The festival of unexpected subjects was a theater performance where musicians and dancers, social scientists and philosophers explored their different positions. An active role was there for the audience, who emerged here as artists, researchers and philosophers themselves. They made drawings and observations in a fieldwork notebook designed for the occaision. The first edition of the Cross-over Festival for Art, Science & Philosophy: Unexpected Subjects took place in June 2023. The second edition will be in 2026. The theme will be Care.
In the festival, artists, philosophers and Scientist explore, together with the audience, how the world relates to and might relate to unexpected people and events.
The idea of the unexpected was part of the performance of the artists. They are specialized in improvising music (piano, violin, cello, percussion) and dance. This underlined a playful taking of risks when the unexpected is invited in.
The researchers as well as the musicians and dancers interpreted the themes of the festival with the methods familiar to them, by using their original disciplines, or by using crossovers and improvisations. The festival researchers used artistic forms, while the artists made the audience look at things in a different way.
How to live together as non-standard subjects? How can scientific work accommodate unexpected subjects? How may artists and their audiences help?
Click here for the Open Access program book, which includes an essay (Dutch and English) on the themes of the festival. It is designed by Ulrike Scholtes.
Pols, Jeannette; Rüttgers, Philipp; Scholtes, Ulrike & Benschop, Ruth (2023). Program book Festival Unexpected Subjects and essay: Art, science & Philosophy: a festival.
