2023-07-27 18:04:00
“I have the feeling that reason is perhaps an endangered species today. Thank God we have laws and regulations in our liberal societies that are the same for everyone. Only occasionally do we overshoot the mark,” said physics Nobel laureate Anton yesterday Zeilinger. In his speech at the opening of the 103rd Salzburg Festival in the Felsenreitschule, the 78-year-old also asked the question: “Is truth a question of the majority?” His excursion into Albert Einstein’s biography provided the answer: “In 1905 he put forward the hypothesis of light quanta. Einstein was in Zurich and he was appointed to the Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1913. The endorsement states that he should be appointed although he occasionally overshot the mark in his hypothesis of light quanta.” At that time, the scientific majority was of the opinion that this was nonsense. “Later he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for this.” Zeilinger on the question of “why extreme populist positions have so many supporters”: “Maybe it’s regarding the fact that they have to be heard. Maybe you should sit down with them at the regulars’ table.”
Picture gallery: Political celebrities at the opening of the Salzburg Festival
(Photo: (APA/BARBARA GINDL)) Bild 1/10
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“Algorithms confuse”
At the opening of the Bregenz Festival, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen criticized the populist rhetoric of political parties. This time he recommended an agreement on what was common and swore the population to be optimistic. You have to talk to each other. “Burst your bubble,” Van der Bellen said, referring to the right-wing crushes on social media. So the Federal President fished out his mobile phone, called up his Instagram account and pressed “follow” on Norbert Hofer (FPÖ), his former opponent for the Federal Presidency. Followers of Herbert Kickl would believe they live in a completely different world than followers of Werner Kogler or Beate Meinl-Reisinger or Karl Nehammer or Andreas Babler or Alexander Van der Bellen. “We can complain regarding it or we can change it, let’s confuse the algorithms,” said the Federal President.
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Salzburg Festival: Van der Bellen’s opening speech verbatim
Salzburg’s ÖVP Governor Wilfried Haslauer vowed society to believe in miracles once more. Because of Haslauer’s coalition with the FPÖ, protests were feared around the opening, but this did not happen. A huge police force had cordoned off half of Salzburg’s old town. “Let’s be open to the miracle of art that great artists unfold for us here at the Salzburg Festival with so much dedication, with the whole range of their skills, with their interpretations and approaches, and in doing so open up spaces for us that don’t tolerate blinders “Haslauer said.
“Art is the answer”
Despite numerous rumors regarding her conflict with artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser, Festival President Kristina Hammer referred to his Salzburg surtitle “The world is out of joint”: “Actually, Hamlet’s lament is still a valid finding of the state of our world today. War, crises, Climate catastrophes – we are experiencing the greatest geopolitical and social upheavals of the last few decades. This is not a selective escalation of individual worrying conditions. The crisis has become permanent.” Art is an elementary force and perhaps the most effective answer to it.
At 12.56 p.m. Alexander Van der Bellen declared the festival open. By August 31, 179 performances will take place in 15 venues.
Infos: www.salzburgerfestspiele.at
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