Authoring European Futures
#SaveWildWords Art & Action Katrin Roeggla/Violence Elsewhere A Soul for Europe Europa eine Seele geben
Public Engagement: #SaveWildWords
#SaveWildWords
Using art to explore the link between language and environmental issues in Germany and Europe
A collaboration with British Council Europe
Search #SaveWildWords and #UKGermany2018 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see the campaign results, or view the saved #SaveWildWords Instagram stories here
Find out more about our #SaveWildWords artist Elizabeth Rider on her website Indi Skoven Prints, and discover the writing and other projects of our #SaveWildWords author Raphaela Edelbauer on her website here. #SaveWildWords was co-created with Dr Catherine Smale at King’s College London: find out more about her research here.
Research: Art & Action - European Literary-Political Networks and Organisations
This webinar explores the ways in which authors make use of institutions, organisations, and networks as platforms and frameworks for their activist interventions. Ellen Wiles reveals the impact and resonance of live literature events as forms of literary activism. Drawing on her experiential literary ethnography of the Polari Salon, she outlines the ways in which the Polari Salon deploys literary performance as a fruitful means of strengthening LGBTQ+ community bonds and as a form of activism. Benedict Schofield takes a comparative perspective on the transnational literary-political networks that frame and sustain the engaged authorship of Scottish authors A. L. Kennedy and Ali Smith as well as Austrian authors Katrin Röggla and Robert Menasse. He argues that for these writers the fracture of Europe not only prompts a literary reflection of the European crisis, but triggers active interventions into political discourse.
Ellen Wiles and Benedict Schofield
View the webinar on The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) website here
This series of webinars was convened by Sandra Mayer (University of Vienna / Oxford Centre for Life-Writing) and Ruth Scobie (Mansfield College, Oxford), and was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), in collaboration with The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW), Postcolonial Writers Make Worlds, and The Stephen Spender Trust. For more information, see https://torch.ox.ac.uk/art-and-action and https://artandactionoxford.wordpress.com
Katrin Röggla/Violence Elsewhere
This conversation took place in the context of a King’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship (KURF) focusing on the work of Austrian-born, Berlin-based writer Kathrin Röggla. In it, Dr Lizzie Stewart, KURF-holder Beni Atanasov, and I explore some of the ways in which Röggla and her work help us think about the ways in which the German relationship to violence elsewhere - in Europe and around the world - is reflected, imagined, recreated or co-created in the literary sphere.
Policy: A Soul For Europe
A Soul for Europe connects and mobilizes citizens and democratic institutions across Europe, fostering a sense of responsibility for the future of Europe and democracy through culture. Our work is to inspire a deep and positive conversation about Europe, helping a new generation connect to current policy makers – and to influence emerging ones.
The A Soul for Europe Initiative holds Forums, Workshops, Conferences and Arts Events around Europe strengthening the understanding between political, cultural and business opinion formers. As we connect communities three topics frame our discussions: Culture and Citizenship, Cities for Europe and Culture in an Interdependent World. We question political assumptions, interrogate decision makers, challenge myopic thinkers. Most of all we argue for closer connections, fresh ideas and compassionate solutions.
Watch Part 1 of the Round Table, on culture as a driving force for European Integration (in German)
Watch Part 2 of the Round Table, on politics as a partner for European civil society (in German)
These videos are of the "A Soul for Europe" Conference (Berlin 2014) co-produced with the European Parliament and the Allianz Kulturstiftung. The conference is held annually and in 2014 it brought together the leading candidates of the major European parties with artists, intellectuals and civil society activists to discuss the future role of culture in Europe after the 2014 European Elections, as well as civic participation in the European integration process.
Participants in the round table discussion: Ioana Andreescu, Steve Austen, Maria Badia i Cutchet, Airan Berg, Nicolas Bertrand, Emil Boc, Erhard Busek, Hugo De Greef, Paul Dujardin, Johannes Ebert, Malina Edreva, Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Steve Green, Volker Hassemer, Hannu Hyttinen, Wolfgang Ischinger, Valentin Kreilinger, Rüdiger Kruse, Jo Leinen, Morten Løkkegaard, Beral Madra, Doris Pack, Aiva Rozenberga, Mikhail Shvydkoy, Hannes Swoboda, Michael Thoss, Yuriy Vulkovsky, Andre Wilkens
Moderators: Nele Hertling and Benedict Schofield
Recorded by ALEX TV
Research: Europa eine Seele geben / A Soul for Europe
Was macht Europa aus?
Gibt es ein gemeinsames Band, eine Seele jenseits von Institutionen und Vorschriften? Engagierte Bürger aus 17 europäischen Staaten liefern Beiträge für diese Anthologie der Initiative A Soul for Europe, die von dem ehemaligen EU-Kommissar Jacques Delors initiiert wurde und seit über 16 Jahren von den Herausgebern lebendig gehalten wird.
Ihre Kernthese: Wir brauchen eine europäische Kulturpolitik, die das Projekt Europäische Union spürbar und erlebbar macht. Denn die europäische Idee von der »Vielfalt in der Einheit « lässt sich unmöglich nur mit Verwaltungsakten umsetzen. Die Autoren dieser Anthologie bauen mit ihrem Beitrag an dem gemeinsamen Haus Europa. Als Kulturschaffende zeigen sie, dass Europa durch seine Kultur lebt, die an jedem Ort, in jeder Stadt, in jeder Region spürbar ist.
Image rights:
All #SaveWildWords images (aside from the sunset watercolour) by Elizabeth Rider, especially commissioned for the British Council Europe and King’s College London #SaveWildWords campaign, London 2018.
Sunset watercolour by students of King’s College London, under the tuition of Elizabeth Rider. Created as part of the British Council Europe and King’s College London #SaveWildWords campaign, London 2018.
A Soul for Europe Images: Carousel images 1, 2, 4-11 by A Soul for Europe. Images 3, 4 and 12 by Benedict Schofield.
Cover image of Europa eine Seele geben (Berlin: Europa Verlag, 2014).
Video rights:
All #SaveWildWords videos were especially created as part of the British Council Europe and King’s College London #SaveWildWords campaign, London 2018.
The 2014 A Soul for Europe videos were streamed publically on YouTube by ALEX TV.