Title: Book Talk: Milo Rau’s “Reclaiming the Future”

Description: The future is bleak. What can we do, what must we do? Milo Rau about standstill, protest and commitment. 

Director and writer Milo Rau will discuss his latest book, Reclaiming the Future, a republished essay from the Zurich Poetry Lecture, 2022.

In our age of the “total present,” the world is only perceived as something that can be criticized, but no longer as something that can be changed. Which cross-border forms of protest still seem justified when the reality is that there is no alternative anyway? In his new book, Milo Rau shows how we can combat the perceived mood of doom. Drawing on his experiences as a director and activist, he talks about how to reclaim the future. In his radical essay he sets out to search for new forms of thinking, feeling and collective action. One thing is clear: the existing order must be disrupted, sustainably, persistently, again and again.

Date: February 7, 2024 4:30 pm EST

Location: Elebash Recital Hall, The Graduate Center, CUNY