Ageing relations are often understood at the intersection of other forms of othering: through the sociology of cohorts, through debates about ageism and ableism or as a specialty topic of those studying care. But what if we started noticing age as an inherent part of all relations? What new viewpoints might arise when we recognize that everything is always already ageing in time, while also understanding that this process is biological, culturally constructed, and relational? Suddenly, it is no longer just the person with wrinkles, but also a young activist, a depopulated village or a belief in a radiant future that might be said to »not have aged well.«

This conference brings to light the norms and relations that become critical when people, things and ideas come to be seen as aged. It asks scholars, activists, children and artists how ageing occurs in different cultural contexts, and how this complicates overall societal relations and their ideological conundrums. What can we learn from queer, feminist theory and disability studies? How can new concepts shift our view of ageing in relation to one another? How are such concepts themselves subverted by their advancing age? What changing figures and tropes of ageing do we find in literature, film and art? And finally: How can social theory be reconfigured without a middle-aged adult as its ideal actor?

Concept: Julia Boog-Kaminski (Vienna), Ivan Rajković (Vienna)

Participants: Slaven Crnić (Vienna), Stefanie Diekmann (Hildesheim), Lena Ekelund (Hamburg), Nanna Heidenreich (Vienna), Ute Holl (Basel), Johanna Hügel (Erfurt), Iza Kavedžija (Cambridge), Sofie Kronberger (Vienna), Thomas Macho (Berlin), Moritz Matschke (Linz), Peter Ott (Hamburg), Anna Pech (Linz), Simon(e) van Saarloos (Berkeley), Sophie Emilia Seidler (Vienna), Yōko Tawada (Berlin), a.o.

Supported by Stadt Wien

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THE CONFERENCE WILL BE HYBRID

To participate via Zoom, you need to register for the meeting with your name and email address. The Zoom link will then be emailed to you immediately. You can register for the individual days via the following links:

Wednesday, 21 JANUARY 2026

Thursday, 22 JANUARY 2026

Friday, 23 JANUARY 2026

To participate in person, no registration is currently required.