The Polymath Evenings explore ideas too large for a single discipline, in the company of some of the most brilliant minds of our time.
(And A.I. may be one of them).
Polymath Evenings is a Revue Révolution initiative dedicated to cultivating a living culture of peers through collective inquiry.
Bringing together different disciplines, creative practices and cultural traditions, it invites participants to think together about questions that no single discipline can exhaust.
The Polymath Evenings are a public conversation series created by L’Atelier Révolution to make those encounters happen.
POLYMATHEIA: The Art of Learning
What does it mean to be a polymath?
The word polymath often evokes the Renaissance ideal of the universal scholar: someone whose knowledge extends across numerous disciplines. Yet the ancient figure of Polymathéia invites us to consider another understanding of polymathy.
In his discussion of the Muses, Plutarch associates Polymnia with “the remembrance of many things” and with the faculty of the soul inclined to acquire and preserve knowledge.
He notes that the Sicyonians called one of their three Muses Polymathia.
The significance of this association becomes clearer in the wider context of Plutarch’s discussion. His interlocutors consider the Muses in relation to the organization of human knowledge, bringing philosophy, rhetoric, mathematics, music and poetry into a common intellectual framework. Their different fields and faculties are understood in relation to a shared exercise of reason.
This ancient conception offers a philosophical starting point for Polymath Evenings. Rather than assembling specialists to represent separate disciplines, the project brings together different intellectual and creative faculties in a single conversation devoted to a common question. Through their distinct methods, experiences and cultural traditions, participants contribute to one collective inquiry, approaching its object from multiple perspectives.
A Living Culture of Peers
Polymath Evenings gives this conception of knowledge a collective form.
Inspired by the collaborative practices of scientific research, it seeks to cultivate a living culture of peers, bringing science, poetry & art, music, philosophy, and cultural traditions into a single conversation.
HOW POLYMATH EVENINGS WORK
Polymath Evenings unfolds in two complementary formats.
Polymath Portraits are individual conversations with members of the Circle, introducing their intellectual journeys, creative practices and approaches to knowledge.
Polymath Circles bring these participants together around a single question. Each Circle is a collective conversation in which their different disciplines, experiences and cultural perspectives contribute to a shared inquiry.
The conversations are recorded and published, allowing the inquiry to continue beyond the Circle and reach a wider audience.
“The value doesn’t come from the single object, the value comes from the whole story.”
Loïc Yengo — Mathematician, Geneticist & Musician, The First Polymath Circle · 1:05:15
The inaugural
Polymath Circle
took place on September
19, 2026, bringing together participants from the United States, Europe, India and Australia. Its first opus, What Is the Source of Creativity?, is now available to watch.
What’s Next?
Polymath Evenings will continue through new conversations and future editions. Cultural and educational institutions interested in hosting a Polymath Evening or collaborating on the project are warmly invited to get in touch.
Contact: polymathevenings@revuerevolution.com
A conversation series dedicated to beauty,
and the transmission of knowledge
where poet-artists, scientists, philosophers and observers of the inner life
meet.
L’Atelier Révolution — Exhibition Storytelling • Cultural Strategy • Public Programming