Tag: intergenerational

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Queue to learn

The protests of students in France has been biased by reports on the violence by people who looted shops. The broadly unmatched learning ambitions of students has entered little into the reporting. In the 2 weeks after the protest students flocked to public libraries to learn in decent conditions. Nowadays, this includes access to fast internet and other sources of inspiration depending on interests. Researchers who were the primary users of the BNF have been outnumbered by advanced pupils and students ready to queue for 1 hour to catch a place even sitting on floors. This brings back the time of the baby boomers who entered with large birth cohorts into high schools and universities later on. Such social trends are predictable and adequate policy responses not even extremely expensive. Until education institutions are expanded there will be queues to learn. 

BNF queues to learn 2026-10-26
BNF queues to learn 2026-10-26
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Intergenerational peace

Law and courts serve the function of appeasement beyond the role of delivering judgements. Particularly in the realm of the International Court of Justice the dealing with crimes against humanity and their prosecution is hindered by lack of broad recognition and its force of implementation. Therefore, the international system of jurisdiction has to be explained over and over again to distance the practice of International criminal law and of justice implemented by who has won a war. Philippe Sands was awarded the peace prize of the German book trade association 2026-10. For some time already, he has become a major personality to explain and thereby defend the international criminal law by means of embedding international law into his fact-driven accounts of crimes against humanity. Since the Nuremberg trials to judge Nazi-terror, the task to continue to explain the horrors and atrocities in all emotions merits the broadest attention. The threats to humanity continue also in Europe and the voices of outspoken defenders of intergenerational peace on earth are dearly needed. (Image: extract of The last judgement by Jean Bellegambe 1520 Gemäldegalerie Berlin) 

extract of The last judgement by Jean Bellegambe 1520 Gemäldegalerie Berlin
extract of The last judgement by Jean Bellegambe 1520 Gemäldegalerie Berlin
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Booktok OMG OMG

The Frankfurt Book Fair #fbm26 has made considerable efforts to make it easy for the production of booktok content. The phenomenon of short recommendations of books by mostly young enthusiastic persons, some of them actually readers, has a proven record to influence decisions to buy books. In seemingly frank talks, booktokers admit that the first best solution is to go and get your copy or copies of different editions. Second best is actually reading them. Nothing wrong with that. After all, we all have many books on our shelves which we haven’t read or we haven’t finished reading yet – considering some books you want to refer back to several times or at a later stage in your life.
In 2026 the prestigious “Julius-Campe-Preis” for literary criticism and the promotion of reading (own translation) has been awarded to a critic commentator and booktoker, Thomas Sachsenmaier with an exceptionally broad reach in Germany. There are still too few literature critics who reach audiences across generations because of their presence in all media channels with high professional standards. Interesting “Booktok” is a skill, just like “youtuber” is a performance-based video production. “Oh-my-God (OMG), the times are a changing”.

Julius-Campe-Preis-an-Thomas-Sachsenmaier-2026
Julius-Campe-Preis-an-Thomas-Sachsenmaier-2026
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70s revival

Brussels celebrates each year the “Car free Sunday” as final part of the mobility week. On 2026-9-20 this event coincides with the very high oil prices again. Just like in the oil crises of the 70s in 1973 and 1979 saving energy for mobility and transport is high on the political agenda in many countries. Just think of the benefits of such events. Less consumption will reduce “greed-flation” and upward pressure on prices. Pollution levels of fine particles and noise are drastically reduced. Children feel safe while riding their bicycles, scooters or skateboards. Parents are no longer on permanent alert due to the risk of accidents. For those who remember or lived during the 70s, they might have a “déjà vu” experience and enjoy a revival of the 70s. The roller skates are up for a revival as well. 

Brussels Car free day 2026-9-20

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Given then Chosen

Family is first given and only later in life family becomes a matter of choice. This is a rather sequential perspective on family matters. A lot of ethnological as well as sociological research shows that the shadow of the given family can reach long into an individual’s later life. It is essential to be or become aware of the mutability of what constitutes a family. The ethnological variability across the globe of the norms and legislation that govern families is amazingly broad. The interference of religious beliefs and practices have always attempted to gain access to the nucleus of family life as an attempt to influence the “given part” of family.
It is a much more complex issue to understand and research the “chosen part” of partnership trajectories in a broader sense and from a life course perspective (Fasang et al. 2024). The social background and upbringing in a broad sense have a lasting impact on most people. However, there are enormous degrees of freedom to later on choose your friends, family or families. Societies across continents have chosen and invented particular rites of transitions between families and how to bridge networks. It is amazing that we tend to devote so little thought to this nucleus of our societies. 

