18 November 2025 | Presence: This presentation explores the development of glass technology in 17th and 18th century China as a field shaped by artisanal expertise, imperial patronage, and cross-cultural exchange. Focusing on Boshan workshops and the Qing imperial glassworks, in examines how Chinese craftsmen and Jesuit Missionaries collaborated in the refinement of materials, furnaces, and colors. By situating these interactions between court and society, the talk highlights how glassmaking became a site where global science and local craft intersected, transforming both technology and meaning. 

The new book by Karoline Reinhardt and Gottfried Schweiger talks about what we owe young migrants and why. It provides a nuanced framework for reflecting on fair migration policies and on our collective moral responsibilities toward young people on the move.

1 December 2025 | Presence: What is the relationship between unsettling, threatening, or even horrific realities and the activity of artists and intellectuals who pursue “purely” aesthetic or academic endeavors? Can art or scholarship have a direct effect on socio-political reality, and should it aspire to do so? Conversely, when does aesthetic, artistic, or historical contemplation become a kind of escapism, a healthy or unhealthy coping mechanism with unbearable realities?