Lecture Recitals have become a tradition at the Wissenschaftskolleg since Walter Levin began them in the 1991/1992 academic year.
"Sounds are not there for their own sake; they are bearers of ideas, embedded in the logic of the matter. And the point is to elaborate this, so that music can become an object of contemplation and enjoyment." (Dieter Grimm)
As a rule the Observatorium is a workshop involving former Fellows, Permanent Fellows and external researchers. A public soiree kicks off the event. The group looks at emerging fields of science or regions of the world that are less developed scientifically, and it attempts to identify disciplinary deficits or blind spots in already established fields while making hitherto unnamed problems visible.
Every two years, an internationally especially respected researcher is invited for the bio-science Ernst Mayr Lecture. Here, the Wissenschaftskolleg cooperates with the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, in whose rooms the lecture is held. The invitee holds a seminar with young Berlin researchers the following day at the Wissenschaftskolleg.