-Wei (耿一偉). Additional notable speakers include co-founder of Muyueh Data Visualization Ronny Wang (王向榮) and honorary counsel to the Legislative Yuan Yu Wan-ju (余宛如).

The group discussions will include:

Topic 1: Potential ethics issues regarding cyber information during the pandemic period, moderated by webmaster of Plain Law Movement Yang Kuei-Chih (楊貴智)

Topic 2: The post-pandemic new norm: crisis-driven culture, innovation and creativity, facilitated by artist and curator River Lin (林人中)

Topic 3: Social engagement and social distancing, hosted by co-founder of “gOv” Chiu Hsiao-wei (瞿筱葳).

Topic 4: Zero-distancing in life: Distance between digital online vs physical presence, hosted by writer and actress Joanne Deng (鄧九雲).

Topic 5: Local vs. International, facilitated by coordinator of the Mekong Cultural Hub Jennifer lee (李慧珍)

Further information can be found on the official website and accupass.