Activities RRI
The Ritman Research Institute strives to create opportunities for scholarly exchange through lectures, conferences, round tables and other events. To further stimulate conversation in the academic community, videos of our events will appear here.
30 MARCH 2023 - Mondrian and theosophy | Michel Didier, art historian (Language: Dutch)
21 JUNE 2023 - Roundtable 'Hermes Yesterday and Today' | with Prof. dr. Wouter Hanegraaff and Dr. Justin Sledge
This event brings together two of the most prominent voices about hermetic traditions and discourses. Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. He has many scholarly publications, including his most recent book, Hermetic Spirituality and the Historic Imagination. Justin Sledge is the creator of the YouTube channel, Esoterica, which has more than 300K followers. Following short impulse statements by the two speakers, a moderated discussion will take place. Both the in-person audience and people who view remotely will have the chance to pose questions. In this way, we hope to include the perspectives of scholars, practitioners and anyone interested in hermetic texts and the traditions and discourses that they have sparked.
30 MARCH 2023 - Mondrian and theosophy | Michel Didier, art historian (Language: Dutch)
Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) came from a strict Calvinist family. It perhaps explains his almost devout devotion to the ideal of perfect purity, harmony and austerity.
In 1908, Mondrian attended lectures by Rudolf Steiner for the Dutch Theosophical Society, which he joined a year later. Also in 1908, Mondrian began to incorporate theosophical ideas into a number of paintings. It proves to be a good tool to realise his pursuit of total spiritualisation, of purity. The idea that death and destruction are necessary for development ('becoming') from the material (matter) to the immaterial (spirit and soul) is depicted by Mondrian through flowers in developmental stages from the 'natural' to the 'pure' colour.
Very useful for his quest is the view that 'nature exists for no other purpose than the experience of the soul'. Nature is the revelation of the material and, according to the theosophical view, we are in the fourth, most material of the seven pulsations or 'rounds' in the life cycle of the planet; from here, the earth will become increasingly ethereal. In landscapes and flower still lifes, Mondrian thus strives to depict the universal 'Oneness', the dynamic balance of opposites and contrasts. To this end, he strips the sense-perceptible world of its 'substance', until only a non-figurative, 'pure' geometric form remains.
Symbolism proved a dead end, but in Paris, via Cubism, he eventually developed his New Image, the ultimate consequence of his pursuit of the unity of body, mind and soul.
Programme
The café is open from 18:15. The lecture starts at 19:30. From 20:30-21:00 there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Afterwards, you can have a drink in the café.
About the speaker
Michel Didier (1960) is an art historian and has been giving lectures, courses and tours for 36 years. He also has several books and more than 500 articles to his name. On art and esotericism, he has written articles and given lectures and courses.
Date: 30 March 2023
Time: 19.30 - 21:00h
Tickets:
regular € 15
Zoom €12,50
student €8,50
Language: Dutch
Zoom tickets
This lecture will also be streamed live from the Grand Sael of the Embassy of the Free Mind via Zoom. You can also ask questions via Zoom after the lecture. You will receive the Zoom link when you purchase a Zoom ticket. Within two weeks after the lecture, you will receive a personal link to the recording of the lecture. So if you cannot be there on the evening itself, you can still follow the lecture.
13 APRIL 2023 - The Renaissance started in Baghdad | Koert Debeuf, Professor Middle East Studies, Brussels University
In most history books the European Renaissance is described as a revival of Greek and Roman literature, architecture and philosophy, after old manuscripts had been found back in monasteries. However, the truth is more complex, and actually more interesting. Aristotelean, Platonic and Neoplatonic ideas moved from Athens and Alexandria to Harran, in today’s Turkey. From there, they moved to Baghdad, where these pagan ideas had to be made compatible with a monotheistic religion: Islam. These new ideas then travelled to Cairo and Cordoba in Al Andalus. The Latin translations of these Arabic works caused an intellectual revolution in Paris, from where it moved to Italy where they triggered the philosophical Renaissance.
The idea that many cultures have contributed to philosophy was recognised during the Renaissance. One proof is the painting of Raphael, The School of Athens, (1513), where we not only find Greek philosophers, but also Hermes Tresmegistes, Plotinus, Averroes, and most probably also Zoroaster. The idea of philosophia perennis, or eternal philosophy, was at the heart of Renaissance philosophical thinking. The aim of the lecture is to show how these ideas travelled and eventually shaped the European mind. The intellectual journey will end in The Netherlands, with Spinoza and his friends, who triggered the European Enlightenment.
Programme
The café is open from 18:15. The lecture starts at 19:30. From 20:30-21:00 there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Afterwards, you can have a drink in the café.
About the speaker
Dr. Koert Debeuf is a professor Middle East Studies at the Brussels University (VUB). He holds a PhD in Philosophy (VUB) and a MA in Ancient History (Universities of Leuven and Bologna). His doctorate studied the influence of Arabic philosophy on European philosophy and why this disappeared from the European books of history of philosophy. From 2011 tot 2016 Debeuf lived and worked in Cairo as an envoy of the Liberal and Democrat group in the European Parliament. It gave him the opportunity to travel intensively in the Arab world, and also to study Islamic history. From 2003 to 2008 Debeuf was strategic advisor, speechwriter and spokesperson of the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. After 2016, he was director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy Europe and Editor in Chief of the EUobserver. He has written several books on politics and geopolitics. His book “Tribalization. Why war is coming” (2018) was translated into Arabic and Japanese. His last book “Waarom dit niet de laatste oorlog is. Over de psychologie van internationale conflicten” (2022) was translated into French. Debeuf is often asked as an analyst on geopolitics in international media.
Date: 13 April 2023
Time: 19.30 - 21:00h
Tickets:
regular € 15
Zoom €12,50
student €8,50
Language: English
Zoom tickets
This lecture will also be streamed live from the Grand Sael of the Embassy of the Free Mind via Zoom. You can also ask questions via Zoom after the lecture. You will receive the Zoom link when you purchase a Zoom ticket. Within two weeks after the lecture, you will receive a personal link to the recording of the lecture. So if you cannot be there on the evening itself, you can still follow the lecture.
We organised the conference Amsterdam as Haven for Religious Refugees in the Early Modern Period at 10-12 November 2022, you can read the conference report here.