Night of ideas at Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute

«Le pouvoir de l`imagination» - «In the power of the imagination» - «Елес еншісінде»

On January 25, 2018, the Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute for the second time hosted the participants of a large-scale international event «The Night of Ideas 2018 - In the power of the imagination». This event was organized under the aegis of the Embassy of France in Kazakhstan with the participation of the French Alliance of Almaty. It is part of the annual global project, implemented on the initiative of the French Institute on an intergovernmental scale.

Annually, more than one hundred institutions of different countries, from Japan to the US, on five continents, take part simultaneously in holding meetings of active scientists, figures of art, culture, and politics discussing topical problems of our time. Each year a single common theme unites the debate, conducted with the help of modern technologies, allowing to follow in real time the course of meetings and ask questions to the participants. This year in Kazakhstan, the debates were organized simultaneously in Almaty (the Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute at Abai KazNPU) and in Astana.

The debate took place in three stages. The first session took place from 17.00 to 18.00 and was held in the form of the student`s contest «School of Debate». The debate was conducted in French with simultaneous translation into Kazakh and Russian. The participants of the competition were students of the Bachelor`s and Master`s program of Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute and the French Alliance of Almaty, which passed the preliminary selection. The theme of the debate: «The owner of the urban object has complete freedom in making architectural decisions» was chosen By voting, conducted among the students and undergraduates selected for the debates. The winner, which was determined on the basis of the conclusion of the jury and audience voting by special Whatsapp number meant the grand prize - a free ticket Astana - Paris - Astana provided by one of the sponsors of the event - Air Astana. The jury included representatives of the General Consulate of France in Almaty, participants in the plenary debates sessions, representatives of the UrbanTalks platform. According to the results of voting the winner of the «School of the debate» was named «Team №1», students and undergraduates Zhanar Karipbekova, Azamat Zhaylaubaev, Arailym Kalieva, Alia Akpaeva, and the grand prize was awarded to Arailym Kalieva.

The second session of the plenary debate on the topic «Le pouvoir de l`imagination. Transformer le monde»-«The power of the imagination. Changing the world» was attended by the vice-president of INALCO Anne Grinberg, the vice-president of the Paris-Diderot University Antoine Cazé, the ISK scientist Laura Turarbek, the fashion designer Aika Alemi. The moderator of the meeting was Catherine Pujol, Director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies (IFEAC). Participants discussed topical issues of the modern world in the context of the 50th anniversary of May events of 1968 in France. The debate was held in French and was accompanied by a simultaneous translation into Kazakh and Russian.

The third session of the plenary debate gathered participants around the theme «In the Imagination: Environmental Thinking for the Transformation of the City».The discussion of topical problems of modern urban planning was attended by Director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies (IFEAC) Catherine Pujol, a researcher in the social sciences, CERI-Sciences Ro Adrian Fauve, Director of Forbes Kazakhstan Ardak Bukeeva, art historian, curator of exhibitions Valeria Ibraeva, biologist, president emeritus of the Museum natural history Gilles Boff, Urbanist, co-founder of the Urban Talks platform Anel Moldakhmetova. The moderator of the third session was journalist Botagoz Seydakhmetova. The debate was conducted in Kazakh and Russian languages with simultaneous translation into French.

To see video of the debate click on the link

Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute