Mediating the Public’s Encounter with Science: The Kepler Salon
Astronomer Johannes Kepler lived in Linz from 1612 to 1627. His former residence at Rathausgasse 5—immediately adjacent to Linz’s Main Square—is now being revived in the spirit of science.
Kepler’s former apartment in downtown Linz is currently undergoing renovation. A space on the 1st Upper Level will provide a setting for a Linz09 project entitled Kepler Salon, where the focus will be on science. Research approaches and findings from the natural sciences and engineering, social sciences and cultural studies, as well as the field of medicine will be presented in entertaining fashion. The Kepler Salon is designed as a showcase of work being done at Linz universities and research facilities, and as a site for up-close-and-personal encounters with the world of science on the part of the general public. Taking up the tradition of the 18th-century literary salon, the accent will be on dialog and the exchange of ideas. The forms that these encounters will take range from disputations among experts, public experiments and Q&A sessions all the way to readings and discussions dealing with other Linz09 projects. The Kepler Salon series of events will kick off in January 2009 and continue throughout the Capital of Culture year.