The Tercentennial Gala at Johns Hopkins took place on March 8-9, 2024!

Staged Reading of Thomas Bernhard’s Immanuel Kant

In honor of the 300th anniversary of Kant’s birth, the Goethe-Institut Washington D.C. and Johns Hopkins University, in cooperation with the North American Kant Society, proudly presented the North American premiere of Immanuel Kant, an early-career masterwork by Thomas Bernhard, the great provocateur of post-World War II German theater and literature.

Often compared to Franz Kafka, Eugen Ionesco and Samuel Beckett, Bernhard treats a towering giant of European thought with his trademark blend of comic irreverence and acid-tongued observation.

Drew Lichtenberg, dramaturg and Artistic Producer and Literary Associate at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C., staged a reading of the absurdist play with professional actors.

The premiere took place on Friday, March 8, 2024, at 7:30 pm in the John Astin Theatre on Hopkins’ Homewood Campus in Baltimore, followed by a panel discussion.

Theater Program

Media Coverage

Conference “Kant and the World Today” at Johns Hopkins University (March 8-9, 2024)

Talks and panels explored the relevance of Kant’s philosophy for today, focusing on critical discussions of the implications of his philosophy for issues of political economy, the role of hope and despair in the face of global challenges, and Kant’s universalism and cosmopolitanism in light of questions of particularity, participation, and exclusion.

The conference was part of the North American Kant Society‘s Tercentennial celebrations and was organized by Lucy Allais (Johns Hopkins), Andrew Chignell (Princeton), and Katharina Kraus (Johns Hopkins).

Conference Program