First European events of Tania Bruguera’s Hannah Arendt Institute for Artivism kick off TRANSEUROPA Festival 2015

First European events of Tania Bruguera’s Hannah Arendt Institute for Artivism kick off TRANSEUROPA Festival 2015
Events in London, Rome, Paris, Lublin and Belgrade part of transnational festival of art, politics and culture

September 24, 2015 – On Saturday, September 26, five European cultural institutions will host reading performances of Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism. The events are part of the 2015 TRANSEUROPA Festival, a festival for arts, politics and culture, co-organised by European Alternatives and the Belgrade based Ministry of Space.

“In the midst of what media and politicians call the ‘migrant crisis’ or ‘refugee crisis’, when people are defined with a title that implies they are never arriving or welcome anywhere, Hannah Arendt’s reflections on statelessness, asylum seekers, the violence of the nation, political action and freedom of expression resonate more than ever.” Said Ségolène Pruvot, European Alternatives Arts and Culture Director.

The Cuban artist, activist and European Alternatives board member, Tania Bruguera, inaugurated the Hannah Arendt Institute for Artivism in May of 2014 in Havana with a 100 hour reading of The Origins of Totalitarianism. At the time, Bruguera was prevented from leaving Cuba after being arrested during a public performance. Over the course of several months, she faced regular interrogations by the police.

The reading performance is hosted by the Plateau/FRAC Île de France in Paris, London’s Rivington Place, Maxxi Museum in Rome, the War and Peace exhibition in Lublin, and the Center for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD) in Belgrade. Logistical information for each event can be found at transeuropafestival/why-artivism.

TRANSEUROPA Festival culminates in a five day programme in Belgrade, starting Oct 1. Over 50 contributors, artists, intellectuals and activists will join the discussion on Europe’s present and future. Amongst them are human rights lawyer Renata Avila, philosopher Srećko Horvat, political scientist Ulrike Guérot, author and activist Brett Scott, theatre director Angela Richter and Guardian journalist Nabeelah Shabbir.

TRANSEUROPA Festival is free and open to the public. Download the PDF press packet.

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Contacts:

• European Alternatives: Lucile Gemähling l.gemaehling@euroalter.com / +49 15 78 75 09 657
• Ministry of Space: Virdzinija Djekovic virdzinia@gmail.com / +381 60 516 92 28

European Alternatives (EA) is a transnational civil society organisation promoting democracy, equality and culture beyond the nation state. EA has offices in Rome, Paris, Berlin and London, and member groups across the continent. More information at www.euroalter.com. 

Ministry of space (Ministarstvo Prostora) is a collective founded in 2011 with the aim of monitoring future development of Belgrade and other Serbian cities. In implementing its projects and activities the Ministry of space closely collaborates with a network of researchers, activists, groups and individuals working in different fields such as architecture, urban planning, sociology, art and political science. More information on http://issuu.com/ministarstvoprostora/docs/ministry_of_space

For more information on the 2015 TRANSEUROPA Festival, visit the website http://transeuropafestival.eu, follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/transeuropafest and like us on Facebook http://facebook.com/transeuropafestival. The festival hashtag is #TEF15