Cult Survivors, Nobel Laureates, Russian Fugitives: Sydney’s Festival Of Dangerous Ideas Is Back
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Sydney’s subversive thinktank, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, returns today with its most audacious line-up yet. From now until the end of August, The Ethics Centre’s famous celebration of positive provocation will host over 150 thinkers and artists, alongside bold cinema offerings, punk gigs, and access to forbidden spaces across Sydney.
This year’s festival kicks off with HEAP, a daring installation that will transform the foyer of Carriageworks into an enormous landscape of earth. From August 22-23, audiences will be invited to step barefoot onto the 120 ton pile and dig, all to uncover 80 new works by Australian artists Brook Andrew, Aretha Brown, Keg de Souza, Tarryn Gill, Sophie Penkethman-Young, Tim Silver, EJ Son and HOSSEI.
“We’re heading into the largest festival since we started in 2009,” said Festival Director Danielle Harvey. “Festival of Dangerous Ideas meets complexity head on and audiences are looking for access to the ideas that are shaping the world around us at a rapid rate. We’ve created 10 days where you can challenge, hold, laugh and dance with danger.
“This year that means that alongside ‘bear-poking’ talks and panels, we have punk bands and philosophy, banned books and dangerous films, and a Schools Day that puts students in the room with the ideas that will shape their future. What unites it all is a refusal to look away – from extremism, authoritarianism, the uncomfortable question of what it costs to speak and what it costs to stay silent.”
Festival Of Dangerous Ideas 2026: The Highlights
Among the festival’s top provocations is Pussy Riot artist and activist Maria Alyokhina’s Political Girl, a fearless (and funny) account of the freedom fighter’s years of activism and later escape from Russia disguised as a food delivery courier.
Other highlights include an appearance from John Cameron Mitchell, queer creator of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, who will present an unfiltered masterclass on ‘punk as action’, as well as How to Start a Cult, in which investigative journalist Anke Richter and cult survivor Laura McConnell will unpack the seductive pull of belonging.
Other talks boast appearances from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, digital rights activist Cory Doctorow, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Philippe Bolopion, philosopher Hanno Sauer, psychologist Jesse Bering, historian Joanna Bourke, and anthropologist Ghassan Hage; A former Australian Prime Minister is even slated to make an appearance.
For access to talks from these powerful thinkers, alongside exclusive screenings, installations, and events across Sydney, visit festivalofdangerousideas.com. Festival of Dangerous Ideas runs from 20–30 August 2026, with tickets to remaining Festival events on sale now.
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