Wednesday 18 November, 18:30

Geoffroy de Lagasnerie

Booking Required

Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, French philosopher and sociologist, examines the foundations and limits of democratic theory. He investigates whether principles such as majority rule, voting, representation, popular sovereignty, parliamentarism and adversarial electoral debate remain the best means to legitimate governance. The discussion opens the political imagination to alternative, more rational and just mechanisms for legitimizing public authority.

Participants are invited to reflect critically on democratic norms and consider practical reform pathways.

In French.

Grand-Rue 40,
1204 Genève

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Photo Credit: DR

19 – 20 September

Monsters of the City

Lectures & Workshops

Maison Rousseau

Thomas Flahaut, novelist and dramatist trained at the Swiss Literary Institute of Biel, has published several novels with Éditions de l’Olivier and poetry at Castor Astral.

This workshop builds a collective “Geneva Directory of Monsters”, mapping strange, dreamlike and horrific urban phenomena and imagining monsters that inhabit spaces of social violence. Participants will examine the hybrid zone between reality and the fantastic to explore how fiction can reveal urban tensions and make visible hidden forms of violence.

In French.

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28 January – 23 December

Create Your Own Rousseau-Style Herbarium

Lectures & Workshops

Jardin botanique

This workshop explores the traditional process of assembling a herbarium specimen, inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s collections. Participants learn scientific techniques for pressing and mounting dried plants on old paper, practice botanical labelling and nomenclature, and select specimens to create a personal herbarium sheet. The session examines preservation methods, identification principles and the historical context of Rousseau’s approach, combining practical skills with scientific insight to produce a lasting botanical object.

In French.

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Sunday 20 September, 14:00

Poetics and Politics of Everyday Life

Lectures & Workshops

Villa Bernasconi

Featuring Ernestyna Orlowska, Kélina Gotman, Jacob Lachat, Angela Marzullo, Mickaëlle Provost, Candice Dela Fudzie (with aima), Kairaan Kika and Youyang Qin, the session brings together contributors for discussions, a roundtable and original performances.

This episode examines the poetic and political forces embedded in everyday life, engaging with the texts of Rivaz and interrogating their contemporary resonance. Speakers explore how quotidian practices reveal power relations, cultural memory and modes of resistance, offering critical perspectives on why these themes remain urgent.

In French.

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28 January – 23 December

Our Biodiversity: Memory game

Lectures & Workshops

Jardin botanique

This interactive memory challenge invites participants to test their memory while exploring practical ways to preserve biodiversity based on Geneva’s municipal strategy. Players match “before-and-after” images that illustrate individual and institutional actions, and each correct pair reveals concise information explaining the measure. The activity examines themes such as habitat restoration, species-friendly practices, urban greening and policy responses, helping participants understand the impact and rationale behind everyday and organisational conservation choices.

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Monday 21 September, 13:00

Preventing Burnout: Rethinking Workload

Lectures & Workshops

Espace 3DD

Facilitated by coaches from Big Bloom, this collaborative hackathon gathers leaders, managers, employees and students to tackle workplace burnout through collective problem-solving.

Participants investigate causes like mental overload and performance culture, ideate and prototype practical interventions to detect early signs and redesign workloads and rhythms. The session emphasizes actionable strategies for organizations to preserve team energy and implement tested, scalable solutions.

In French.

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21 – 25 September

Conversations on Love

Lectures & Workshops

Uni Dufour

Featuring invited speakers Wajdi Mouawad, Dominique Eddé, Nathalie Piégay and Agnès Giard, the series gathers voices from literature, theory and cultural research to reflect on love’s complexities.

Presentations examine the courage of not loving, love as a life‑force, literary and theoretical discourses, and contemporary forms of attachment including artificial loves in Japan, probing how public dialogue and interdisciplinary inquiry sustain critical humanist perspectives.

In French.

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Geoffroy de Lagasnerie