This year marks the 100th birthday of Ivan Illich. In honor of his life and work, the Wagon Box will be hosting a symposium to renew Illich’s ideas for our moment.
Illich addressed many of the most vital questions of our age well before they became mainstream — how can education prioritize learning? How do the technologies we use transform our minds? What do we lose when our bodies primarily become problems for medicine to solve? What does it meant to be a man or woman today?
Join us at the Wagon Box from September 11 to 13, 2026 to share meals, discuss ideas, go on walks, and dip in the creek, all in the beauty of the Bighorn Mountains.
Together we will explore what Illich can teach us about cultivating human potential in the shadow of the Machine. Further, we will ask how can we advance, modify, or even critique his work as we strive to leave a worthy legacy for future generations.
Admissions costs $350 per person, which covers lodging and food for the weekend. Please reach out to info@thewagonbox.com for any questions or inquiries.
We are issuing a call for proposals for papers or talks on a theme, idea, or application of Ivan Illich’s work (constructive critiques are welcome too!). The theme for the symposium will be “Cultivation and Witness: Old Ways for New Season” providing a broad masthead to allow participants to highlight their chosen area of interest within the full range of Illich’s cross-disciplinary corpus, while nonetheless retaining the guiding spirit of his task.
The deadline for proposal submissions is Saturday, July 25th at 11:59 PM. You will then hear back about your acceptance by the next weekend.
We encourage a variety of thinkers and practitioners to submit their proposals, as this symposium aims to move beyond academia’s excessive specialization and its capture by state or class interests. Together we will integrate theory and practice by bringing together farmers, teachers, scholars, builders, community leaders, artists, and more.
Registration for the Wyoming Economic Forum (WEF) in August is now CLOSED. Thank you for your enthusiastic response to this groundbreaking event bringing together many pioneering voices in law, technology, and political economy — James Poulos, Joe Allen, Alex Priou, and Rob Rhinehart.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Wagon Box’s Substack to stay up to date on the latest events (there will be many more to come!), and we hope to see you at the next one.
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