The Adelaide Festival of Ideas (AFOI) is a festival held in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

since 1999, usually biennially. It aims to foster the public promulgation, discussion and critique of culturally and socially relevant ideas from around the world. In 2021 it was held from Thursday 15 July to Sunday 18 July, under the auspices of a new and larger festival called

Illuminate Adelaide Illuminate Adelaide is an annual winter event held each July in Adelaide, South Australia. It includes free and ticketed events presented by local, national and international artists and companies, encompassing "art, light, sound and imaginatio ...

, which ran from 16 July to 1 August.

History

Founded by

Greg Mackie Gregory Alan Mackie is a South Australian cultural advocate and entrepreneur who has worked to promote the arts and culture in Australia. He was an elected Councillor at the Adelaide City Council (2000-2003, May 2020 - June 2022). He was co ...

, the AFOI first ran in 1999, and then every two years after that until 2013. From 1999-2009 the AFOI was produced under the auspices of the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

Corporation. The 2011 AFOI was auspiced by the South Australian Department of the Premier and Cabinet - Cultural Development Group, and the 2013 AFOI was produced under the auspices of The

Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October ...

Corporation, all with significant baseline funding from Arts SA. However, after this funding ceased late in 2014, the AFOI was relaunched as a non-profit incorporated association in 2015 in order to present the AFOI in 2016 and annually thereafter. From 1999 until 2009 it ran in July; in 2011, 2013 and 2016 it ran in October; and in 2018, the festival was held for three days in July. From the inaugural 1999 event, the AFOI program grew steadily from 28 sessions involving 27 speakers, to 88 sessions and 132 speakers (including session chairs) in the 2013 event. Each AFOI has an overarching theme within which the sessions are programmed. Themes have included: "''Hope and Fear''" (2003), "''Pushing the Limits''" (2009), "''Planning for Uncertainty''" (2011), and "''The real value of ..''." (2013). Earlier festivals were dedicated to a prominent South Australian who has had a significant impact on the development of ideas across a wide range of domains, be they geographical, intellectual, cultural or social. Dedicatees include

Lowitja O'Donoghue Lowitja Lois O'Donoghue Smart, (born 1932) is an Aboriginal Australian retired public administrator. In 1990-1996 she was the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (dismantled in 2004). She is p ...

(2003),

Frank Fenner Frank John Fenner (21 December 1914 – 22 November 2010) was an Australian scientist with a distinguished career in the field of virology Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focus ...

(2009), Barbara Hardy, environmentalist (2011) and

Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...

(2013).

Description

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas offers intellectual debate across conventional boundaries and demarcations of disciplines, agendas and cultural norms with the aim of challenging the fragmentation of public knowledge. In 2021 AFOI ran from Thursday 15 July to Sunday 18 July, under the auspices of the new and larger festival called

, which ran from Friday 16 July to Sunday 1 August.

Past festivals

;12–15 July 2018, "Who's at the Wheel?" The 2018 festival ran for three days in July,Greg Mackie, The Advertiser, 9 July 2018
featuring

Robyn Archer Robyn Archer, AO, CdOAL (born 1948) is an Australian singer, writer, stage director, artistic director, and public advocate of the arts, in Australia and internationally. Life Archer was born Robyn Smith in Prospect, South Australia. She b ...

, former president of the Australian Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs, language revivalist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, historian

Stuart Macintyre Stuart Forbes Macintyre (21 April 1947 – 22 November 2021) was an Australian historian, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne from 1999 to 2008. He was voted one of Australia's most influential historians. Early lif ...

and author Benjamin Law. ;21–23 October 2016, "Make or Break" The 2016 festival hosted around 70 guests and 48 sessions, and was dedicated to

Phillip Adams Phillip Adams, Philip Adams, or Phil Adams may refer to: Sports * Phillip Adams (American football) (1988–2021), American football cornerback * Phillip Adams (sport shooter) (born 1945), Australian pistol shooter * Phil Adams (cricketer) (born 1 ...

AO, FAHA, FRSA ;17–20 October 2013, "The real value of..." The 2013 festival ran in conjunction with the

. The speakers were asked think about what matters are of real significance rather than currently publicised in their fields, and to discuss "the real value of...". It was dedicated to

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and science communicator

. ;7–9 October 2011, "Planning for Certainty" The theme of the 2011 AFOI was " lanningwith reasonable probability to shape the improbabilities that confront us as individuals or a community". It was dedicated to environmentalist, Barbara Hardy , who was the 2014 SA Recipient of the Senior Australian of the Year award. ;9–12 July 2009, "Pushing the Limits" The 2009 AFOI looked a range of issues relating to "the power and consequences of the ethic of exploration and expansion which shaped, and perhaps risked, the modern world". It was dedicated to

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, thei ...

. ;5–9 July 2007, "Which Way to the Future?" The 2007 AFOI focussed on the future for all of us, assuming a set of desirable aims, asking "How do we get there? How do we bequeath a better world for our children?". It was dedicated to jurist and Royal Commissioner,

Elliott Johnston Elliott Frank Johnston (26 February 1918 – 25 August 2011) was an Australian jurist and communist activist. As a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia (1983–1988), he was the only communist to serve as an Australian judge. He ...

QC. ;7–10 July 2005, "What is to be Done?" The 2005 AFOI explored how ideas could be transformed into action. It was dedicated to medical researcher,

Basil Hetzel Basil Stuart Hetzel (13 June 1922 – 4 February 2017) was an Australian medical researcher who made a major contribution to combating iodine deficiency, a major cause of goitre and cretinism worldwide. Early life and education Hetzel was bor ...

AC. ;10–13 July 2003, "Hope and Fear" The theme for the 2003 AFOI was chosen before the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, and before the ''Tampa''- Children Overboard affair. The 2003 AFOI was dedicated to Aboriginal leader

AC, CBE, DSG. ;12–15 July 2001, "Scarcity and Abundance" AFOI sessions covered a range of topics, including water, population, addiction, intoxication, and reconciliation. It was dedicated to prominent lawyer and social activist, Sir

Ronald Wilson Sir Ronald Darling Wilson, (23 August 192215 July 2005) was a distinguished Australian lawyer, judge and social activist serving on the High Court of Australia between 1979 and 1989 and as the President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportun ...

AC KBE CMG QC. ;9–11 July 1999, Unthemed The inaugural AFOI examined a diverse range of topics:

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

, including the changing nature of community, truth in the media, the notion of good and evil, and the potential of new technologies.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelaide Festival Of Ideas

Ideas In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. ...

1999 establishments in Australia Festivals established in 1999