Fear Writes History
Emotion at Work
Who’s Afraid of Fear?

Fear arises when deeply historical experience suddenly re-emerges, and
comes to life as a possible version of the present.

flat1’s 2025 annual programme explored the role of fear in contemporary society.

We postulate: history is not written by people, but by their emotions. Drawing on the historical development of collective emotions, as analysed by historians of emotion and sociologists, we ask: how do cross-societal emotions influence our collective and individual behaviour, particularly in times of great uncertainty?

Systems created by humans can be significantly and very easily influenced by human emotions — often far more than intended. The phenomenon of ‘Black Friday’, for example, demonstrates that it is precisely those feelings that are scarcely grounded in reality that can have serious consequences. What makes this particularly fascinating is that, from today’s perspective, the original problem appears minimal and is out of all proportion to the emotional reaction of the population. Yet it was precisely this overreaction that turned it into the fateful Black Friday we know today.

William James locates the largely underestimated significance of emotion and historical experience primarily in all forms of memory.

Although humans like to portray themselves as predominantly rational beings, the events of the past tell a different story.

In William Reddy’s view, however, the expression of a feeling not only alters the inner reality of the person experiencing it, but also inevitably elicits an emotional response from others. One could therefore also say: every expression of emotion has an effect
on the inner and/or outer world.*
*Bettina Hitzer – History of Emotions: A Beginning with Consequences

Our emotional world is thus frequently, and even in circumstances less defining of an era, translated into the external world much more directly than we give it credit for. It may be intuitively easy to grasp, but is nonetheless worth articulating: expressions of emotion form a network and interact.

Taking this line of thought further, one might raise the serious suspicion that human beings are losing control of their own historiography by portraying themselves retrospectively as more rational than they actually are. The question arises as to whether, in reality, fears made decisions for us humans in the past, or, more broadly, whether we humans have reacted far more to a predetermined emotional landscape than we would like to admit?

The work of historians of emotion such as Carol Z. Stearns, Peter N. Stearns and Arlie Hochschild provides a theoretical basis for such considerations. ‘

‘Emotionology’ describes the interplay between emotional norms and actual feelings. Feelings such as fear are shaped and reinforced by social norms, and in turn influence social and political decisions.

Researchers such as Jan Plamper (History of Emotions) and Barbara H. Rosenwein (Emotional Communities) also provide important analytical foundations. Plamper, for instance, describes how “emotions are historical entities, shaped and transformed by social, cultural and political forces” (Plamper, 2015). Consequently, emotions are not fixed quantities, but change within a historical context. Rosenwein emphasises the role of ‘emotional communities’, in which ‘shared emotional expressions and norms’ determine the social fabric (Rosenwein, 2006).

Ultimately, this curatorial concept is therefore an artistic exploration of the question: Would it be more accurate to speak of a history of emotions rather than a history of humanity? And how could, or rather should, one counteract (excessive) emotionalisation?

The annual programme on the emotion of FEAR is not merely intended to paint an artistic picture of fear in modern society. It aims to explore the complexity of this emotion, both on an individual and a collective level, and to highlight how societal emotional norms and individual feelings interact. At the same time, it seeks to shed light on the mechanisms through which fear fuels social radicalisation and conflict.