Arab & German Temporalities

What is time? How does time shape our lives, daily routines, actions, and research? In what era do we live today, how do past times appear to us, and what kind of future lies ahead? These and many other questions were explored at the BBAW Salon Sophie Charlotte 2024 on the topic of ‘Zeit’ (‘Time’). AGYA contributed to this event with the exhibition ‘Faith Travels by Streetcar’ and opened the AGYA Science Café for the second time.

AGYA Science Café

Take your time! This was the invitation to all visitors of the 2024 Salon Sophie Charlotte upon entering the AGYA rooms. Immersed in the enticing aroma of freshly brewed Arab coffee, guests in the AGYA Science Café were invited to engage with Arab and German AGYA members and alumni/ae and explore the captivating themes that drive the academy's interdisciplinary research. The walls were adorned with posters showcasing projects and activities from the past decade, displaying the impressive array of topics that have fueled a successful decade of Arab-German research cooperation.

AGYA Exhibition

Next door, visitors could explore a stunning art installation by Tim Greaves, which is the centerpiece of the exhibition ‘Faith Travels by Streetcar’ curated by AGYA member Dr. Stefan Maneval and based on an AGYA tandem project with Dr. Amro Ali. The exhibition delves into the rules, convictions and conventions of the monotheistic religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – as well as secular beliefs through objects of daily use. It explores questions such as: How are faith, norms and freedom related to each other? Does faith necessarily imply a limitation of freedom? How do members of religious and non-religious communities make their beliefs visible, and how are these beliefs perceived by others over time?

AGYA Talks

The evening’s host, AGYA Principal Investigator Prof. Dr. Verena Lepper, welcomed all guests and took them on a journey through time in celebration of AGYA’s tenth anniversary. After providing a brief history of AGYA, she highlighted the Academy’s role as a growing network of excellent minds from the Humanities, Life Sciences, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and the Technical Sciences, emphasizing that all AGYA members share a passion for science with a social impact. Based on the principles of self-governance, interdisciplinary research, gender balance and North-South-South cooperation, AGYA has enabled around 140 researchers over the past ten years to adopt new perspectives on global challenges in order to jointly seek innovative solutions and progress for the benefit of a common good.

Together, we look back at a decade of fruitful research collaboration, of intensive knowledge exchange, of continuous science diplomacy and of innovative science communication. Let us carry the spirit of AGYA with us as we step into the next decade. 

Verena Lepper, AGYA Principal Investigator

The AGYA Co-Presidents, Prof. Dr. Sascha Hein and Prof. Dr. Lobna Said then shared their individual journeys within AGYA. They emphasized that being an AGYA member involves embracing a collaborative and interdisciplinary spirit in one’s work, and described how AGYA members come together to identify and work on topics of common interest, fostering a rich environment of joint research and innovation.

We are researchers from all disciplines and we come together to jointly identify topics of common interest on which we then work together.

Lobna Said, AGYA Co-president

In their interventions, the AGYA Co-Presidents both emphasized that over time AGYA has evolved into a tightly knit community of trust, often referred to as the AGYA family. This sense of community enables ongoing exchange and communication, even during challenging times and circumstances, reinforcing the collaborative and supportive nature of AGYA's interdisciplinary work.

In times when economic hardships, violent conflicts, and political crises tend to highlight the differences, it is especially important to recognize and understand each other as neighbors.

Sascha Hein, AGYA Co-president

After the welcome addresses, the installation and exhibition ‘Faith Travels by Streetcar’ was officially opened by curator and AGYA member Stefan Maneval together with AGYA project partner Amro Ali. They engaged in a discussion on the plurality of notions of time, with a special emphasis on the concept of 'sacred time’. This AGYA talk was followed by additional presentations on the installation’s creation and the exhibition catalogue, held every full hour. Time flew by during an evening filled with fruitful discussions and inspiring conversations.
 

20 January 2024

Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), Germany