In his highly anticipated new book The Earth Transformed (2023) Peter Frankopan revolutionizes how environments have shaped the development – and demise – of civilizations over time. Our desire to centralize the agricultural surplus is at the root of the bureaucratic state; our growing demands for harvest have resulted in an increase in the shipment of enslaved people. Peter Frankopan, author of the international bestseller The Silk Roads (2015) will open the fourth edition of the Forum on European Culture.

This oftenneglected climategeopolitical relationship will also shape our shared future. During the opening night of the Forum, Frankopan will reflect on this year’s central theme, ‘A Culture for Democracy’. Europe faces a crossroads. Do we decide on a future defined by imperialism and destructive exploitation or a future defined by democracy and ecological restoration?

Claudy Jongstra’s monumental artwork Guernica de la Ecología, with the exact same dimensions as Picasso’s famous war painting, will be the background and conversation piece of this opening programme. In her work, the internationally renowned artist and ecoactivist uses natural materials such as wool as a warning against climate change and a plea for biodiversity.

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