Past event
The Elephant: On Loneliness
An evening discussion on whether loneliness is a private or a social condition.
The fifth session of The Elephant, a salon for questions that often go unspoken, asked whether loneliness is a private feeling or a shared condition. It started from Stockholm's high share of single-person households and looked at how cities, screens, working life and the decline of public space contribute to it, holding personal and collective accounts in the same conversation.
The evening was held in the Organ House at Emerge Lakefront, a smaller room suited to close seating and attentive listening. It used a format called Differentiated Commitment, which makes room for real disagreement without turning into debate. Participants could take up one of several offered positions, one of which rejected the distinction between being alone and being lonely. Refreshments were served.
