What is considered an acceptable opinion has been increasingly narrowed down in recent years. The 30th edition of The Art of Assembly asks where the limits of freedom of expression lie, what we have to listen to, how we can combine the need for safe spaces with the need for agonistic spheres – and when the state should intervene. Looking at the history of the Enlightenment, philosopher Susan Neiman doubts that the explosive current debates in Germany, for example, are really about freedom of expression. The historian Aziz Al-Azmeh profiles Arab and Islamic topoi present in Germany today and juxtaposes considerations of universalism with an intensified discourse of culturalism and cultural difference.
Following the cancellation of this edition at short notice due to an intervention by the City of Munich against the list of speakers, Villa Stuck together with The Art of Assembly and the participants decided to go ahead with the event as planned nonetheless.
This edition is part of the series "The Condition of No. German Case Studies of Cancellation and Boycott" at Villa Stuck Munich, curated by Tania Bruguera, Florian Malzacher, Roland Wenninger.
In coproduction with Villa Stuck & INSTAR.
