PAST EVENTS
Art and Activism in Amsterdam with Ai Weiwei
The Common Good offered an extraordinary opportunity in Amsterdam with one of the world’s most important living artists/dissidents, Ai Weiwei. He discussed the artist’s responsibility in this new age.
The Common Good offered an extraordinary opportunity in Amsterdam with one of the world’s most important living artists/dissidents, Ai Weiwei. He discussed the artist’s responsibility in this new age. Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most prominent contemporary artists and a renowned political activist. Dictatorship, human rights abuses, damage to the environment, the suffering of refugees – in his work, Ai Weiwei uncompromisingly 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.
This was made possible with a partnership with the Nexus Institute and Nexus Institute President Rob Riemen.
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist and activist. His activity as a dissident has gone hand in hand with his artistic career and he has continued to produce work testifying to his political beliefs while at the same time making plenty of room for creativity and experimentation. (1)
After returning to China from his studies abroad, Ai contributed to the establishment of Beijing’s East Village, a community of avant-garde artists. In 1997, he co-founded the China Art Archives & Warehouse (CAAW), one of the first independent art spaces in China. In 2003, Ai started his own architecture practice, FAKE Design. In 2007, as a participant of documenta 12, Ai brought 1001 Chinese citizens to Kassel as part of his Fairytale project. In 2008, Ai and the Swiss architecture team of Herzog and de Meuron designed the Beijing National Stadium. Recently, Ai Weiwei’s film Human Flow participed in the 74th Venice International Film Festival. (1)
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(1) Material from the Galleria Continua website.
A Conversation with Rob Riemen, “To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism”
The Common Good presented a special conversation with Rob Riemen, public intellectual and founder of the Nexus Institute in Amsterdam. Riemen offered a thoughtful meditation on the rise of authoritarian and xenophobic strains in many corners of contemporary Europe and beyond, and how the romanticization of authoritarianism in the western societies contributes to the steady erosion of democratic ideals.
The Common Good presented a special conversation with Rob Riemen, public intellectual and founder of the Nexus Institute in Amsterdam. Riemen offered a thoughtful meditation on the rise of authoritarian and xenophobic strains in many corners of contemporary Europe and beyond, and how the romanticization of authoritarianism in the western societies contributes to the steady erosion of democratic ideals. We ignore the new global changes at our own peril, is a warning that Riemen has sounded for some time that resonance in our hemisphere as well. Reimen’s latest book, “To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism”, is already a bestseller in many countries.
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“Extremely relevant, urgent call to receive true democracy and acknowledge the perils of the fascist ideology”
“This is a book for the people who want the West to regain its moral high ground, and who want to think hard about how to help help achieve that. ”
“Rob Riemen is one of the great modern champions of the enlightenment and the best of its legacy. ”
Rob Riemen, a European public intellectual and cultural critic, is the founder, president and CEO of the Nexus Institute, a leading international center for philosophical debate and and intellectual discourse. The Nexus Institute was founded in 1994 by Riemen to stimulate intellectual debate in the European tradition of humanism. The Nexus Institute is widely acknowledged for the quality of its insight into contemporary issues and an approach that offers the appreciation of the humanistic culture and philosophy as a counterweight to the dominance of commercial values in today’s society. Riemen has lectured around the world and is also an international best-selling author with a number of critically acclaimed publications.
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The Common Good has been hosting events since 2006 that cover important issues of today, highlighting speakers who have worked to bolster our democracy and can provide great insight on the issues that matter.