Big ideas, tiny houses

The philosopher's hut is a space designed for privacy, where exile and thought go hand-in-hand. A new exhibition at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society invites the public into that habitat, exploring the work of three 20th-century philosophers who did some of their most important thinking in conditions of exile. Theodor Adorno was forced into exile soon after the Nazis rose to power, an uprooting that shaped his thought for the remainder of his life. Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein imposed exile on themselves by constructing and inhabiting simple wooden cabins where they were free to think and write apart from society. Scaled reconstructions of those cabins, along with original sculptures and archival photographs, will be on view in the gallery as part of the exhibition, called Hutopia , which opens April 25 and runs through Sept. The Neubauer Collegium, a research center that aims to integrate creative expression and academic inquiry, also has organized a series of public events to consider the philosophers' lasting influence. Dieter Roelstraete, curator at the Collegium, recently spoke about the uncanny links between Heidegger and Wittgenstein, the profound relationship between place and thought, and the cultural urge to unplug.