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Centered around the theme How Much More?, the New York edition of Night of Ideas, co-presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ukrainian Institute of America, the Institute of Fine Arts – NYU, and Villa Albertine, interrogates the over-stimulation and excess of our physical and digital realities. Conversely, what aspects of our contemporary existence are being neglected and need urgent attention? The event examines how we cope with our chaotic present — from the climate crisis, to the proliferation of content online, to political polarization in post-Roe America — and what vision young people, in particular, have of our uncertain future.

Come explore Afrofuturism at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, women’s rights at the Villa Albertine headquarters, environmental challenges and land rights at the Institute of Fine Arts, technology and social media in the information age at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Fabiola Jean-Louis

A Haitian artist and photographer with a love of Afro-futurism, science fiction, history, and folklore. Her series, Rewriting History opened as a solo exhibition at Smithsonian affiliates to critical acclaim. Her paper dress sculpture, “Justice of Ezili”, is currently on view as part “Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room” at The Met.

Teen programming will start at 4:30pm in the Afrofuturist Period Room followed by a virtual talk with artist Fabiola Jean-Louis.
Date Night at The Met will feature live music across the Museum, drinks, and light fare; and a final gallery walkthrough of the Afrofuturist Period Room will conclude the evening.

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Joe Baker

A member of the Simon Whiteturkey family and direct line descendent of Captain White Eyes, War Chief of the Lenape, who negotiated the first Indian treaty with the new United States establishing an all Lenape 14th state.

Baker is co-founder, executive director of Lenape Center in Manhattan, and an artist, educator, curator, and activist who has been working in the field of Native Arts for the past 30 years. Baker is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work in New York.

He will be speaking about how “Manhattan is a Lenape Cultural Space” at The Institute of Fine Arts, NYU at 6:30pm.

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Bruno Patino

President of French-German TV channel ARTE, as well as an analyst and thought-leader of digital society.

He has held numerous executive positions in the French media sector, serving as Chairman and Editor in Chief of LeMonde.fr (2000-2008), chairman and Publisher of Telerama (2003-2008), director of the French public radio France Culture (2008-2010) and Senior executive Vice President, Programs & Digital Strategy (2010-2015) at France Télévisions.

He will be speaking on the topic “Bombarded with Information” at the Ukrainian Institute of America at 9:00pm.

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Mona Eltahawy

Award-winning journalist and social commentator Mona Eltahawy is based in Cairo and New York City. She has written essays and op-eds for publications worldwide on Egypt and the Islamic world, on topics including women’s rights, patriarchy, and Muslim political and social affairs.

She is the author of “Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution,” published in 2015, and is a contributor to the New York Times opinion pages.

She will be participating in the live reading of Annie Ernaux’s “Happening” starting at 9:00pm at Villa Albertine.

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