Prof. Kerstin Stakemeier will participate in the international symposium Der Grosse Kanton. Rise & Fall of the BRD on Saturday, 6 December. Prof. Kerstin Stakemeier teaches art theory and education at the AdBK Nuremberg.
Der grosse Kanton: Rise & Fall of the BRD
International Symposium in Zurich
Friday, 5. December, 18:30–21:00 ETHZ, Hauptgebäude HG E 7
Saturday, 6. December, 10:00–20:00 Kunsthaus Zürich, Vortragssaal Moser-Bau
ORGANISATION
Anselm Franke (Master Cultural Critique at Zurich University of the Arts), Emily Dische-Becker (Diaspora Alliance), Philip Ursprung (Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur, ETH Zürich), and medico international. Hosted by Kunsthaus Zürich, with support from Zentrum Künste und Kulturtheorie (ZKK).
Project Assistance by Alex Karapancsev (Master Cultural Critique at Zurich University of the Arts) and Simon Nougué (Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur, ETH Zürich).
SPEAKERS
Schirin Amir Moazami, Patrick Bahners, Yossi Bartal, Tsafrir Cohen, Emily Dische-Becker, Diedrich Diederichsen, Sultan Doughan, Yassin Elhaj-Saleh, Anselm Franke, Behzad Karim-Khani, Sami Khatib, Teresa Koloma Beck, Yves Kugelmann, Sima Luipert, Daniel Marwecki, Katja Maurer, Eva Menasse, Dirk Moses, Ben Ratskoff, Nahed Samour, Eran Schaerf, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Danilo Scholz, Erhard Schüttpelz, Kerstin Stakemeier, Simon Strick, Ana Teixeira Pinto, Jakob Tanner, Adam Tooze, Hannah Tzuberi, Philip Ursprung, Eyal Weizman, and others.
The post-war period is finally history. Dwindling with it: the Federal Republic of Germany, beacon of a now-scrambled order. The success story of the BRD—the redemption of the Germans—once seemed to offer a model for how a nation could confront its history of violence. Historical reappraisal, critical discourse, and cosmopolitan cultural institutions: these sources of soft power allowed Germany to appear—and just as importantly, see itself—as a guiding light for freedom and democracy.
The era of the Federal Republic has ended not with its dissolution, but through a progressive hollowing out of long-established norms that once formed the core of its memory politics. Germany's acknowledgement of its history of violence—widely held as a prerequisite for renouncing nationalism—has been supplanted by an anti-immigration complex, where immigrants are blamed for everything that contradicts the nation's self-image of penitent reform. Dissent is met with increasingly authoritarian measures, as if a liberal democracy could be protected and defended by illiberal means. International law and human rights, the very structures that emerged from Auschwitz and decolonization, are being sacrificed for the sake of political expediency. The nation's pluralistic culture is being subordinated to a Staatsräson, which is increasingly at odds with its post-fascist consensus and opening massive rifts in German society.
Our interdisciplinary symposium, "Der grosse Kanton: Rise & Fall of the BRD", is a call for sharp analyses and bold theses, the kind that can sometimes only be provided by outsiders. The latest research on the social function of memory culture will be presented and debated by renowned experts in culture and media, drawing on recent cultural upheavals that are roiling Germany's body politic. From the critical distance of Zurich, rigorous historical and cultural-critical analyses will share a stage with polemical speculation and artistic reflections, enabling a plurality of perspectives currently not readily possible in Germany.
Published: 12/05/2025
