Night of Ideas | Enlightenment Now: Independence at 250
Join a community of scholars, writers, and artists to explore the origins and current state of democracy during the 2026 Night of Ideas.
Free for all audiences with ticket
Multiple locations: Film/Video Theater, Heirloom Café, Gallery Reading Room, Lower Lobby
The US celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, offering a moment to reflect on one of the world’s boldest experiments in democracy. The ideas first expressed in 1776—liberty, equality, and government by the people—have inspired many nations, even as they have been challenged over time. Today, as people around the globe show both frustration with democratic systems and a renewed desire to protect them, we face important questions about the future. What can we learn from the country’s past, and how do those lessons connect with experiences globally? Can democracy still meet the needs of the 21st century?
Organized by Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education, the Night of Ideas (La nuit des idées) is a dynamic annual event happening in cities around the world aimed at fostering dialogue on urgent global issues. This year’s event at Ohio State brings together scholars, writers, artists, and community members to explore the Enlightenment ideals that shaped democracies in the US and France—such as reason and the rule of law, freedom of expression, progress, and equal access to education and culture—and the current landscape of democracy.
The event connects with two major exhibitions at the Wexner Center for the Arts—Naeem Mohaiemen: Corinthians and Hew Locke: Passages—which examine how history is remembered and how power is represented. Together, the Night of Ideas and these exhibitions invite the public to consider who democracy serves, how it is shaped, and how art can help us understand the challenges we face today.
Program Schedule
2:30–9 PM
Doors open at 2 PM
- La Chinoise (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
Film/Video Theater | 2:30 PM
Separate ticket required
Enjoy a special francophone edition of our series 101 Films You Need to See Before Graduation featuring Godard’s La Chinoise. A colorful and under-seen staple of the French New Wave, this pop-art masterpiece both channels and parodies the revolutionary energies of 1960s Paris. - Wex Community Studio
Heirloom Café | 4–7 PM
Drop in to make wearable garlands and crowns made from crepe-paper flowers, collage with magazine cutouts, or create a painting. - Flash Talk Presentations
Film/Video Theater | 5 PM
Introduced by Maurice Stevens, Professor in the Department of Comparative Studies; Associate Dean for Engagement, College of Arts and Sciences; and Faculty Director of the STEAM Factory. Featuring Ohio State faculty Elizabeth Andrews Bond, Pranav Jani, Margaret Ellen Newell, Christopher McKnight Nichols, Sahar Tarighi, and Winston Thompson. A short, moderated conversation follows the presentations. - Jazz Lounge
Gallery Reading Room | 6 PM
Join Ohio State School of Music students and Area Coordinator of Jazz Studies Mike Smith for an evening of music from Miles Davis and his Parisian connections. - Reception
Lower Lobby | 6 PM
Enjoy light bites from La Chatelaine French Bakery & Bistro and a cash bar while you continue the conversation and socialize with the community. Check in with volunteers from Ohio State’s Department of French and Italian to practice your French speaking throughout the evening. - Remarks and Keynote Presentation
Out of the Ashes: Building a New American Democracy
Film/Video Theater | 7 PM
At a moment when democratic institutions are failing at home and under strain worldwide, Hasan Kwame Jeffries’ keynote confronts the collapse of American democracy as both a warning and an opening. Drawing on three pivotal moments in US history—the revolution, the Reconstruction era, and the civil rights era—Jeffries shows that democracy has only moved forward when those most excluded from power forced the nation to change. Accordingly, he calls on those who believe in freedom to seize this moment to boldly imagine and build a more resilient, inclusive democracy equal to the crises of our time. - Reception
Lower Lobby | 8:30 PM
Enjoy sweet bites from La Chatelaine French Bakery & Bistro and a cash bar and expand on the evening’s conversations. - Galleries open until 9 PM
Explore the work of Naeem Mohaiemen, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, and Hew Locke with Wex educators.
Flash Talk Descriptions
Talking to Strangers: The Circulation of Democratic Ideas in the Eighteenth Century Press
Before the French Revolution began, people were already talking about change, and the newspaper was one of the liveliest sites of such conversations. Elizabeth Andrews Bond discusses how most of the changes that people imagined and wrote about in letters to the editor were incremental ones that fit the scale of their own lives and experiences. Whatever particular changes they were advocating for, they shared the sense that things could and should get better. In the process of trying to convince their fellow writers and readers that they had the authority to speak on such issues, they found new ways to talk to people they had never met.
Race, Empire, and the Struggle for Democracy and Freedom
In his famous speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” (1967), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.” If the US wanted to be beacon for freedom and democracy, King warned, it would have to confront the “giant triplets” of racism, militarism, and materialism. In this presentation, Pranav Jani asks us to reflect on Dr. King’s values and to ask what they call on us to do in this moment—as immigrants are profiled and kidnapped in the streets, as students and faculty protesting US policy in the Middle East are suppressed and arrested, and as wealth inequality persists unbated. The revolution of values King talked about will require forging a vision of democracy that is utterly incompatible with racist and imperialist policies at home and abroad, as well as the criminalization of dissent.
When Women Lost the Vote
Audiences familiar with the drive for women’s suffrage in the 20th century may be surprised to learn that some women gained the vote after the American Revolution—and then lost it. This talk by Margaret Ellen Newell explores surprising twists in the history of citizenship and women’s rights.
What is a Democratic Foreign Policy?
American foreign policy has favored democratic strategies and systems, often prioritizing diplomacy and a historic reservation against intervention in times of crisis or need. Over the first 150 years, when rising democracies around the world called out to the US for support, their requests usually were denied. By the 20th century the idea of public diplomacy became a hallmark rhetoric, if not a reality, for US foreign relations. But what did this change mean? How and when has the threshold for or against intervention and support developed? This talk by Christopher McKnight Nichols will address these questions by explaining how wider publics have and have not been involved in shaping American foreign policy and foreign relations ideologies from the 1770s to the present.
Şamaran: A Kurdish Feminist Counter-Archive
In this talk, Sahar Tarighi explores her body of work Şamaran through a decolonial Kurdish feminist lens. Rooted in the Neolithic period, the enduring presence of Şamaran, a figure who is half-woman and half-snake, in Kurdish oral mythology and material culture preserves a worldview grounded in reciprocity, ecological balance, and collective care. Her story functions as an act of justice, revealing ethical orders that stand outside dominant narratives. In a moment when democratic structures worldwide are strained by authoritarianism, disinformation, and the suppression of marginalized voices, Şamaran’s resilient knowledge traditions offer a framework for imagining more equitable and participatory futures. Through artistic practices of ceramics, clay, textiles, and braiding, Tarighi recontextualizes her as a living critique of power and a guide toward more liberatory democratic possibilities.
On the Uncertainty and Power of Education
In this talk, Winston Thompson describes a few abiding aspects of the contemporary university. Central to these is the tension between higher education’s dynamic and unpredictable impact on students and the powerful force of that impact in society. Thompson probes these ideas and provides guidance on how to engage with them for individual and community benefit.