Elevate Opening

© Stefan Leitner

For this year’s opening ceremony, Elevate moves to the Helmut List Hall on Thursday evening for the first time. The event will be hosted by Austrian molecular biologist, author, and science cabaret performer Martin Moder. Discourse curator Irina Nalis and Elevate co-founder Bernhard Steirer will present an outlook on the rest of the festival program.The opening keynote will be delivered by freelance journalist and author Şeyda Kurt. In her bestselling books Radikale Zärtlichkeit – Warum Liebe politisch ist (2021) and HASS – Von der Macht eines widerständigen Gefühls (2023), she examines the political dimensions of love and hate.