Kultursymposium Weimar 2016 | 1-3 June

The Sharing Game

The Goethe-Institut’s Kultursymposium Weimar dissects the promises of the Internet economy – and shares genuine community experiences. […] The Goethe-Institut invited hundreds of scientists, activists, intellectuals and artists to Weimar to talk about sharing and exchange – in other words, what holds society together at its core. (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

This was KSWE16

Sharing and exchange are basic human cultural practices. They play as big a role in poor countries as they do in affluent societies. But when do I actually share – and with whom? What social and cultural developments emerge from the various forms and manifestations of sharing and exchange? What is the meaning of trust in times of couch surfing and car sharing?

Three hundred participants from the fields of culture, business, science and politics gathered in Weimar on 1–3 June 2016 to discuss ideas about the topic of “The Sharing Game – Exchange in Culture and Society” in a creative atmosphere. Classic formats such as lectures and panel discussions were complemented by fishbowl conversations, exchange performances and other artistic interventions.

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The Goethe-Institut’s Kultursymposium Weimar 2016 examined and discussed processes of sharing and exchange around the world. Why do people exchange or share with each other? Cultural traditions, local initiatives, artistic adaptations and scientific approaches enriched the Kultursymposium Weimar with new voices and ideas.

In Weimar, artists, young academics and students met with opinion leaders from all over the world, including Yochai Benkler (Harvard), Rachel Botsman (Sydney), Ute Frevert (Berlin), Eva Illouz (Jerusalem), Hartmut Rosa (Jena), Tomáš Sedláček (Prague), Joseph Vogl (Berlin) and Jeremy Rifkin (Washington D.C.).

View All Speakers of 2016

HIGHLIGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS

Programme Highlights

The Kultursymposium Weimar explored various aspects of the theme of sharing and exchange across the different strands of the programme, including the following questions: What cultural values are associated with the practice of sharing and exchange? What new networks are created by collaborative economic forms? What role does trust play in the sharing economy? Do food and car sharing, couch surfing, swap parties, and so on constitute cultural, social or economic phenomena – or all of them at once?

One strand of the programme addresses the cultural significance of sharing and exchange, their anthropology and development in the history of ideas. The second thematic focus is exchange as a basic element of communication, society and religion. Participants can discuss the idea of global public goods and shared property as part of the topic of sharing as utopia. If sharing is an acquired trait – and thus not an anthropological constant but an ontogenetic civilizational achievement – how much (culture-specific) pressure is exerted to achieve this educational goal? This question is explored in the strand on sharing and exchange as a doctrine. And finally, the last strand of the Kultursymposium Weimar programme will navigate the question of how sharing and exchange is carried out in networks of cultural exchange.