‘Next generation, please’

During this school year, 200 young people from 12 schools and youth organisations met a number of politicians – including project sponsor Herman Van Rompuy – during a series of talks and debates. Working with artists, they produced films, performances, installations, sculptures and short stories. From 17-29 May their ideas, stories and dreams will be presented at the exhibition ‘Next Generation, Please’. Are the pupils inventing new concepts and writing a new chapter? Are they silent, whispering, or shouting till they’re hoarse? We provide a glimpse.

Who did what?
Eleven young people aged between 15 and 19 - each with their own character – worked with two choreographers and a filmmaker/musician to produce a movement performance and dance film on the subject of the European motto “united in diversity”.

A search for group identity led the artist Tine Guns, the philosopher Jim Maes and final-year tourism students to create ‘Eurotopia’, or three fictional countries where human values triumph. But what happens if real problems arise there too?
 
In the Pianofabriek Borderlines brought together participants who found conventional notions of nationality and borders are too restrictive. Young people from diverse backgrounds and numerous identities shared their experiences. 

Why did no one react to the destruction of a historical monument in Croatia? A monument erected to mark the resistance of the people to the fascist government. The Commission, Piazza dell’Arte and the artist Thomas Nolf went in search of an answer with a group of young people.

Pupils at the European School in Laeken and the artist Filip Van Dingenen took Carte du Monde Poétique (1968) by Marcel Broodthaers as their point of departure to speak of identity. While tracing their path on the world map, they found inspiration in the work of the American artist Jimmie Durham.

Photographer Vincent Beeckman put together a magazine with 20 children from the Petit Chateau refugee centre. With striking images, drawings and texts, they dream about their countries of origin and destination. 

Artists Mathias Ruelle and Guy Dermul organised a round table conference at which 26 students from the 28 Member States had a discussion on the borders of Serbia and Hungary. The moderator was the British economist and writer Philippe Legrain. 

Students of photography and the audiovisual arts at the Koninklijk Atheneum in Anderlecht presented their vision of Europe in a colourful, multimedia exhibition in association with dancer and choreographer Michiel Vandevelde, visual artist Magda Ral and video artist Jakob Rosseel.

What are the – written or unwritten – laws of the street? Who comes up with them? This inspiring group of performance artists from the Mestizo Arts Platform worked with street artists, musicians, slam poets, painters, photographers and video artists on European street laws. 

The artist Emilio López-Menchero joined pupils from the Institut Sainte-Marie in reflecting on the “thickness” of the borders. Within defined areas the young people constructed an imaginary world that is as complex as the one we live in. 

Together with actor and director Ruud Gielens, the class at the ITP Court-Saint-Etienne put together video clips on contemporary issues such as identity, citizenship, democracy and participation, and freedom of expression.  

In a Brussels station, 10 young people joined the artists Adèle Jacot and Mélanie Peduzzi to work on dazibaos, Chinese posters with a political or social message. The young people wrote their message for Europe on the posters. 

Participating schools:
Institut Sainte Marie / Saint-Gilles, Institut Technique Provincial / Court-Saint-Etienne, European School / Laken 4, Provinciaal Handels- en Taalinstituut (PHTI) / Gent, Athénée Royal d’Esneux, l’Institut Sainte Marie la Sagesse / Schaerbeek, KA Etterbeek, KA Anderlecht

Participating organisations:
Piazza dell’Arte, Artforum, De Veerman, MUS-E Belgium, De Pianofabriek, Le Petit Château / Het Klein Kasteeltje, Mestizo Arts Platform, Fiëbre vzw, Le Journal Intime de Quartier, Habitants des Images ASBL

Participating artists:
Ruud Gielens, Filip Van Dingenen, Emilio Lopèz Menchero, Guy Dermul, Mathias Ruelle, Vincen Beeckman, Magda Ral, Jakob Rosseel, Michiel Vandevelde, Hélène Amouzou, Christopher Daley, Sophie Feyder, Miroslav Kochanek, Andreia Rodrigues, Jochem Baelus, Tine Guns, Boris Magottaux (Atelier Pica Pica), Jim Maes, Thomas Nolf, Studio Urbanization, Mike van Alfen, Adèle Jacot, Mélanie Peduzzi

With the helping hands of:
UNICA Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe, ESN/Serbia, KVS, VGC