Barcelona Pensa ends reaching its participation expectations
The third edition of the philosophy festival Barcelona Pensa ended last Saturday, reaching the participation expectations. Without having global data for attendance in each of the thirty-six activities that were carried out during the six days of the festival, the directors of Pensa, Núria Sara Miras and José Díez, say that “the level of participation has been, like in previous editions, extraordinary. However, we didnʼt put the “at full capacity” poster -and there were people that could not join the activities in many occasions- in the 90% of the proposals that appeared in this yearʼs program.
The third edition of the philosophy festival Barcelona Pensa ended last Saturday, reaching the participation expectations. Without having global data for attendance in each of the thirty-six activities that were carried out during the six days of the festival, the directors of Pensa, Núria Sara Miras and José Díez, say that “the level of participation has been, like in previous editions, extraordinary. However, we didnʼt put the “at full capacity” poster -and there were people that could not join the activities in many occasions- in the 90% of the proposals that appeared in this yearʼs program.
“The secret of the success -both directors agree- is, in a great way, the fact that the festival is already known and has a loyal audience. A part of this audience has a direct relation with philosophy (university students, teachers and high school students, and philosophers), and the others are people with a very heterogeneous profile (professionals from other fields and people interested in philosophy and culture in general). Also, the renovation of some formats has helped, strengthening its open image, its dissemination and the design of the program, and the growing interest in philosophy, due secondary education campaigns against LOMCE, and fiction TV”.
Among the activities that received more demand there was the conference by Maurizio Ferraris “¡Muera la inteligencia! ¡Viva la muerte!” and his analysis of stupidity as a political factor; the two philosophical cafés covering justice and humanism; the philosophical tour around Barcelona; and the activities on biotechnology and eugenics: an ethical perspective; Frankenstein: Ecce Homo, Hamletʼs Ghosts and Lost in space-time. The philosopher facing contemporary physics.
Pensaʼs future
The direction of Barcelona Pensa, together with the Deanʼs office of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Barcelona agreed that -in order to guarantee the sustainability of the festival- this will be a biannual festival. In alternate years when not biannual, there will be the Marató del Pensa (Pensaʼs marathon), a twelve-hour philosophical marathon that will coincide with the international day of philosophy, including several simultaneous activities and will keep the philosophical pulse of Pensa. “Alternating the festival with the marathon is the best way to keep the level of Barcelona Pensa quite high and cover peopleʼs expectations regarding the quality of the format and content of the festival offerings. It is not only a budget issue (which is quite low), but there are other logistic aspects involved. For example, there are attractive spaces that schedule activities a year before and if we donʼt prepare the offer of Pensa in advance we cannot count on them” say José Díez and Núria Sara Miras.