FESTIVAL OF DANGEROUS IDEAS
THE FESTIVAL OF DANGEROUS IDEAS (FODI) IS AUSTRALIA'SORIGINAL DISRUPTIVE IDEAS FESTIVAL.
Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI to its fans) is bold, audacious and thought provoking.
This home-grown festival launched in 2009 to give Sydney audiences access to high quality thought leaders, culture creators and radical artists from all over the world.
With its unique offering, FODI quickly secured acclaim, becoming a globally respected cultural asset that has helped define Sydney as the ‘smart capital’ of Australia.
FODI was co-founded by The Ethics Centre and the Sydney Opera House in 2009. It was presented at Sydney Opera House for eight years and in its ninth year inhabited Cockatoo Island with a festival presented by The Ethics Centre with UNSW Sydney Centre for Ideas.
Across 11 festivals and counting, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas has had local and international experts from a diverse range of disciplines take to the stage to bring to light different perspectives on the most divisive issues we face.
The Festival presents a line-up of international and local thinkers and culture creators, inviting the public to immerse themselves in ideas and conversations that encourage debate and critical thinking.
FODI returns live to Carriageworks, Sydney on 24–25 August 2024. The 2024 program features over 87 speakers and artists, including 16 international guests in an expansive roster of experts, bestselling authors, cutting edge academics and innovative thinkers; all appearing in-person. Explore the full program on sale now.
The Festival Director is Danielle Harvey (2011–present). The Festival is co-curated by Simon Longstaff (2009–present).
630
ALUMNI OF EXPERT SPEAKERS, BRINGING TO LIGHT DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON LIFE'S MOST DIVISIVE ISSUES.
11
NUMBER OF EVENTS SINCE 2009, MAKING IT THE ORIGINAL BIG THINKING FESTIVAL
176,000
TICKETS SOLD TO AUDIENCES HUNGRY TO EXPLORE THE BOUNDARIES OF CONVENTIONAL THOUGHT
GET INVOLVED
For partnership inquiries or speaker submissions visit the FODI website.
For media inquiries or to be informed of any volunteer opportunities for next year’s festival please connect with us.
FODI’s Evolution
2022
In 2022 the Festival of Dangerous Ideas returned live and in person at Carriageworks, presented by The Ethics Centre. Occurring over two days in September, the program featured over 72 speakers and artists, including 8 international guests, with discussions on authoritarianism, social networks, politics, artificial intelligence and algorithms, gender, and the Enlightenment. Speakers included Frances Haugen, Steven Pinker, Jacqui Lambie, Kevin Roose, Alok Vaid-Menon, Adam Tooze, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Badiucao. The lineup also offered a range of art and experiences including Scott Campbell’s Whole Glory, Counterpilot and Legs on the Wall.
FODI: The In-Between Podcast
In February 2022, FODI released a bold new podcast FODI: The In-Between, an audio time capsule recording a moment in-between two eras. Eight conversations between 16 of the world’s biggest thinkers that capture the dangerous ideas of this moment in time. With guest speakers including Stephen Fry, Roxane Gay, Waleed Aly, Sam Mostyn, Slavoj Žižek, Naomi Klein and more, The In-between tackles the big issues of our world and future, from climate change and global politics to artificial intelligence, truth and social media. Listen now
2020
The FODI 2020 program was to be the 10th Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Due to take place at Sydney Town Hall – a nod to the traditional meeting and rallying place for communities – it was to feature sessions and performances that explored climate change, meritocracy, giving, tech, politics, capitalism and more. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival had to be officially cancelled on 16 March 2020.
In May 2020, FODI launched a series of digital video conversations. The series of online conversations takes inspiration from the original FODI 2020 theme of ‘Dangerous Realities’, with online sessions streamed via the festival website. The series interrogated the reality of the current pandemic and its wider implications for our world and society. Watch now
2018
This year The Festival of Dangerous Ideas returned in a new format and new location. Held on Sydney’s Cockatoo Island, the program was a collision of ideas, art installations, live theatre, and panel conversations that stepped into the boundaries of common thought. FODI explored the blurring of truth and trust, internet sub-cultures, fascism, privacy, LSD and the end of the world as we know it. Headline thinkers captured minds and social feeds with Stephen Fry, conservative historian Niall Ferguson, author Pankaj Mishra, Ex-Westboro Baptist Church member Megan Phelps-Roper, Ayelet Waldman, Germaine Greer, rock star of AI Toby Walsh, sexologist Dr Nikki Goldstein, criminologist Xanthe Mallett and artists Betty Grumble, Garth Knight and Riley Harmon.
2016
The Festival of Dangerous Ideas completed its final year at the Sydney Opera House with Jesse Bering, Andrew Bolt, Molly Crabapple, Alicia Garza (Black Lives Matter), Henry Rollins (Black Flag (band), Lionel Shriver and more.
2015
Solo sessions and panels featured the likes of Tariq Ali, Naomi Klein, Peter Greste, Gabriella Coleman, Paul Krugman, Laurie Penny, Jon Ronson, Eric Schlosser and Gideon Raff, exploring themes including the economy, artificial intelligence, climate change, cybersexism, addiction and sugar.
2014
Brought our view of ourselves and our place in the world into question, exploring the fringes of loneliness, masculinity, narcissism, modern slavery and classism. Speakers included Pussy Riot, Masha Gessen, Steven Pinker, Elizabeth Kolbert, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Malcolm Fraser, Lydia Cacho, Alissa Nutting, Tim Flannery and Mark Latham.
2013
In 2013 thinkers including Arlie Hochschild, David Simon, Hanna Rosin, Evgeny Morozov, Vandana Shiva, Dan Savage, John Safran and Peter Hitchens explored topics including outsourcing, conspiracy, masculinity, inequality and drugs.
2012
In 2012, Over 50 speakers examined topics including: “All Women Hate Each Other”, “Israel is an Apartheid State”, “The Devil is Real”, “Genital Cutting is Normal”, “We are all Sexual Perverts” and “A Foetus is not a Person”. Speakers included Sam Harris, Germaine Greer, Brian Morris, Tara Moss, Illan Pappe, Jason Silva, Shiv Malik, Ed Howker, Jane Bussmann, Jesse Bering and Tim Harford.
2011
In 2011, FODI delivered a host of cutting edge thinkers including Julian Assange, Jonathan Safran Foer, Alexander McCall Smith, Jon Ronson, Slavoj Žižek, Mona Eltahawy and Philip Nitschke. Diving into the shadows with talks including “WikiLeaks has not gone far enough”; “Psychopaths Make the World Go Around”; “Ecstasy is No More Dangerous Than Horse-riding”and “All Women are Sluts”.
2010
In 2010 Geoffrey Robertson and Alan Dershowitz opened the address with the debate, “The Sins of the Fathers: Should the Pope be held to account?”. Other speakers included Christian Lander, author of the “Stuff White People Like” with a tongue-in-cheek etiquette guide to Caucasian culture and New York newspaper columnist, and creator of the free range kids movement, Lenore Skenazy on how she was labelled “America’s Worst Mom”.
2009
In the inaugural 2009 event, the festival’s made dangerous beginnings with the opening address was given by Christopher Hitchens on the topic of “Religion Poisons Everything”
FODI Alumni
