Ideas at the House

When you're on a bicycle at a red light with no car or pedestrian in sight, do you still wait for the green? Do you obey every single law? Surely fearful compliance with every niggling regulation defies the much-vaunted "freedom" that is the premise of democracy. Maybe that’s what drives our fascination with film and fiction criminality: we envy renegades. Is breaking a rule a day better than an a...

Have we entered the golden age of surveillance? With our own devices recording everything we do, have we brought this on ourselves? Does the Apple vs the FBI case expose our underlying tensions about privacy, technology and national security? Lev Grossman is the author of five novels, including the #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy, published in 25 countries and made into an hour-lon...

Class war, multiculturalism, race, politics, culture wars, free speech, global warming - Bolt’s favourite targets get audiences excited, and this is a rare chance to explore where his ideas come from and whether he thinks they are dangerous. How dangerous is being an Australian commentator speaking your mind without reservation? Andrew Bolt is Australia’s most-read political commentator, published...

Have decades of social, political and economic change in the United States wrecked its social cohesion and a sense of community? How does the American dream work today? George Packer is the author, most recently, of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America , a New York Times bestseller, which won the National Book Award for non-fiction in 2013. He has published four other works of non-fi...

Hot off the U.S. convention and campaign trail, America’s favourite living wit and best-selling author P.J. O'Rourke is heading straight to our stage to deliver his Dangerous State of the Nation. P.J. O’Rourke is a collection of curious contradictions. Roaming foreign affairs correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine for 20 years, he is also a conservative Republican satirist who recently reluctant...

Ira Glass, creator and host of podcast phenomenon This American Life joined us at the Sydney Opera House to deliver a once in a lifetime workshop on broadcast journalism for university students. Share the wisdom of one of the world's most listened-to podcast hosts as he walks you through the elements that make a successful radio story. He discusses everything from how he got his start in the indus...

Are the arts in crisis? What does the future hold for creative companies, both large and small? Join us to discuss the changing face of arts funding, the impact of the recent cuts, and the response from artists and arts companies across Australia. The panel will include Michael Lynch CBE AM, Nick Atkins, Lily Shearer and Tamara Winikoff OAM. Michael Lynch CBE AM As one of Australia's most recognis...

Deadly Voices from the House is an informative, entertaining half hour of storytelling and discussion, it delivers lively and revealing conversations with prominent First Nations leaders from the music, arts and culture sector here in Australia and overseas. Hosted by Rhoda Roberts, Head of Indigenous Programming at Sydney Opera House, Deadly Voices from the House is supported by the Community Bro...

Twenty-first century depictions of love and marriage are shaped by a set of Romantic myths and misconceptions and with his trademark warmth and wit, Alain de Botton explores the complex landscape of a modern relationship, presenting a realistic case study for marriage and examining what it might mean to love, to be loved - and to stay in love. Alain de Botton is an internationally renowned philoso...

Acclaimed presenter, journalist, actor, producer and arts guru Rhoda Roberts returns to our airwaves to present Deadly Voices from the House, recorded live from Sydney Opera House. Featuring a diverse selection of guest appearances from prominent Indigenous leaders from the music, arts and culture sector, Deadly Voices from the House provides an important platform to discuss critical issues facing...

The Scottish-born Harvard University professor, known for his provocative and contrarian views on international history and economic policy, discusses his life and work. Ferguson is a prolific commentator, a contributing editor to the Financial Times, and is the author of 11 books. In 2011, his film company released its first feature-length documentary, Kissinger, which won Best Documentary at the...

Theodore Dalrymple — nom de plume of the ‘sceptical doctor’Anthony Daniels — will explore social and economic inequality in asession titled Is Society Broken? How to think about poverty, crimeand inequality. A retired doctor and psychiatrist who worked inprisons in Britain’s second largest city, Birmingham, Dalrymple hasfamously chronicled ‘life at the bottom’, anatomising thedevelopment of a mult...

The explosion of art from the confines of art galleries to screens, installations and public spaces have changed contemporary art and what is expected of us as audiences. Join MCA director Elizabeth Ann and researcher Jacqueline Millner to discuss what makes the art of our time important and how contemporary art becomes timeless. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia's foremost social researchers and experts on social trends. She is the author of Does Cooking Matter?, a call to arms to bring our nation back into the kitchen, and Eating Between the Lines: Food and Equality in Australia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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René Redzepi is the founder of MAD and the chef-patron of noma, a restaurant in Copenhagen and multiple winner of Restaurant Magazine's 'Best Restaurant in the World' award. Kylie Kwong has been the owner of Sydney’s celebrated Billy Kwong restaurant since 2000 and is a passionate campaigner for sustainable food and ethical eating. She is the author of six books and presenter of three television s...

Massimo Bottura is an Italian-born chef who apprenticed with Georges Cogny and Alain Ducasse in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, he opened the multi-award-winning restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, which has maintained Three Michelin Stars since 2013. He is also the author of four books, including Parmigiano Reggiano and Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Kylie Kwong has been the owner of Sydney’s celebrated Billy Kwong restaurant since 2000 and is a passionate campaigner for sustainable food and ethical eating. She is the author of six books and presenter of three television series, and in 2014 was named by Food & Wine magazine as one of the world’s 25 most innovative women in food and wine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

Chido Govera is a 29-year-old Zimbabwean farmer and campaigner with her own foundation, The Future of Hope. After being orphaned at the age of seven and left to care for her brother and near-blind grandmother, Govera was invited to learn mushroom cultivation, supported by Belgian environmental entrepreneur Gunter Pauli. Today, she teaches mushroom farming to women and orphans throughout the develo...

René Redzepi is the founder of MAD and the chef-patron of noma, a restaurant in Copenhagen and multiple winner of Restaurant Magazine's 'Best Restaurant in the World' award. Momofuku founder David Chang is the chef who turned ramen and pork buns into haute cuisine. Beginning with the Momofuku Noodle Bar in 2004, he has built a culinary empire that includes restaurants in New York City, Toronto, Wa...

Russia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. But as an eloquent and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime and a prominent LGBT activist, Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen does not hide her views. The author of The Man without a face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin , a biography of President Vladimir Putin, and a book about Pussy Riot, it was only wh...

Imagine having to flee your home country, leaving your mother and brother behind you. As a child, Hyeonseo Lee thought her country– North Korea- was the best on the planet. It wasn‘t until the devastating famine of the 1990s that she began to question those beliefs and look for an escape route. As a teenager, she fled to China to stay with distant relatives and spent the next ten years hiding her...

In the age of social media we think we know each other, but do we really?  Muriel Barbery’s second novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog , became an international sensation through word-of-mouth recommendations. It told the story of an unlikely friendship of an unhappy teenage girl and the determinedly ordinary, middle-aged concierge in a Parisian apartment building – whose lives were richer than th...

Alix Generous has big ideas, but she hasn’t always been able to communicate them to others. Her Asperger’s syndrome was misdiagnosed for many years and it has taken great courage and persistence to overcome her challenges. Alix thinks differently, but she has learned that this can be an important part of solving complex problems. Still a university student, she is involved in scientific research,...

Go to any networking event and you’ll probably overhear someone talking about how they discovered their ‘true purpose’. But doggedly pursuing the work you love can get in the way of the rest of your life, and lead to some tough choices. For writer Margie Orford it meant spending a year away from her three children when she had the opportunity to study overseas. It was a hard decision, as the overw...