Thursday, May 15, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Nürnberg / Gleißbühlstr. 9 / 90402 Nürnberg

European Security after Trump

Gideon Rose, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

A generation ago, Europe appeared to have moved beyond traditional security concerns. With few external military threats and the assurance of stable transatlantic security guarantees, the continent embraced peaceful integration and comprehensive debellicisation. Defense budgets shrank, armed forces contracted, and attention shifted toward softer policy areas. That era is now over. In this lecture, Gideon Rose will explore how Moscow’s aggression, Beijing’s predatory mercantilism, and the uncertainty surrounding Washington’s long-term commitment have put hard power back at the forefront of Europe’s agenda. He will examine how governments across the continent—shaken by the recent geopolitical shocks—are reassessing their defense postures and rearmament, and are reconsidering their place in the global security order. What has truly changed? And how far will this new strategic awakening go?

In cooperation with Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Nürnberg. Please visit: www.dai-nuernberg.de/kulturprogramm for more information.

Friday, May 16, 7:00 p.m.
Location: Salon am Moritzplatz / Orienstraße 58 / 10969 Berlin 

Fanon—On Violence and Decolonization

Adam Shatz, US Editor, London Review of Books

How did Frantz Fanon’s life and writing become so seminal for decolonial movements worldwide? And why has his analysis of colonial oppression (and his defense of anticolonial violence) remained so contentious? Join Berlin Review for an evening of readings and discussion with Fanon's biographer and spring 2025 Academy fellow Adam Shatz, writer and activist Emilia Roig, and historian Joseph Ben Prestel on one of the most influential political thinkers of the twentieth century. (Free entrance, limited seating.)

In cooperation with the Berlin Review

Monday, May 19, 7:30 p.m. 

Art in a State of Siege: Berlin, Kurinskij, Nuremberg 1942-47

Josepeh Koerner, Writer, Filmmaker, and Professor of History of Art, Harvard University; Trustee, American Academy in Berlin

Art historian and Academy trustee Joseph Leo Koerner presents his new book, Art in a State of Siege (Princeton University Press, 2025). Using Berlin as a point of orientation, he explores how in extreme cases of collective experience art becomes a currency of last resort. What do artworks look like in such cases? What signals do artists send when enemies are at the city walls and the rule of law breaks down, or when a tyrant suspends the law to attack from inside? Art in a State of Siege tells the story of three compelling images created in dangerous moments and the people who experienced them, whose panicked gaze turned artworks into omens.

Wednesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m. 
Location: Hörsaalruine / Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité / Virchowweg 17 / 10117 Berlin

The United States, China, and the Future of AI and Global Innovation

Samm Sacks, Senior Fellow, New America; Senior Fellow, Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center

The tectonic plates of the international order are shifting at the same moment as the rules for emerging technologies like artificial intelligence are yet to be written. How will the trajectory of China and US–China relations impact transformative technologies reshaping societies and the world? China and technology expert Samm Sacks unpacks the possible impacts upon bilateral relations and the global tech supply chain. Sacks will be in discussion with Rebecca Arcesati, lead analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). Moderated by Felix Lee, editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung Dossier.

Saturday, May 24, 6:30 p.m. 
Location: Neue Nationalgalerie / Potsdamer Straße 50 / 10785 Berlin

How Culture Helps Human Flourishing

Kulapat Yantrasast, Founder and Creative Director, WHY Architecture

What does the museum of tomorrow look like? What conditions allow cultural institutions to thrive in today’s world? As two of the world’s most iconic museums – The Met in New York and the Louvre in Paris — reimagine their galleries and evolve to meet the challenges of the future, they have both turned to the same visionary architect: Kulapat Yantrasast, the founder and creative director of WHY Architecture. Join Yantrasast for a lecture on his inclusive and sustainable design philosophy and his compelling vision for the future of museums as sites of empathy, “where people of all backgrounds come to experience and appreciate many diverse cultures and ways of life.” He will explore the evolution of the museum, from a temple of art to a dynamic cultural playground and will discuss his approach of “acupuncture architecture,” demonstrating how thoughtful, sensitive interventions and renovations can have profound, transformative effects, forging connections across times and cultures.

Tuesday, May 27, 8:00 p.m. 
Location: DAI Heidelberg / Sofienstrasse 12 / 69115 Heidelberg

Migrationsgeschichte des Holocaust: Die Zukunft der Erinnerungskultur

Agnes Mueller, Professor of German and Comparative Literature, University of South Carolina

As the generation of Holocaust survivors passes away, so too does direct testimony of its horrors. This loss, argues Agnes Mueller, affects how we think about migration, marginalized people, social and economic mobility, gender, the environment, race, and class. In this talk, she looks at contemporary German–Jewish fiction by young post-Holocaust writers who deftly articulate their evolving identities and sometimes controversial ways of understanding the Shoah. She highlights two popular novelists—Olga Grjasnowa and Kat Kaufmann—whose protagonists are suspicious of authenticity and firsthand (survivor) accounts, question Germany’s culture of commemoration (Erinnerungskultur), and are alert to the country’s resurgent racism and antisemitism. These young authors also deal with complex themes of Jewish ancestry and Muslim identity and the reality of multilingual, migratory writing, given that many new Jewish voices in German literature today originate from Russia and Eastern Europe.

In cooperation with Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut (DAI) Heidelberg and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

This event will be held in German.