Antigone: where is democracy today? treated the audience to a digital performance of Sophocles’ play Antigone that was performed live by theatre company Out of Chaos.
Framed as a play of resistance, we see the conflict between the private and the public sphere represented by the characters Antigone and Creon. Antigone asks us; what happens when our responsibilities as citizens clash with our values as individuals? How do we reconcile them when these are not aligned?
The play was followed by a panel discussion with Emeritus A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at University of Cambridge Paul Cartledge; artist and lecturer Harold Offeh and chaired by UP Projects’ Curator (Learning & Live Research) Elisabeth Del Prete. The panel discussed how culture nurtures and promotes democratic thinking and why art is essential in helping us develop curiosity and vital critical skills.
Experimenting with the potential of the digital sphere as a space for debate and collaboration, the event explored new ways of encouraging our community to participate online through the use of polling, brainstorming and Q&A tools.
