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Programme 11/12
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Programme 11/12
Knowledge and Belief
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| Dr. Volker Mattern | Head of Bayer Arts & Culture |
Are knowledge and belief really mutually exclusive today? There is no doubt that the significance of the Christian religion has declined, at least in western industrialised countries. What does religion teach people in the 21st century? Do people still live by their beliefs? Yes and no. By contrast, knowledge as a general category seems to have become an irreplaceable aspect of existence in the face of the increasingly rapid pace of new (scientific) discoveries. Knowledge without faith?
The Christian faith is in crisis, anti-semitism is resurfacing in many countries and the global importance of Islam is growing. Do these trends in faith and beliefs have an impact on knowledge? Knowledge through belief?
How can the love of wisdom (or the love of truth) – after all, that is the meaning of philosophy – help us answer these questions? In the academic study of philosophy, epistemology has long since given way to the philosophy of science. Irrespective of this, one question that still interests the “non-philosophers” among us is how to secure the soundest possible basis for what is commonly regarded as “knowledge”. In the light of the problems facing the world, the claim that knowledge is absolute is increasingly being disputed. This is where many people feel they have come full circle: Those who find knowledge a source of angst are turning their attention back to religion. Knowledge and belief!
Robert Musil described this dilemma as follows in his monumental unfinished novel The Man without Qualities: “ … despite his enormous dedication to science, he was never able to forget that the beauty and goodness of humans comes from what they believe, and not from what they know. However, ever since its origins in ancient magic, belief has always been linked to knowledge, if only in the form of preconceptions. Yet this old-style knowledge has long since rotted away, pulling belief with it into the same process of decay. The task today is therefore to restore those links.”
This task couldn’t be more relevant. Knowledge and Belief is an issue that people have addressed, consciously or subconsciously, from the start of time to the present day. Therefore, it is only natural that the intensive interaction with this issue is also reflected in the visual arts and in the work of musicians, playwrights, choreographers, authors and film-makers across time and cultures.
With a programme of over 150 events in the 2011/12 season, Bayer Arts & Culture will be endeavouring to showcase at least some of the ways in which the arts take up these central questions facing mankind as a basis for discussion. That continues our tradition of organising each season around a central theme. In the past season, our work included an increasing number of coproductions and projects initiated by Bayer Arts & Culture. This new focus, which has now been highlighted in arts magazines and the nationwide media, centres on three main elements: collaboration with our five partners in Berlin, the stART project and l'arte del mondo as Bayer Arts & Culture’s permanent orchestra in residence.
We have successfully linked up these three elements. The Leverkusen/Berlin cultural axis and the stART project are linked through the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch”, while the Brahms project brought together stART pianist Hardy Rittner and l'arte del mondo for a world premiere. Next year, l'arte del mondo will be giving its first performance in Berlin as an ambassador of Bayer Arts & Culture through a project in cooperation with the RIAS chamber choir.
These new approaches show that the work of Bayer Arts & Culture has a unique place in Bayer’s corporate social responsibility. I would like to thank you for your interest and suggestions and for your – often enthusiastic – response to our events. Your appreciation is the best endorsement of our work.
I look forward to welcoming you to our new season and hope that you will continue to support our programme through your interest. My team has made every effort to put together another stimulating, varied and entertaining programme for you. We look forward to seeing you.
Yours,
Robert Musil described this dilemma as follows in his monumental unfinished novel The Man without Qualities: “ … despite his enormous dedication to science, he was never able to forget that the beauty and goodness of humans comes from what they believe, and not from what they know. However, ever since its origins in ancient magic, belief has always been linked to knowledge, if only in the form of preconceptions. Yet this old-style knowledge has long since rotted away, pulling belief with it into the same process of decay. The task today is therefore to restore those links.”
This task couldn’t be more relevant. Knowledge and Belief is an issue that people have addressed, consciously or subconsciously, from the start of time to the present day. Therefore, it is only natural that the intensive interaction with this issue is also reflected in the visual arts and in the work of musicians, playwrights, choreographers, authors and film-makers across time and cultures.
With a programme of over 150 events in the 2011/12 season, Bayer Arts & Culture will be endeavouring to showcase at least some of the ways in which the arts take up these central questions facing mankind as a basis for discussion. That continues our tradition of organising each season around a central theme. In the past season, our work included an increasing number of coproductions and projects initiated by Bayer Arts & Culture. This new focus, which has now been highlighted in arts magazines and the nationwide media, centres on three main elements: collaboration with our five partners in Berlin, the stART project and l'arte del mondo as Bayer Arts & Culture’s permanent orchestra in residence.
We have successfully linked up these three elements. The Leverkusen/Berlin cultural axis and the stART project are linked through the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch”, while the Brahms project brought together stART pianist Hardy Rittner and l'arte del mondo for a world premiere. Next year, l'arte del mondo will be giving its first performance in Berlin as an ambassador of Bayer Arts & Culture through a project in cooperation with the RIAS chamber choir.
These new approaches show that the work of Bayer Arts & Culture has a unique place in Bayer’s corporate social responsibility. I would like to thank you for your interest and suggestions and for your – often enthusiastic – response to our events. Your appreciation is the best endorsement of our work.
I look forward to welcoming you to our new season and hope that you will continue to support our programme through your interest. My team has made every effort to put together another stimulating, varied and entertaining programme for you. We look forward to seeing you.
Yours,
Dr. Volker Mattern
Head of Bayer Arts & Culture
Head of Bayer Arts & Culture
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