The European character has always been based primarily on cultural identity, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said yesterday opening the European Culture Congress (ECC), which is taking place in the southern Polish city of Wroclaw until September 11.
Four days of non-stop culture host over 300 artists and intellectuals from all over the world to explore the evolution of culture over the past and present during this most significant cultural event of Poland’s EU Presidency.
Besides discussions with European intellectuals and artists, the program includes theatre performances, concerts, screenings, visual arts exhibitions, architectural presentations and design projects.
This interdisciplinary meeting brings together such acclaimed artists as musician Brian Eno, photographer Oliviero Toscani, visual artists Zbigniew Libera and Wilhelm Sasnal, sculptor Mirosław Balka, writer Amos Oz and artists of the younger generation – Stefan Kaegi from the Rimini Protokoll, the designer group Kompott, or the British group Stornoway.
Highlights of the program include a meeting of composer Krzysztof Penderecki with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and electronic music guru Aphex Twin and the premiere of Krystian Lupa’s and Dorota Masłowska’s production “Trickster 2011: Waiting Room.
The events are attended by scholars, activists, artists, art promoters politicians and journalists not only from the EU, but also from the Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Russia. An Informal Meeting of the EU Ministers for Culture is one of the key elements of the ECC.
The program of ECC was formed in cooperation with major cultural organizations in Europe such as the Budapest Observatory, LabforCulture, the Berlin Akademie der Künste, IETM and the Paris Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique .
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