From September 24 to 27, 2025, the Center for Advanced Studies – Southeast Europe (CAS SEE) will host a conference on the island of Cres, dedicated to the legacy and critical thought of Ivan Illich.
This event follows the first conference held in Budapest in May 2024, and aims to foster a deeper regional engagement with Illich’s work.
Despite his profound global influence, Illich remains relatively under-recognized in the region between the Danube and the Adriatic. While his ideas have sparked significant interest in countries like France, Germany, and across the English-speaking world, they have yet to receive similar attention in Southeast Europe.
The Cres conference is designed to help change that. It will bring together scholars, translators, and thinkers to discuss Illich’s rich and challenging body of work, and to explore its relevance for contemporary issues—from ecology and education to political and ethical philosophy. By encouraging new research, translations, and publications, the conference seeks to reinvigorate critical conversations around one of the most provocative thinkers of the 20th century.
Ivan Illich’s radical critique of modern institutions and his visionary insights into the nature of freedom, technology, and community remain deeply relevant today. His work continues to inspire interdisciplinary studies and offer alternative perspectives on how we live, learn, and relate to one another.
UNIRI The Moise Palace: Cres Island
An education center of the University of Rijeka. A five-hundred-year-old patrician townhouse and the largest Renaissance palace on the Croatian islands. A venue and forum for various scientific and research activities, it welcomes visiting academics, students and scholars.
