Program / phil.COLOGNE List of all events
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List of all events
Englisch | German
According to Ivan Krastev, the European Union was built on a fear of the past. Today, what Europe fears is the future. The core of our crisis is that democracy only works when the future is seen as… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event Opening event! Rediscovering the Future. With Ivan Krastev
Event data
- Date: Sat. 06 June 2026
- Time: 18:00
- Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
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Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language interpretation
In a time when the political camps are becoming ever more entrenched, the political and public discourse is increasingly marked by radical intransigence. Urgent issues are debated fiercely but… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event The Art of Compromise with Yasmine M’Barek and Volker Wissing
Event data
- Date: Sat. 06 June 2026
- Time: 21:00
- Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
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Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
In her new book Marble, Mercury, Mist, Judith Schalansky embarks on a journey through the material conditions of our world. Starting with a marble block weighing nearly 17 tons – which has captivated h… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Sun. 07 June 2026
- Time: 17:00
- Location: Filmforum im Museum Ludwig
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Accessibility
Götz Aly is one of the most renowned experts on the history of the Nazi era and the Holocaust. How Could This Happen? Germany 1933–1945 is his opus magnum. With great precision, he describes the me… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Sun. 07 June 2026
- Time: 17:00
- Location: Flora Köln
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Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Malicious photo montages, digital smear campaigns, threats of violence – what sounds like the dark outer reaches of the internet has become a grim daily reality for many women, especially p… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Sun. 07 June 2026
- Time: 20:00
- Location: Flora Köln
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Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Governments and societies around the world are shifting to the right, authoritarian forces are gaining influence, and minorities are coming under increasing pressure. Accusations of fascism are… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event When does fascism begin? With Mark Terkessidis and Eva von Redecker
Event data
- Date: Sun. 07 June 2026
- Time: 20:00
- Location: Brunosaal
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Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
“I am the chosen one,” said Donald Trump in 2019. Since beginning his second term in office, Trump has acting according to the “Madman Theory,” which posits that people who appear to be unpredictable make th… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Mon. 08 June 2026
- Time: 17:30
- Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Humane artificial intelligence – is that a contradiction in terms? No, it’s a necessity, believes philosopher Markus Gabriel. He sees an opportunity in the rapidly accelerating digital revolution. In any… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Mon. 08 June 2026
- Time: 17:30
- Location: Brunosaal
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Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
His work takes journalist Paul Ronzheimer to the world’s trouble spots: He has reported from war-torn regions and crisis zones, such as Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan. In Germany, he works as the d… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Mon. 08 June 2026
- Time: 20:30
- Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
English | German
Japanese philosopher and political economist Kohei Saito is one of the world’s best-known economic visionaries. His book “Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto” sold over half a million copies in Japan alone… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Tue. 09 June 2026
- Time: 18:00
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
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Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language interpretation
For decades, the unspoken foundation of German foreign policy was that the USA guaranteed our security, China bought our goods and Russia supplied our energy. This equation has broken apart. In Who… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Tue. 09 June 2026
- Time: 18:00
- Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
-
Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, Oswald Spengler – names from the past that are coming up again. The anti-democratic thinking of the Conservative Revolution in the Weimar Republic is experiencing an om… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Tue. 09 June 2026
- Time: 19:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Grüner Saal
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Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
The event was originally scheduled for lit.COLOGNE in March 2026 but has been postponed. Tickets already purchased remain valid. Tickets could be canceled via myticket or your ticket office (until March 31, 2026).
Discussion in English; reading in German
Since the publication of his autobiographical debut “The End of Eddy”, Édouard Louis has been considered “France’s biggest literary sensation” (THE NEW YORK TIMES). He followed it up with further acclaimed … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Tue. 09 June 2026
- Time: 21:00
- Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
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Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
-
- Englisch
- Deutsch
When does a vague feeling of uncertainty become the concrete question of whether to go or stay? In Germany today, many Jews, Muslims and people with non-white skin tones feel increasingly threatened… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Tue. 09 June 2026
- Time: 21:00
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Never before have there been so many investigations into mere words, whether the topic is migration, climate policy, Ukraine, or the Middle East conflict. Today, the state defines numerous political… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event Freedom of Expression! With Ronen Steinke
Event data
- Date: Wed. 10 June 2026
- Time: 17:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
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Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language interpretation
We like to think that humans rule the Earth. But our fate is actually decided by tiny organisms that are invisible to the naked eye. With his book “The Hidden Life of Trees”, Peter Wohlleben changed our… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event The Hidden Heroes – Peter Wohlleben on the secret life of bacteria
Event data
- Date: Wed. 10 June 2026
- Time: 19:00
- Location: BALLONI-Hallen
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Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Event will be recorded for TV. No late entry possible! Show will be broadcast on June 11, 2026, at 9 p.m. on 3sat.
