Rothko museum will host a public discussion on the freedom of expression
At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 27 February, the Rothko Museum will host an open philosophical discussion “Breaking down the Walls: Freedom of Expression as a Common Value”, organised by the Riga Stradins University Faculty of Social Sciences and Media Diversity Institute Global.
Freedom of expression is a fundamental freedom enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, just like in most other democratic countries worldwide. It goes back to the philosophical search for the normative protocol of the new social contract at the dawn of modernity.
How do we understand this norm today? What gradual changes has this concept undergone (or not) in the previous century with its rapid technological and societal changes? What are our current feelings and perceptions of otherness? What are the necessary conditions for deliberative communication in today’s controversial, often populist public discussions? What role does the media play to ensure and promote freedom of speech? How does social change affect the freedom of expression and its uses in public life? What limitations on free speech do we (as a society) accept; what are the acceptable limits of artistic expression and another (related) freedom – namely, the freedom of the press – and how could this change our society? To what extent can all social sub-groups and groups have the same idea about the freedom of expression in order to tear down the walls that divide us and collaborate rather than fight?
The discussion will be chaired by Tanya Sakzewski, Media Diversity Institute Global, London, UK, and Michał Głowack, University of Warsaw, Poland.
The panel of speakers will include Inna Plavoka, journalist and editor-in-chief of Chayka.lv, Joren Dobkiewicz, media literacy activist, New East, Vladislava Romanova, marketing specialist, author of Daugavpils – the City of (Im)Possibilities, Ivo Folkmanis, sculptor, specialist at the Rothko Museum, and Alnis Stakle, artist, photographer, Assistant Professor at the Riga Stradins University.
Viktorija Kovaļova and Kristina Kovaļova will deliver a dance performance.
The event is part of the EU HORIZON 2020 public programme under the project MEDIADELCOM https://www.mediadelcom.eu/.
The event will be held in English.
Admission is free of charge.
