Today the EU Council meets as “the EU has called the Belarusian political leadership to participate in a genuine and inclusive dialogue with broader society to avoid further violence. The EU supports the Belarusian population in their desire for democratic change.” You can follow the video conference via this link.
We hope the outcomes will support the changes in Belarusian society now that the society experienced “a revolution in its mentality, a complete reboot of its thinking process,” as visual artist and writer Artur Klinaŭ had hoped for in his 2015 contribution to our Another Europe book.
A silent walk for solidarity
“I do this trajectory almost daily, but now the uncanniness of the situation - this stranger that I just ‘met’, made me hyper-attentive of the public realm and the bizarre moment we’re all in. What struck me is the consciousness of my personal character, my social identity that is evoked by the other’s presence,” recalled a participant of silent walk in Brussels.
After the walk, a scripted conversation takes place and the participants are invited to record or write down their experiences. The feedbacks are then added to the project’s online Archive Of Solidarity, where fragments of these digitalized ‘analogue encounters’ are shown throughout the scope of the project. This is an existing, yet prototyped tool, that will be further developed the coming months.
The European Parliament of Urban Rights
“We have always been inspired by the idea of a network based on cities or towns rather than nations, connecting different territories with the same concerns as opposed to constructing relationships built only on the basis of the nation state,” say Aurora Adalid Núñez and Luis Galán of ZuloArk’s project ‘Universal Declaration of Urban Rights’.
Their European Parliament of Urban Rights takes the form of an online platform and a series of virtual encounters to compile, exchange, and learn from local innovations from throughout Europe.
On amazement and borders - a longread by Quinsy Gario
Over summer we present you some thought pieces on the current state of Europe, with an eye to the various Black Lives Matter demonstrations globally. Kicking off the series is Dutch artist Quinsy Gario with his text “On amazement and borders”, firstly published in our annual magazine Common Ground.
Read MoreOn questions of mobility, matters of belonging and our perception of public space
“….the perception of the public space can be altered very rapidly, and the dynamics of mobility and accessibility in public spaces can be all of a sudden questioned at political, economical and environmental levels. Those are the layers we would like to touch upon while walking and listening during the festivals to come,” says Jacek Smolicki of Walking Festival of Sound.
Read MoreLocal community networks: an example of European public space
“It is in the process of mutual recognition, a growing sense of belonging, and in mutual support that we believe the European public space is really built,” says Almudena Caso of Thriving Regardless.
Read MoreArt Workers Italia: European acknowledgment of the value of cognitive work
Art Workers Italia is an autonomous non-partisan group of contemporary art workers focused on cognitive work rights in the field of contemporary art, in Italy and Europe. We met members of AWI to tell us more about ‘Hyper Unionisation’.
Read MoreOsman Kavala in unlawful detention for 1000 days
Today is a sad day.
Our friend and colleague Osman Kavala is in unlawful detention for 1000 days today.
Boosting the European culture of solidarity
We spoke with Márton Szarvas about the initiative Szovetkezetiseget Tamogato Egyesulet ( Solidarity Economy Center) and how it will project existing solidarity solutions into a broader sphere of cultural imagination in a time of crisis.
Read MoreBuilding solidarity for the Asian diaspora in Europe
We spoke with Joon Lynn Goh from Asia Art Activism on their initiative Tools to Transform: Workbook for Asian Diasporic Organising in Europe and what it means in terms of European public space and solidarity and Asian diaspora in Europe and beyond.
Read MoreA map for solidarity
Arianna Petrosino, responsible for the project SOL.MAP, explained to us how living the corona lockdown in Italy had an impact on her decision to apply to our call Culture of Solidarity fund. They realized that many activists and organizations had to reinvent their traditional activities to face social distancing and the restrictions imposed by the lockdown.
Read MoreConnecting the social and the cultural sector
We interviewed Cultureghem on how they responded quickly to the crisis by adapting its activities fast and being efficient in reacting to the current situation with their project Recup'art: adding art to their food aid parcels to help people in need and artists. Adding some culture to the food package connects two different sectors: the social and artistic sector.
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