Salon 2.0 goes Alpbach!
Come and enjoy the unique atmosphere of a participatory salon! For the first time, the creative and successful Pro Action Café format from the new, innovative salons in Vienna, Bregenz and Innsbruck is also being offered in Alpbach.
Did your impressions at the Forum Alpbach stir something in you that absolutely needs further exploration? This is the place for new projects and ideas — you'll meet old or new friends, and relationships will be built and deepened almost as a matter of course, all within a mindfully hosted space within the space, with a fine bite to eat and a cosy glass of wine!
This evening is also suitable for anyone who wants to meet inspiring people, look beyond their own horizon, spend time in good conversation, and get a glimpse of the Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations (the art of hosting good conversations). After a brief introduction to the different qualities of listening, we move into practising dialogue with one another, shaped by the topics participants bring. By regularly changing dialogue partners, we weave the collective knowledge in the room together. Don't have a project of your own? Then you can contribute your unique life experience and knowledge to the group process, get to know the Pro Action Café facilitation method that originates from Art of Hosting in its practical application, and benefit from the evening in this way.
We look forward to seeing you!
Warm regards,
Karin Duftner, Ursula Hillbrand & Ursula della Schiava Winkler
Date: 30 August 2015
Time: 7:00 pm – 21:00 am
Salon 2.0
In recent years, the significance of conversation for generating innovation has been (re)discovered. Lester and Piore called conversation the "missing dimension" in innovation management. It is, they argued, both a necessary foundation and, at the same time, an instrument for producing innovation.[1]
Regardless of the specific intention behind such a gathering place, the art of hosting is important for creating a hierarchy-free atmosphere — the special quality found at the interface between public and private. Whether such a place wants to call itself a salon or something else (in the past, some initiatives deliberately chose a different name, such as "Dachstube" in 19th-century Berlin, to distance themselves from the upper middle class), what matters is the culture of interaction, listening and conversation that shapes such a place. The art of conversation and hosting lies in meaningfully replacing small talk as a bonding ritual.
The salon as an interface between "public and private."
The concept of the salon:
The concept of the "salon" often evokes a feeling of wellbeing for body, mind and soul, supported by good food and interesting conversation. Paris, Vienna, Berlin and other capitals have a long-standing tradition of "salons." Above all, women from bourgeois or noble backgrounds acted as hostesses and were, in this capacity, called salonnières. The activity of the "salonnière" gave women — who otherwise had no way of holding official roles in the 17th and 18th centuries — the opportunity to further educate many other women in this way.
This concept became significant above all for the Arab world, where women began establishing literary salons in all major cities such as Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem and Aleppo.
Within the "protected space" of the salon, the free flow of conversation, mutual exchange and a certain degree of equality were fostered. Gifted salonnières in Europe and the Arab world began creating a particularly fertile atmosphere for innovation in art, culture, music, literature, philosophy, politics and society, together with guests from the most diverse backgrounds. Many of the intellectual salons in Paris paved the way for the French Revolution, and artists, poets and musicians had a safe space to present their work before offering it to the wider public.
Salons have always been places of protected "trying out." The concept of "safe space" was just as important in the past as it is, now more than ever, today!
We apply elements of Art of Hosting to demonstrate participatory conversation formats and experience the benefits of collective intelligence, which unfold their full potential especially with a vibrant, diverse group of people from many different parts of society.
[1] R.K. Lester and M.J. Piore, 2004. Innovation — The Missing Dimension
Organiser:
AoH-Salonhosting GmbH
Bregenzer Salon
No registration is required for this event.