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Free Lunch

Who told you that there is no free lunch? On the premises of “The Berlin Philharmonic” a group of toddlers and babies had a free musical lunch. On the occasion of the lunch concert on 2026-1-28 in the spacious entry hall young musicians (piano, Ana Bakradze, and violoncello, Carlo Lay) gave a concert with Sonatas from Beethoven (op. 69) and Britten (op. 65) to an exceptionally broad range of ages in the audience. People fully enjoyed the concert, irrespective of uncomfortable seating also on stairs, if they managed to find a seat at all. The occasional breast feeding seemed to be the free lunch for some privileged babies. The adults were invited to contribute a donation to the UN refugee fund. Instead of the usual seasonal coughing, there were delighted outcries from the youngest, which enchanted the aging audiences additionally. The 2 musicians excelled in concentration on their performance in spite of the challenging setting.

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Timely timeless

It is very timely to discuss timelessness. Some inventions or artwork appear to have a timeless value. The creation of books has this feature as we have known also a lot about the conservation and restoration of books across centuries. Timelessness is about an open-ended vision of time. In mathematics it is a usual part of the differential equations‘ calculus to handle infinity as an operationalisation or a form of a projection of time into timelessness. Humans have made considerable efforts to create material and, most of all, immaterial goods which try to exist independently from time. Geek or Roman philosophy are with us for more than 2000 years and we still benefit from returning to this original concepts. Egyptian culture and the wall paintings in caves still speak to us, thousands of years afterwards. Each clock suggests that time is advancing, but some treasures achieve the level of a timeless beauty, art or conceptual masterpiece. The more we talk about time, the more we shall cherish timelessness. (Image: Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin 2026-1, The clock screening)

 

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Utopian Mobility

From time to time we have to reconsider our investments in mobility infrastructure. What seemed to make sense in the 50s,60s or 70s often makes no sense 60 years later. Highways, which separate city districts like walls belong to rather utopian visions about City life and mobility, progress and living conditions. These utopian individualized mobility solutions don’t seem to serve us as well as we believed, or were made to believe, more than half a century ago. Empty highways midday at the turn of 2025/26 tell their own story about liabilities from the past and outdated ideas of technical and social progress. Sharing solutions have become very popular and the younger generations adopt already different mobility patterns than older generations. Each generation adheres to its own more or less utopian mobility model, adjustments are likely to be made accordingly. 

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Konzerthaus Espresso

Classical music in classicist architecture sounds like a perfect match. The audience is packed with people mostly 60+ years of age. One of the spectators happily admitted that without the espresso before the concert she would have a hard time to follow closely because after lunch at 2 p.m it is time for a rest rather than excitement.
The series of short concerts at lunchtime suits particular audiences. It is probably the only concert series where the queue in front of the toilet of men is equally long than the one for women. The short concert program allows for more experimental formats as well. Musicians who develop a solo program of shorter than standard concert hall duration can appear in high reputation locations and gain experience of performing in such prestigious settings.
With a “Zugabe” from the performer, but also in form of a small piece of chocolate for the audience at the exit, 21st century, classical Berlin knows how to charm its aging audience and population. Young performers learn that the mature audiences don’t bite any more. In case the sound and peaks become too modern they just adapt sound level of their hearing aids. It is perfect for all generations.

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Classic Farces

Molière’s theatre pieces were popular pieces. Born with the name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin and son of a rich “tapissier” of the rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, he made a tough choice to devote his life to touring as a ”farceur” and comedian, having studied also law in Orléans before. Only after his first successful performances, farces and theatre plays, he could afford to buy the theâtre du Palais Royal, despite a bankruptcy about 20 years earlier with his own theatre. The much later title “Troupe du Roi” (of Louis XIV) and a pension by the King assured a financial and political independence rarely found in this period of classic theatre.
Molière’s “Les fourberies de Scapin” was written towards the end of his life and as a classic farce in the 17th century. The story is full of funny scenes and witty dialogues, which make it a great “intergenerational” theatre play even today. The plot about the institution of marriage addresses a cleaving social and legal construct “marriage”, which continues to excite all generations and across centuries.
(Source: Histoire de la littérature française XVII siècle. Robert Horville  in (Georges Décote series editor)