I am the founder of the Neue Galerie Luzern (1987), the Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics + Aesthetics (1995) and the NGL – SAA Neue Galerie Luzern – Swiss Academic Association (2013). These are my projects, interests, and offers:


The Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics + Aesthetics
The Swiss Biennial online
Testimonial John Ashton
Testimonial Thupten Jinpa Langri
My research interests
My book
Moderation
Translations / Proofreading
Philosophical conversation

Pictures above: Openings of the Biennial 2016 and the Biennial 2020 panel discussion "Reality is not as it seems".

The Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics + Aesthetics

I founded the Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics and Aesthetics, a cultural platform that today attracts a global audience, and that - for over two decades - has been bringing experts from brain and consciousness studies, mind and self, to Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1994. Since its inception the Biennial has been entangled with the sciences that address ontology as well as offering an ongoing publically accessible dialogue between leading thinkers in the world of sciences, the arts, and technological development. Picture: Robert Fludd: Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris […] historia, tomus II (1619), tractatus I, sectio I, liber X, De triplici animae in corpore visione.

The Biennial has been a forum for discussion of major topics such as ‘Brain–Mind–Culture’ (1995), ‘Liquid Visions’ (1997), ‘Frontier Communication: Human Beings, Apes, Whales, Electronic Networks’ (1999), ‘The Enigma of Consciousness’ (2001), ‘Space, Time and Beyond’ (2003), ‘Consciousness and Teleportation’ (2005), ‘Consciousness and Quantum Computers’ (2007), ‘The Large, the Small and the Human Mind’ (Part 1 in 2010, and Part 2 in 2012), ‘Be the Change we want to see inthe World’ (2014), ‘The Enigma of Human Consciousness’ (2016 and 2018), ‘The Mystery of Consciousness’ (2020), ‘Rethinking Consciousness and the Mind’ (2022) by internationally acclaimed speakers such as the British mathematician Sir Roger Penrose, the Austrian quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger, the German chaos theorist Otto E. Rössler,the French sociologist Bruno Latour, the Austrian-American ecologist Fritjof Capra, the Austrian philosopher Josef Mitterer, the founder of the Right Livelihood Award ("Alternative Nobel Prize"), Jakob von Uexküll, and the British astrophysicist and Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, among 150 other internationally acclaimed speakers. Here you can subscribe to the Newsletter of the Swiss Biennial. Here you find online the videos of the talks given at the

Biennial 2022 - Rethinking Consciousness and the Mind
Biennial 2020 - The Mystery of Consciousness
Biennial 2018 - The Enigma of Human Consciousness
Biennial 2016 - The Enigma of Human Consciousness
Biennial 2014 - Be the Change we want to see in the World
Biennial 2012 - The Large, the Small and the Human Mind - Part 2

Picture below: Speakers and chairpersons who spoke at the Biennial 2020 "The Mystery of Consciousness", from left to right: William Edelglass, Rosalind Watts, Christoph von der Malsburg, Natsue Yoshimura, Catrin Misselhorn, Rupert Sheldrake, René Stettler, Magaly Tornay, Travis Craddock, Steve Paulson, Owen Flanagan, Niels Birbaumer.











Picture below: The American philosopher of science Abner Shimony (1928 - 2015) speaking on 22 January 2005 via telephone line from his home near Boston, MA, USA, on the occasion of the inaugural keynote at the Biennial "Consciousness and Teleportation". The title of his talk was "How deep into philosophy has recent physics carried us?".





















Picture above: Speakers and chairpersons who spoke at the Biennial 2016 "The Enigma of Human Consciousness", from left to right: Ernst Peter Fischer, Friedericke Meckel, Waltraut Liebl-Kopitzki, Luis Eduardo Luna, Matthieu Ricard, Fritjof Capra, Steve Paulson, Thupten Jinpa, René Stettler, Stuart Hameroff, Sir Roger Penrose, Diego Hangartner.






















Picture above: Speakers and chairpersons who spoke at the Biennial 2012 "The Large, the Small and the Human Mind (Part 2)", from left to right: René Stettler, Andor Frenkel, Malcolm Longair, Abner Shimony (1928 - 2015), Ezra (Ted) Newman, Ruth Durrer, Sir Roger Penrose, Anirban Bandyopadhyay, Stuart Hameroff, Vahe G. Gurzadyan. Jack Tuszynski, who also gave a talk in Lucerne, is not on the picture.

