28.02.2024 – 03.03.2024
The Elevate Festival for music, art and political discourse will once again transform Graz into a hotspot for young, contemporary festival culture – for the 20th time in 2024. This year’s motto of the Graz Elevate Festival: “Western Promises”
The interdisciplinary programme offers performances, concerts, installations and DJ sets as well as workshops, film screenings, lectures and discussions.
The Elevate Festival will open at the Orpheum in Graz. The project “While…”, conceived especially for the festival, will also be presented here by director Sebastian Brauneis. The central 30-minute film is an illustrated stream of consciousness that will celebrate its premiere during the festival opening.
Discourse: “Western Promises”
In a world that is facing the highest level of violent conflict since the Second World War and in which democratic structures are increasingly eroding, the 20th anniversary festival of Elevate takes a critical look at the global situation under the title “Western Promises”. In 2024, current developments at the interface between science, art, media and civil society will once again be highlighted.
Researchers, activists and journalists will meet musicians and artists in Graz to discuss future issues practically. With free admission to the Heimatsaal in the Folklore Museum, there will be three workshops, three keynotes by internationally renowned experts, five panel discussions and three films on each of the main topics over three days.
The three-day discourse begins with the topics of fast fashion, climate solidarity and the role of art. Lisa and Wilfried Prantner will start with a project presentation from the association, “Bis es mir vom Leibe fällt”. They will report on the connections between fast fashion, online logistics and happiness, which they will explore in their project “In Search of Fulfilment”. Johannes Siegmund will give a keynote on the climate crisis and hold discussions on solidarity and creative thinking in the context of climate change, Geoff Mulgan will discuss economic interests, legal issues, progress and the role of promises such as the “European Green Deal” with Andrew Ringsmuth and Katharina Kropshofer, among others.
The second day will cover doomscrolling, artificial intelligence and net politics. A workshop on media, psychology and democracy, a keynote by Nick Srnicek on platform capitalism and discussions on power relations in platform economies are on the programme, as well as Tabea Glindemann from the feminist hacker collective “Heart of Code”, the renowned extremism researcher Julia Ebner and many more will take to the stage of the discourse programme in Graz’s Heimatsaal.
Fake news, right-wing populism and democratic deficits are the topics of the third day. Workshops on uncovering online fake news, a keynote speech by Shalini Randeria and discussions on global perspectives on democratic deficits will conclude the programme. The documentary film “Breaking Social” by Fredrik Gertten will conclude this year’s discourse programme.
Elevate Festival 2024
28.02.2024 – 03.03.2024
Graz, various locations
www.elevate.at
