“Illusion of Nearness? Future Prospects for the European Neighbourhood”
The aim of the forum “Illusion of Nearness? Future Prospects for the European Neighbourhood” is to draw up a new agenda for neighbourhood relations in Europe. The forum will be held by the Goethe-Institut, in partnership with the Polish Institute Berlin, the Deutsch-Französisches Institut et al., at the former Tempelhof Airport in Berlin from 27 to 29 October 2010.
The Goethe-Institut is active in India and China, there are Goethe-Instituts in the Persian Gulf and increasingly of late in Africa. But its history began almost 60 years ago in (Western) Europe, where it still has a tighter network than anywhere else. Why? Hasn’t the work of post-war reconciliation long since been completed, in Western Europe at any rate – and, after 20 years’ presence in Warsaw, Prague and Moscow, little by little in Central and Eastern Europe, too? What will be the follow-up now that the “friendship among nations” project seems to be concluded?
Since time immemorial, the rhetoric about “good neighbours” has been used to sugarcoat the situation, but your neighbour is, and in many cases remains, a source of vexation. It starts with neighbours feuding over property lines and, sadly, doesn’t come to a stop with nations fighting over national borders or natural resources. “Illusion of Nearness?” means precisely that: geographical or physical proximity suggests a closeness in day-to-day relations, a suggestion that can easily prove misleading. In times of crisis like the one we are going through now, it becomes clear that even slight convulsions can rip open old fault lines, revealing long-standing scores that have yet to be settled. Although our common destination is clear, the ways there have to be remapped and reblazed time and again. And each and every one has to help keep us on track. But individual efforts need to be backed up by a European cultural policy: a seismograph, as it were, to register the slightest tremors and keep Europe going steady by means of sensitive and conscientious cultural efforts.
How are neighbourhood relations in Europe going now and what do we seek to achieve here? How can a neighbourhood “culture of remembrance” be established? What does neighbourhood mean in cities that are currently transforming into transnational conurbations? What will be the major connecting aims and narratives of the near future? What challenges lie ahead here for cultural policies in Europe?
These and many other questions will be broached over the course of the “Illusion of Nearness?” forum. One particular focus will be on what are probably Germany’s most important neighbourhood relations: those to France and Poland. Politicians, philosophers and historians, ethnologists, artists and writers, will discuss the spirit and the spectres of neighbourhood past, present and future. Similar forums to be held in and outside Europe will then address specific regional neighbourhood configurations.
The opening will take place on October 27 at 7.30 p.m. The event is launched on October 28 at 9.30 a.m. by an address given by the political scientist and philosopher Herfried Münkler. On October 29 at 4 p.m. the Hungarian author Péter Esterházy reads from his texts. In the evening the Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle delivers a speech.
Venue: Flughafen Tempelhof, Platz der Luftbrücke, 12101 Berlin
The Goethe-Institut is active in India and China, there are Goethe-Instituts in the Persian Gulf and increasingly of late in Africa. But its history began almost 60 years ago in (Western) Europe, where it still has a tighter network than anywhere else. Why? Hasn’t the work of post-war reconciliation long since been completed, in Western Europe at any rate – and, after 20 years’ presence in Warsaw, Prague and Moscow, little by little in Central and Eastern Europe, too? What will be the follow-up now that the “friendship among nations” project seems to be concluded?
Since time immemorial, the rhetoric about “good neighbours” has been used to sugarcoat the situation, but your neighbour is, and in many cases remains, a source of vexation. It starts with neighbours feuding over property lines and, sadly, doesn’t come to a stop with nations fighting over national borders or natural resources. “Illusion of Nearness?” means precisely that: geographical or physical proximity suggests a closeness in day-to-day relations, a suggestion that can easily prove misleading. In times of crisis like the one we are going through now, it becomes clear that even slight convulsions can rip open old fault lines, revealing long-standing scores that have yet to be settled. Although our common destination is clear, the ways there have to be remapped and reblazed time and again. And each and every one has to help keep us on track. But individual efforts need to be backed up by a European cultural policy: a seismograph, as it were, to register the slightest tremors and keep Europe going steady by means of sensitive and conscientious cultural efforts.
How are neighbourhood relations in Europe going now and what do we seek to achieve here? How can a neighbourhood “culture of remembrance” be established? What does neighbourhood mean in cities that are currently transforming into transnational conurbations? What will be the major connecting aims and narratives of the near future? What challenges lie ahead here for cultural policies in Europe?
These and many other questions will be broached over the course of the “Illusion of Nearness?” forum. One particular focus will be on what are probably Germany’s most important neighbourhood relations: those to France and Poland. Politicians, philosophers and historians, ethnologists, artists and writers, will discuss the spirit and the spectres of neighbourhood past, present and future. Similar forums to be held in and outside Europe will then address specific regional neighbourhood configurations.
The opening will take place on October 27 at 7.30 p.m. The event is launched on October 28 at 9.30 a.m. by an address given by the political scientist and philosopher Herfried Münkler. On October 29 at 4 p.m. the Hungarian author Péter Esterházy reads from his texts. In the evening the Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle delivers a speech.
Venue: Flughafen Tempelhof, Platz der Luftbrücke, 12101 Berlin
“Illusion of Nearness? Future Prospects for the European Neighbourhood” A forum of the Goethe-Institut
Partners: Polish Institute Berlin, the German-French Institute and others
Partners: Polish Institute Berlin, the German-French Institute and others
