About TRANSEUROPA
Transeuropa is the result of a participative process taking place throughout Europe, involving hundreds of activists, politicians, philosophers and artists mobilised in order to achieve a truly translocal festival.
TRANSEUROPA is a transnational artistic, cultural and political festival organised by European Alternatives since 2007. In the past decade, TRANSEUROPA has attracted thousands of attendees and active participants through a decentralised event structure in over a dozen European cities and a high profile moment in one city. For the 2019 edition, Beyond the Wall, the main city for TRANSEUROPA is Palermo and is organised in cooperation with the Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo.
Why Beyond the Wall
The new edition of Transeuropa takes place in the context of the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989-2019) and presents a rich schedule of events prepared in cooperation with BAM – Biennale Archipelago Mediterraneo. The programme will consist of events, exhibitions, meetings and music and will involve a large number of historical spaces of the city.
THE THEME
Every city is a community by itself, wrote Aristotle, thus revealing one of the great tensions that still accompanies us today: that between the universalism of notions such as humanity and justice and the often exclusive character of the polis, a space defined through contrast with those who have no right of citizenship.
Each border draws a line of demarcation that simultaneously includes and excludes: it identifies the us, the space of familiarity and solidarity, and the other, the space of estrangement and indifference.
Is it however possible to establish a political community on the transcendence of the wall? Is it possible to solve what Zygmunt Bauman considered the challenge of our time, namely “to plan – for the first time in human history – an integration that is no longer based on separation”? Is it possible to imagine a space that is always already overcoming itself; a space of multiplicity, where a plurality of borders intertwine and question each other, within and beyond every frontier?
This is, on closer inspection, a condition that we already find today in a city like Palermo: the centre of the Mediterranean; a cultural and political connector between continents boasting a transcultural and intersectional vocation lived in a completely compromising way. A microcosm crossed by contradictions and conflicts, experiences and stories that are absolutely irreducible to a single identity.
And so: what lies beyond the border?
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What others say about us…
“I felt like an orphan going around the world speaking about how art can influence politics and other forms of collaboration and suddenly finding European Alternatives and Transeuropa was like discovering a twin I hadn’t met before”
“For me Transeuropa was a wonderful way of connecting with people I would never otherwise have met, and feeling part of a wider European culture”
“The Transeuropa symbolises and expresses all that is radically creative about European Alternatives and the networks they have been able to cultivate through European citizens from Sofia and Cluj to Belgrade and Bologna. If you want to experience the future of Europe now, look no further than Transeuropa Festival.”
“People often are amazed how diverse and colourful is their city, region, or country. It is Transeuropa Festival which helps them discover it. Transeuropa invites us to discuss fundamental issues and encourages us to be active citizens of our communities. I am proud to work with European Alternatives building better Europe!”
