The
Institute of Art and Ideas, the online public philosophy platform, is pleased to
announce the launch of a regular format of standalone live debates entitled IAI Live, which will take place
totally online in an interactive virtual space. This represents a new solution
to the question of how to organise group events and encourage collective
thinking in the social distancing era.

The
IAI Live series will kick off with the debut event Passion,
Action and Hypocrisy on 26^th
October at 6pm
GMT. The debate will feature American anarcho-primitivist ecophilosopher John Zerzan, co-founder of Novara
Media and advocate of “fully automated luxury communism” Aaron
Bastani, high-flying banker turned Buddhist nun Emma
Slade, and former leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince
Cable. The panellists, who are at the forefront of thinking about politics
today, will tackle the brief:

From family feuds to Twitter tirades, many speak
passionately about the need for change, and draw inspiration from individuals
who risked life and limb for progress. Yet few act on their beliefs, other than
the occasional vote, and many continue to participate in systems that they
publicly condemn and deem unjust.

Are we cowards, hypocrites or
worse?

The
event’s groundbreaking virtual reality technology was developed at
HowTheLightGetsIn, the world’s largest festival of philosophy and music, whose
innovations were covered by the BBC, Financial Times and
HuffPost. Each IAI Live event will take place in a virtual space
consisting of:

• 
  a virtual pre-debate discussion hosted by the IAI, starting half hour prior to each IAI Live event and open to all attendees to explore their own ideas
• an immersive venue for the main debate
• a backstage, “Meet the Speakers” area where attendees can continue the debate with the participants after the main event
• a box office enabling attendees to browse ticket options and future IAI Live events

As
followers of the IAI have come to expect, the IAI Live series promises regular
debates with world-leading thinkers from all fields. Recent IAI contributors
include Noam Chomsky, Joseph Stiglitz,
Judith Butler, George the Poet, Paul Krugman, Slavoj Zizek, Deirdre McCloskey,
Carlo Rovelli, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Daniel Kahneman, and many more. The IAI
showcases speakers who are dedicated to forming radical new ideas and solutions
to the world’s problems.

The
Institute of Art and Ideas is an online public philosophy platform curating
video debates, specially commissioned articles, and interactive courses, all
hosted at https://iai.tv.

Tickets to the debut IAI Live event, Passion, Action and Hypocrisy, will go on general sale
on Thursday 14^th October. To explore the virtual space now, visit https://iai.tv/iai-live-venue/box-office/boxoffice-inside.

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/IAI_TV

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/theinstituteofartandideas

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/instituteofartandideas/

#iailive

For more information, press images and interview
requests, please contact press@artandideas.org.

The Arena is the main debate venue where speakers will
square off, with the discussion streamed live to
attendees.

The Circle is a cosy backroom area containing the Introductory table
where attendees can meet with IAI staff and fellow attendees before the event to
talk open-endedly about the upcoming debate – and everything else. It also
contains the Speakers table where the panellists will head to continue the
discussion and field questions from the attendees
post-event.