Center for InterAmerican Studies

We cordially invite to the next talk of our IAS colloquium series on Tuesday, 20th of January 2026 (6–8 pm, Room X-E0-226). Johannes Völz (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt) will give a lecture titled:

“Trump and the Populist Space of Appearance: On the Rally as Political Form”

This presentation examines the political rally as a key aesthetic and performative form of contemporary populism. Focusing on Donald Trump, Johannes Völz analyzes how rallies create a “space of appearance” in which populist politics becomes visible, affective, and collective. The talk situates the rally within broader debates on democratic representation, political aesthetics, and the cultural forms through which populism mobilizes publics.

Johannes Völz is Professor of American Studies at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. He is the spokesperson of the DFG Research Training Group “Aesthetics of Democracy” (GRK 3113) and co-directs the research focus “Democratic Vistas: Reflections on the Atlantic World” at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Frankfurt. He is the author of Poetics of Insecurity: American Fiction and the Uses of Threat (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and is currently working on a book project on the aesthetics of populism.