More than a Word: Truth

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Sandra Richter

Be open and write – that was all Rilke wanted: a modest yet demanding wish. Based on new sources from the purchase of the large Rilke archive by the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach (German Literature Archive in Marbach), Sandra Richter sheds new light on one of the most popular poets of the German language. He emerges as a poetic philosopher with an idiosyncratic relationship to truth.

Sandra Richter is a scholar on German Studies and Literary Studies. She has been director of the German Literature Archive in Marbach since 2019 and professor of German literature at the University of Hamburg since October 2025. Previously, she taught and carried out research at Harvard, Stuttgart, Beijing, Philadelphia, Paris, and London, among other places. Her publications include A Global History of German-Language Literature (2017).

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Markus Gabriel

Is there such a thing as ethical truth(s)? The crises of our time seem to call for common ethical principles for common solutions. Markus Gabriel advocates a ‘new realism’. Despite the seemingly bleak situation, he is convinced that we are living in an age of moral progress.

Markus Gabriel is a philosopher and author. He studied in Hagen, Bonn and Heidelberg and took up his first professorship at the New School for Social Research in 2008. Since 2009, he has held the Chair of Epistemology and Modern Philosophy at the University of Bonn. Here, he is director of the International Centre for Philosophy North-Rhine Westphalia and of the interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Thought, which he founded. He is a regular visiting professor at the Sorbonne and the New School for Social Research, and since 2024 he has also been Senior Global Advisor at the Kyoto Institute of Philosophy.

Speaker: Louisa Clement

What is true knowledge? What impact do algorithms, AI and fake facts have on us, and how does our body relate to this? In her work ‘Body of Knowledge’, Louisa Clement explores the loss of our true – physical – knowledge in the light of an increasingly digital world and its supposed conveniences, which make people increasingly dependent on the internet and large corporations: ‘The violation of knowledge is therefore also a violation of our bodies and our freedom of action.’ (Louisa Clement)

The Bonn-based artist Louisa Clement completed her studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 2015 as a ‘Meisterschüler’ of Andreas Gursky. In 2016, she received the North Rhine-Westphalia State Funding Award for Fine Arts and can already look back on numerous solo and group exhibitions in renowned museums, galleries and exhibition venues in Luxembourg, Milan and New York, among others. In 2024, she was awarded the Bonn Art Prize. Her work ‘Body of Knowledge’ was most recently on display at the Kunsthalle Rostock.

Speaker: Ingo Dachwitz

The promise of the digital revolution is the salvation narrative of our time. The book ‘Digital Colonialism’ tells a different story: tech companies exploit people and nature in the Global South and do not care about the social consequences on the ground. With data and artificial intelligence, digital colonialism creates its own truth and perpetuates power relations that were long believed to have been overcome.

Ingo Dachwitz is a journalist and communications scientist. He has been an editor at netzpolitik.org since 2016 and is co-host of the Off/On podcast. He writes and speaks about data, power and the digital public sphere. His work has been recognised with awards including the Alternative Media Prize, the Grimme Online Award and the European Press Prize. The book ‘Digital Colonialism,’ which he co-authored with Sven Hilbig, was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize and was named Knowledge Book of the Year 2025 by the magazine Bild der Wissenschaft.