New research results from molecular electronics and mathematical biology – which offered a more comprehensive view on the function of the microtubules in the human brain – were presented in Lucerne for controversial discussion. In addition, Roger Penrose presented his thesis of a cyclic universe that was – and today still is – hotly debated on internet forums as well as in books and publications. Scientists from Armenia, Canada, Hungary, India, Switzerland, UK, and the USA, discussed both the foundations and the future of quantumphysics and cosmology including questions of human consciousness. Picture right: A culture of HeLa cancer cells in different stages of the cell cycle with microtubules fluorescently labelled in green. © G. Barron, Cell Imaging Facility, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Canada. Picture left: Low variance circles in the Cosmic Microwave Background from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data by NASA / WMAP Science Team. © Vahe G. Gurzadyan and Roger Penrose.

Testimonial (Biennial 2014)

Current patterns of production and consumption, and the systems of power relations that support them, have given rise to unprecedented challenges that can only successfully be addressed through change that is structural and transformational. Responses so far have been merely incremental (...). The 2014 Swiss Biennial brought this predicament, in all its urgency, variety and interconnectedness, vividly into focus. René Stettler's perfect pitch facilitation did something far more important. Everyone who took part will have left with sense that these are challenges that human beings can rise to, and that the act of rising to them will be an affirmation and celebration of our true potential. These matters are discussed in many places. But this event in Lucerne had a special chemistry that made it much greater than the sum of its parts.

John Ashton, Independent Commentator on Climate Politics, Former Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change, FCO, UK






















Testimonial (Biennial 2016)

René Stettler's vision behind the Swiss Biennial - bringing the best minds from diverse disciplines together in order to explore topics of common interest and concern with the aim to educate the larger public - is both beautiful and noble. It is this distinctive vision, which creates a unique forum where the speakers share their insights - in a way that is lucid.

Thupten Jinpa Langri has been the 14th Dalai Lama's English interpreter for almost three decades. The picture above shows him speaking at the D4 Business Village Lucerne on the occasion of a talk entitled "A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives" (18 January 2016).

My research interests

I received my Ph.D. from the University of Plymouth for the thesis The Politics of Post-Industrial Cultural Knowledge Work (2011) under the guidance of Roy Ascott and David Turnbull. My research interests include the theory of cultural work, cultural and scientific learning, the spatialisation and dissemination of knowledge, the construction of public spaces of knowledge for civic reflection, cultural policy, and knowledge politics. My areas of interest are the sociology of knowledge, the socio-epistemological-political responsibility of cultural work, and the social and educational challenges in the face of industrial society’s logic of accumulation, market rationality and instrumentalism.

My book

In my book entitled The Politics of Knowledge Work in the Post-Industrial Culture (Ambra Verlag / Birkhäuser Verlag, Vienna / Basel, 2014), I examine work practices and their effects in the post-industrial culture on public understanding and identification with the arts and sciences within a holistic frame of transdisciplinarity.

A second-order perspective for cultural work

In this book, I also elaborate a second-order perspective for cultural work that challenges contemporary forms of political power and social control within the framework of construction, production and distribution. Based on Heinz von Foerster’s socio-epistemological second-order model of learning, the book promotes a more anticipatory dynamism based on reflexive inquiries into the construction of longer-term impact, sustainable environment awareness, democratic debate, and improved qualities of individual and social interaction. The scope of the book and foreword by Roy Ascott












Cartoon © Gabi Kopp and René Stettler (Economy of Knowledge [detail], 2008)

Moderation

I work as a panel discussion leader and moderator. I offer organizers help to identify an issue or topic, which is of broad societal concern. This could be a contemporary political or ecological issue, or, for example, a conflict in values or interests. More information in German here:Moderationen andBeratungen / Dienstleistungen.

Testimonial

René Stettler is a good moderator and an even better listener. It was his attention to what the speakers had to say, which enabled him to interpret the meaning in a way the audience could understand. The discussion which followed was electric.

Nancy Wimmer, Director of of microSOLAR, Munich

Translations / Proofreading

I offer translations, rewriting, proofreading as well as copy-editing support: English <-> German - professional. authentic. attractive prices. Fields of expertise: politics, economics, tourism, environment, science, art / culture in particular. You find my e-mail address for a non-committal request here. More information in German here.

Philosophical conversation

If you would like to have a philosophical conversation on Mt. Rigi, please contact me. You don't need any special knowledge for this conversation. Philosophy is asking questions about morals, ethics, politics, religion, science. But you may be interested to talk about questions such as "What is my passion in life?" or "What is the meaning in life?" or "How can I deal with stress?". Here is some information in German and images about the place where the conversation is taking place:Philosophisches Gespräch. Here is the contact information:Kontakt.

Publishing information: Dr. René Stettler LLC (Education – Translation – Consulting) / NGL – SAA Neue Galerie Luzern – Swiss Academic Association. © Photos and photo material: Courtesy: Persons pictured, Dr. René Stettler LLC, Neue Galerie Luzern - Swiss Academic Association (NGL - SAA), Roberto Conciatori, Felix von Wartburg, Luzern.

Feedback or suggestions? Send me an e-mail:Kontakt.

newly issued 2024