The internet is flooded with information that is artificially generated and often incorrect. Bots and AI produce texts, images and interactions that depict our sphere of reality convincingly up to a… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Wed. 10 June 2026
- Time: 19:00
- Location: Altes Pfandhaus
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Accessibility
In his new book, bestselling author Florian Illies opens up yet another chapter of the past: In Dreams of Fire, he explores the pre-scientific art of alchemy, whose ultimate goal was the… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event Dreams of Fire – Florian Illies and the alchemist of Peacock Island
Event data
- Date: Wed. 10 June 2026
- Time: 19:30
- Location: Flora Köln
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Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
What do the humanities achieve – and what have they failed to do? Hardly anyone can answer this question as pointedly as Hans Ulrich “Sepp” Gumbrecht, one of the most prolific contemporary humanities schol… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Wed. 10 June 2026
- Time: 20:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language interpretation
Narcissism is everywhere these days – as a pop-culture buzzword, a moral reproach, a description of contemporary society, or as a clinical diagnosis. But what lies behind the term? In The Insatiable S… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event The insatiable self – Thomas Arnold and Thomas Fuchs on narcissism
Event data
- Date: Thu. 11 June 2026
- Time: 17:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
French | German
When Michel Foucault died in 1984, France lost one of its most important philosophers. His influence on politics and culture continues to this day. In 1989, writer, sociologist and philosopher Didier… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Thu. 11 June 2026
- Time: 17:30
- Location: BALLONI-Hallen
-
Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
English | German
Around 2,500 years ago, one man had the idea that confronting the fundamental and seemingly unanswerable questions of life was the best thing that ever happened to him. He believed that a life of… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Thu. 11 June 2026
- Time: 20:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
When does a protest become a criminal act? And what happens to a democracy that takes its most engaged voices to court? Early one morning, a special police unit storms a young activist’s apartment, c… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Thu. 11 June 2026
- Time: 20:30
- Location: BALLONI-Hallen
-
Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
For many people, rolling out the yoga mat each morning is part of their daily routine. But do they know which tradition yoga comes from? The first yoga sutras – instructions for spiritual practice – are… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Fri. 12 June 2026
- Time: 17:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Event will last 180 minutes, including intermission
We are currently experiencing a revolution whose consequences cannot yet be predicted. AI writes, decides, diagnoses and monitors. The questions this brings up are not academic ones. They are… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Fri. 12 June 2026
- Time: 19:00
- Location: BALLONI-Hallen
-
Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Peter Thiel believes in the end of history – and wants to speed it up. A new political theology is emerging from Silicon Valley and spreading across the world: apocalyptic, anti-democratic, m… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Fri. 12 June 2026
- Time: 19:00
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Grüner Saal
-
Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language and Easy Language interpretation
All bodies, women’s in particular, are constantly subject to evaluation mechanisms. But who decides what is considered beautiful? Should you jump into self-optimization and beauty mania, or is it b… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Fri. 12 June 2026
- Time: 20:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Easy Language Available
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language and Easy Language interpretation
It is described as an epidemic and the “new social issue of our times” (Hendrik Wüst): loneliness. It is increasingly seen as one of the greatest challenges facing our society, on both a personal as well… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Sat. 13 June 2026
- Time: 17:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Easy Language Available
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Chinese | German
China’s significance in global politics is growing. Under Xi Jinping, the People’s Republic has adopted a more assertive foreign policy agenda: a close partnership with Russia, threatening gestures tow… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
More information about the event Superpower China – Wu Guoguang on Xi Jinping’s global politics
Event data
- Date: Sat. 13 June 2026
- Time: 19:00
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Grüner Saal
-
Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language interpretation
On talk shows, in parliamentary debates or on social media – everyone is talking about “victims”. But who do they actually mean and why is the term so fiercely disputed? In Anti-Victim: Why We Despi… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Sat. 13 June 2026
- Time: 20:30
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
When discussing politics, we often draw on references to architecture and city planning: people take to the streets, the public sphere is seen as a marketplace of ideas, and glass-walled parliaments… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Sun. 14 June 2026
- Time: 17:00
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
Jacques Tilly, the renowned float builder for the Düsseldorf Carnival, and cabaret artist Jürgen Becker are two voices that have been pushing the boundaries of satire for years. Tilly’s work has rec… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Sun. 14 June 2026
- Time: 20:00
- Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
-
Accessibility
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
With German Sign Language interpretation
Class, status, prestige – social hierarchies are a feature of every society, and yet they are not a law of nature. In Klasse. Die Entstehung von Oben und Unten [“Class: The Emergence of the Top and the… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.
Event data
- Date: Mon. 15 June 2026
- Time: 19:00
- Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
-
Accessibility
- Sign language interpreting Available
- Induction loop Available
- Wheelchair-accessible Available
- Assistance dogs welcome Available
