Europe to the power of n

Thirty scenarios, and thus thirty different ways of thinking about Europe, form the point of departure for the trans-regional art project Europe to the power of n, which takes place in Brussels, Istanbul, London, Łódz, Minsk, Novi Sad, Høvikodden/Oslo, San Sebastián, and Beijing between 17 July 2012 and 30 April 2013. This project has been made possible through the Excellence Initiative of the Goethe-Institut. The launch of the project starts with a festival at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Within this frame a selection of scenarios and their protagonists are presented.

The Europe arising from this project has challenging relationships to others, is challenged and challenges itself in itself. It does not defend its identity and unity, but opens itself up. Through the works of art Europe is set in relation to others taking into consideration its colonial, non-European past, its current migrant imprints and its increasing global interdependences. Europe is no solitary entity!

Program Friday 6 July 2012 | Saturday 7 July 2012
(In German language with English translation)

from 6 pm: Opening of the festival

Film: Europe in the Making – The Schuman Plan
D: Eva Kroll, 1952, 10 min; presented by Florian Wüst

In 1951, France, Italy, West Germany and the Benelux states founded the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), a key to the further economic and political unification of Europe. Against the background of reconstruction after World War II the newsreel-style documentary of Eva Kroll reports on the history of the ECSC and points out the significance of coal and steel for modern life.

Opening Speakers: Bernd Scherer, Director Haus der Kulturen der Welt; Johannes Ebert, General Secretary of the Goethe-Institut

Film: Neighbours
Florian Göthner, 5 min

Neighbours plays with the terms of nearness and distance. The collages of landscapes, which seem to be real are “ghost images”, virtual spaces with open interfaces and connections.

6.30 pm: Lecture
Barbara Steiner: Why do an Art Project about Europe?

An understanding of Europe that is pluralistic, heterogeneous and frayed and full of contradictions forms the basis of Europen. This lecture describes the difficulties and the potential of this art project and why talking about Europe can still be interesting.

7 pm: Lecture
Oliver Klimpel: Friendly and Hostile. Visual Identities in the Project Europe to the power of n

Graphic-Design is frequently complicit in the manifestation of new plans for a society, or their counter schemes. How can doubts over the effectiveness and integrity of forms and symbols become a stimulus for a practical reflexion upon graphic identities in this very project?

7.30 pm: Lecture
Christian Teckert: Europe ‘on Display’. Scenarios of a European Exhibition Space

The lecture deals equally with the impossibilities of representing Europe spatially and with the desire of bringing about a strong identity of a European space, comparable to a brand. The search for the display of an (imaginary) European exhibition space is taken as point of departure for testing possibilities of a spatial figure that is based on incongruity, reflexion and difference.

8 pm: Film
About Europe? ...Maybe this isn‘t even the case
Luise Schröder, 20 min

Luise Schröder followed the project Scenarios about Europe with her camera. In doing so her focus was on the communication and mediation of the project, which itself is orbited around without being the centre of attention.

8.30 pm: Dinner, Film and Performance
incorporation
Artist: Asako Iwama, Actor: Matthias Neukirch, Camera: Joji Koyama and Montse Torreda

Matthias Neukirch will be performing the role of Asako Iwama. The accompanying film, in which Neukirch is seen to be mimicking Iwama’s cooking of riceballs (a process in which the hands of the maker become an integral tool), documents the process of his “becoming” Iwama.

10 pm: Open-Air Cinema
Short film programme curated and presented by Florian Wüst

The short film programme reflects the idea of a united (Western) Europe that established – in the aftermath of World War II – a close economic and political collaboration. The idealised image of what a like-minded Europe is and might be is juxtaposed by the reality of an increasingly heterogeneous society. The documentary films and commercials, music clips and artistic videos of the programme confront the complex relationship of difference and assimilation by primarily looking at language and culture; the filmic methods range from documentary mise-en-scene to critical and humorous collage.

Europa Radio Hans Richter, NL 1931, 9 min
Europa hat schon begonnen Hans H. Hermann, BRD 1960, 25 min
Inventur – Metzstrasse 11 Zelimir Zilnik, BRD 1975, 9 min
The Perfect Sound Katarina Zdjelar, NL/UK 2009, 14:30 min
Experiment on a Map Barbara Kaiser, A 2001, 10 min
Die Goldenen Zitronen – Weil wir einverstanden sind Deborah Schamoni / Ulli Lindenmann, D 1998, 3 min
Berlun Ezgi Kılınçaslan, D 2008, 6:30 min

Installations of Annika Eriksson and Melanie Gilligan are on permanent display during the festival.

Program Friday 6 July 2012 | Saturday 7 July 2012

Europe to the power of n is a project of the Excellence Initiative of the Goethe-Institut. The study that preceded this project, Scenarios about Europe, was carried out in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Leipzig between September 2011 and April 2012. Europe to the power of n is coordinated by the Goethe-Institut in London in collaboration with 10 institutions in and outside the European Union. The launch and festival are realised in close collaboration with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. The artistic presentations are made possible through the support of Arend Oetker, Berlin.