United States of Europe

 

A travelling exhibition about European identity and today’s Europe



How is European identity doing? Does Mr O’Keeffe in Ireland feel more or less European than Mrs Stylianou in Cyprus? And how European do you feel? The artistic project United States of Europe (U.S.E) deals with these questions in the context of a travelling exhibition through ten European countries. The first exhibition will take place from November 14 till December 5, 2011 in Lodz, Poland under the patronage of the Polish Presidency 2011. This marks the start of a two-year long exhibition period.
The United States of Europe (U.S.E) project presents various reflections on those questions through four dimensions:



•1. Artists interpretations. Curators and artists and been invited to give their interpretations on European identity through photos, multimedia, video and other installations.



•2. Sociological studies. 50 people from 10 different countries countries have been interviewed. The result is video-recorded interviews that give comparable results of a potential belonging to a European entity.

 

•3. An interactive laboratory. This is a place at the exhibition where the artistic and sociological parts are combined. It’s a creative environment for real-time exchange about Europe today.

 

•4. A series of debates. Several aspects will be discussed, for example “What does it mean to be European and how is contemporary art dealing or not with that question?” and “Europe, its politicians and the people – about confidence and commitment today”.



Between November 14 2011 and April 30 2013 the exhibition will take place in Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Cyprus, Germany, Bulgaria, France, Ireland and Belgium.



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The Partner Consortium

Some history about the term United States of Europe



The United States of Europe is a name given to several similar hypothetical scenarios of the unification of Europe, as a single nation and a single federation of states, similar to the United States of America, both as projected by writers of speculative fiction and science fiction, and by political scientists, politicians, geographers, historians, and futurologists.
Napoleon is supposed to have said during his time on St. Helena ; “Europe thus divided into nationalities freely formed and free internally, peace between States would have become easier: the United States of Europe would become a possibility".
George Washington is thought to have written to the Marquis de La Fayette: "One day, on the model of the United States of America, a United States of Europe will come into being". After the American War of Independence the vision of a United States of Europe similar to the United States of America was shared by a few prominent Europeans, notably the Marquis de Lafayette and Tadeusz Kościuszko.
“United States of Europe” (États-Unis d'Europe) was also used by Victor Hugo, during a speech at the International Peace Congress held in Paris in 1849. Hugo favored the creation of "a supreme, sovereign senate, which will be to Europe what parliament is to England" and said, "a day will come when all nations on our continent will form a European brotherhood... a day will come when we shall see... the United States of America and the United States of Europe face to face, reaching out for each other across the seas".
Winston Churchill also called for United States of Europe in a speech at the University of Zürich in Switzerland, 1946.



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Visit the Official Website - United States of Europe -

 

Passport - U.S.E