Beyond the Zenith? Productivity and creativity in arts, politics, and science in old age

Full programme and registration can be found here.



University of Southern Denmark, The Danish Institute for Advanced Study, Odense, February 8-9, 2024.



Organized by Professor Kaare Christensen and Professor Anne-Marie Mai, Danish Aging Research Center and Danish Institute for Advanced Studies, SDU.



Many art critics have praised the late Beethoven, the late Goya, the late Monet, and the aging Karen Blixen, and in politics, science, and business we find examples of individuals whose old age becomes a very important period of their lives – just think of Winston Churchill and Niels Bohr.

But what can the new late-style studies tell us about old age as a special phase of life and is it only for special geniuses to flourish in old age?



At the workshop, we take a closer look at various examples from art, politics, and science and at the new late-style studies.



In the last fifteen years, research on aging has seen a new interest in creativity in later life. International conferences and anthologies are insisting on a distinct category of productivity and creativity in aging artists.



The workshop is open for all interested participants. We have organized a session of short introductions aimed at a broader and more general audience on day 1 (Thursday, February 8th, 13-16), followed by more detailed talks on day 2 (Friday, February 9th, 9.30-13.15).



Speakers:



Kaare Christensen, Professor, MD, PhD, DMSc, Danish Aging Research Center (DARC), Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. Chair of D:IAS

Time is not on our side - or is it?




Jørn Brøndal, Professor, PhD, Department of Language, Culture, History and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

Old presidents’ late style




Peter Simonsen, Professor, PhD, Department of Culture and Language, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

The Poetry of Retirement




Nina Goss, Adjunct Professor, PhD, Fordham University, New York, USA. She is co-editor of and contributor to Tearing the World Apart: Bob Dylan and the Twenty-First Century (2017), and Dylan at Play (2011).

A conversation with Anne-Marie Mai on Bob Dylan’s Late Life style




Anne-Marie Mai, Professor, PhD, Department of Culture and Language, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. Chair of D:IAS




Anita Wohlmann, Associate Professor, PhD, Department of Language, Culture, History and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

A Conversation between Anita Wohlmann and Anne-Marie Mai on late style as a category in relation to Ernest Hemingway



Vilhelm A. Bohr, Professor (afl.), MD, dr.med., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen

Niels Bohr, later years