A Day on the Green 2025 - summer festival at Kulturforum
On Sunday, September 14, 2025, celebrations will once again take place at the Kulturforum Berlin. For the fourth time, the cultural and scientific institutions as well as St. Matthäus Church will be organizing a public festival for young and old, this time under the motto “Paradise.” The WZB will open its doors to the public as well, inviting visitors to an architectural tour and a discussion event with sociologist Eva Illouz.
3.00 pm
Social issues, set in stone
At the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), its researchers examine the challenges facing our society. But the building itself, with its old wing and postmodern new wing, is a reflection of social developments as well. Built in 1894 as the headquarters of the Reich Insurance Office, the building, into which WZB moved in 1988, has its own aesthetic and political history. Following in the footsteps of August Busse and James Stirling, visitors can discover grand architectural lines and lovingly hidden details in the “Kleiner Reichstag” (Small Reichstag) and the “Geburtstagstorte” (Birthday Cake).
Meeting point: Main Entrance Reichpietschufer 50
A guided tour with Katrin Schwenk, head of events and networking at WZB
CANCELLED
Emojis, likes, and the expropriation of feelings
Unfortunately, the reading has been cancelled due to illness. The house tour will take place as planned.
The Israeli-French sociologist Eva Illouz talks with the theologian Simon Kuntze about the spiral of emotions and money in social media and what is at stake in this game.
Internationally renowned for her book “Why Love Hurts” and numerous other publications, Eva Illouz has been investigating the interplay between emotions and consumption for many years. Her most recent book, “Explosive Modernity,” examines the effects of political crises on emotions in society, and her Stuttgarter Zukunftsrede “The Future of Emotions,” co-authored with WZB visiting scholar Jonas Ferdinand, deals with the new enchantment of the world by technology.
Eva Illouz is Director of Studies am Centre Européen de Sociologie et de Science Politique in Paris and holds a research professorship at the WZB on “Emotional Idioms of Capitalism.”
Simon Kuntze, of Berlin Mission, previously worked as the city pastor in Potsdam and parish pastor of the Friedenskirche in Sanssouci Park.
Location: Wintergarten of the WZB (main entrance at Reichpietschufer 50)
You can find our information on data protection for photo and film recordings here.
The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please inform Cornelia Klinghammer (cornelia.klinghammer [at] wzb.eu ()) if you need any help.