"SZENARIO. Die Zukunft steht auf dem Spiel" - an evening with Florence Gaub

Premiere
Opening, Part 2

Anxiety about the future is everywhere. Most people are gripped by fears of social decline, the collapse of the order we know, war and peace - the defining worries of our time.

How does a citizen cope with such fears? And how does a sitting German foreign minister, who - like all politicians - is supposed to "protect the people from harm" and shape the future? The first public encounter between a futurist and a foreign minister promises to be something worth watching.

What can be done about the exhausting catastrophism of our days? Is there an antidote?

YES, says Florence Gaub. She is firmly convinced that the future is not a fate that happens to us, but something that can be shaped and even strategically planned - precisely because (!) it is full of unknowns. This applies to individuals just as much as to society as a whole.

Florence Gaub, courted by politicians and media across Europe, is no feel-good optimist, no shaman - quite the opposite. This remarkable woman is a futurist, political adviser, and director at NATO in Rome. She refuses to accept that we must experience the future as a dark destiny, and believes we can shape it rationally - each of us individually and society as a whole.

Florence Gaub ("Zukunft ist kein Zufall") asks the decisive questions: How do you recognise the right path? What are its consequences? How do you deal with mistakes? How do you learn? How do you avoid detours and dead ends on the road to the future? And how do you face them when they come?

The twist: Florence Gaub plays out her "Szenario" in public for the very first time as part of the opening of the Harbour Front Literaturfestival. The evening is literally a game - the opposite of a conventional book launch. It is played with the audience, whose role is: futurist, politician.