Sessions

All sessions

These events are all free to attend, however you may need to reserve tickets beforehand.

Special event,

Edward Said Memorial Lecture – Anti-blackness, settler-colonialism and the question of Palestine

5.30pm - 7pm (doors open 5.00pm) | Saturday 14 July

During the 1960s and 70s, the Palestinian struggle was central to a broader struggle to overturn colonialism as a legitimate form of governance. While most colonised peoples did achieve national independence, Israel has torpedoed a two-state solution and obviated the prospect of a Palestinian state. This talk explores how Palestinians now have the potential to pave alternative futures for themselves.

Art = Ideas,

MOD.IFY

Sunday 15 July

MOD.IFY: it's not what you know, will take you on an immersive and unexpected journey that will challenge what you think you know about what it means to be human. Explore artificial worlds and augmented realities, challenge your perception of pain and injury, be part of stories about space and place and consider what makes us human versus animal or machine.

Panel,

The art of nature

4pm - 4.50pm | Sunday 15 July

As we career headlong through the anthropocene period where human activity leaves its indelible, and often destructive, trace on the planet, we ask: how do artists respond to this? Hear three wonderfully diverse speakers, including artists, discussing their own practices and perspectives on nature.

Solo event,

The new Chinese Empire

9.30am - 10.20am | Sunday 15 July

Predictions of the coming collapse of China are today commonplace, but John puts the case for a radically different view: China as a new global empire guided by a one-party political system that faces serious challenges and yet enjoys surprising levels of public support and resilience.

In conversation,

Good things sometimes happen

9.30am - 10.20am | Sunday 15 July

The return to office of Mahathir Mohammed in alliance with his old foe Anwar Ibrahim has been remarkable. Can Malaysia really build a rejuvenated society and institutions? And, if so, is there any hope of political reconciliation for the Palestinians?

Solo event,

Suborbital spaceflight and the human body

9.30am - 10.20am | Sunday 15 July

Private citizens will soon be able to experience space travel on commercial suborbital space flights, which will revolutionise global travel (e.g. Adelaide to London in two hours). Using NASA's parabolic zero-gravity flights and the UK’s human centrifuge, Tom explores how high G forces affect the human body.