Ten panels and three debates conceived and organised by the international initiative "A Soul for Europe" take place during the European Culture Congress in Wroc?aw in 2011. Discussions will concern the most significant phenomena of today culture, its various contexts and the role culture plays/can play in modern society. Among invited guests there are important world intellectuals, artists and researchers, journalists, economists, politicians, and civil actors.

Culture Inc.: culture and economy

(9.09.2011, 10 am)

From the economic point of view, culture is no different from industry or trade: the same rules of supply and demand that govern free market economy apply. What are the benefits and dangers of adopting economic discourse to culture and art? In what way should culture make use of mechanism of free economy to avoid becoming one of its victims?
participants: Oliviero Toscani, Julia Rowntree, Gerald Matt, Pier Luigi Sacco, Philippe Kern
moderator: Vladimir Vasak

Culture in Action: culture for social change

(9.09.2011, 10 am)

Are all revolutions identical? What is the impact of the Internet culture – offering universal access to information and its rapid circulation – on social mobilization and on latest political transformations? A point of departure for discussion on contemporary revolution movements in Northern Africa and in the Middle East will consist in historical examples, i.e., systemic transformations in Central and Eastern Europe of late 1980s.
participants: Guy Sorman, Ganzeer, Kader Attia, Rachida Triki
moderator: Witold Szablowski

Masses of Culture: open culture

(9.09.2011, 12.30 am)

The former division into the authors and the consumers of art does not apply to Internet "culture mass". Culture is no longer a domain of the selected. This issue triggers questions related to control and censorship, as well as the question where are the centre and the margin of contemporary culture. What is the difference between culture for the masses and culture of the masses? What is an open culture – a blessing of a choice or a curse of excess?
participants: Kuba Mikurda, Gianni Vattimo, David Barrie, Jean-Yves Leloup
moderator: Farid Tabarki

Cyberiade: new culture, new media, new aesthetics

(9.09.2011, 12.30 am)

Contemporary cultural reality is being shaped by technological achievements to an ever greater extent. New media catalyze an irrevocable aesthetic transformation. In what way is our system of values and our identity shaped by their constant presence in our lives? In what way does technological progress changes our perception and description of reality, as well as our relations with the surroundings?
participants: Alina ?erban, Pekka Himanen, Ryszard W. Kluszczy?ski, Richard Barbrook
moderator: Rindert de Groot

Recycled Culture: how ideas are recycled in art

(9.09.2011, 4.30 pm)

A universal feeling that "everything has been said", as well as pondering over history and memory, and the need to redefine terms governing art and reality, are associated with a growingly universal phenomenon of cultural recycling. What stands behind the remixing of canons and a critical reactivation of masters' legacy? What is an original copy and how can we tell creative processing from a futile one?
participants: Stefan Kaegi, Santiago Cirugeda, Aneta Szy?ak, Franco Berardi
moderator: Annette Gerlach

Laboratory of Risk: art and science

(10.09.2011, 10 am, IASE)

Such concepts as biotechnology, game theory or fractals have entered art dictionary for good. Pursuits of artists and those of scientists have a common feature - i.e. readiness to take risk and to experiment. Such readiness is an integral parts of the creative process: both in research and in artistic work. How is a symbiosis between the two manifested in contemporary art? Is a contemporary artist becoming a scientist? Or maybe a scientist is an artist?
participants: ?ukasz Turski, Eran Neuman, Mateusz Herczka, Graham Burnett
moderator: Balázs Lévai

Dangerous Liaisons: power and culture

(10.09.2011, 10 am)

What are the benefits from liaisons between authority and culture in the world of today, and what are the dangers involved? To what extent can art be apolitical and function without state support, and to what extent is it dependent on such aid? Is the revolt of art against authority still recognized as a duty of the former, or has it been replaced by the need to negotiate and pursue own interests?
participants: Chantal Mouffe, Zbigniew Libera, Fatos Lubonja, Pius Knüsel, Tomislav Medak
moderator: Jacek ?akowski

Wikianarchy: freedom in culture

(10.09.2011, 12.30 am)

Owing to new media, the struggle for freedom in culture is moving from the sphere of freedom of speech and censorship towards the sphere of copyrights. Maybe this liberation of content and its free processing accounts for the specificity of new cultural paradigm – culture 2.0. Is it possible to elaborate licence solutions that on the one hand would be an alternative to wikianarchy and on the other hand, to the author's dictatorship?
participants: Joost Smiers, Rickard "Rick" Falkvinge, Raquel Xalabarder, Ryszard Markiewicz, Oliver Herrgesell
moderator: Ruben Maes

Alien Europe: what does it mean to be European

(10.09.2011, 4 pm)

Contemporary definitions of "Europeanness" are often based on arbitrarily defined cultural and moral standards. Does a top-down-promoted "European character" correspond with an individual experience of today's Europeans? Why is the concept of multiculturalism criticized by advocates of multicultural Europe? Who is an "Alien" in Europe today, and how can cultural policy support the coexistence of a variety of cultures?
participants: Azra Akšamija, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Paul Scheffer, Tigran Mansurian
moderator: Dejan Ili?

Lost in Culture: interdisciplinarity

(10.09.2011, 12.30 am)

The culture we live in of radical interdisciplinary. Equipped in traditional definitions of art, the viewer/listener is doomed to meander in space void of classic divisions into disciplines and genres. What new cultural competences are necessary to understand a contemporary interdisciplinary artwork? In what way does a character of contemporary culture influence cultural education and models of functioning of cultural institutions?
participants: Diedrich Diederichsen, Jan Fabre, Ewa Rewers, Krzysztof Wodiczko

DEBATY ASFE
An important part of the Congress is a series of debates conceived and organized by the international initiative "A Soul for Europe" (ASfE), a civil-society initiative that acts dynamically at the European level, lobbying for a Europe that recognizes the importance of culture for the process of identity and integration. Among the topics of discussions are relations between culture and economy, the role of UE cultural programmes in constituting the European identity, and the formula of the European Capitals of Culture.

Culture and Economy in the Development of Europe

(10.09.2011, 9.30-12 am)

The debate will furthermore concentrate on the question how culture and economy can develop common strategies, actions and policy proposals to ensure the sustainable development of Europe, its regions, cities and communities. Business, culture and politics have to develop a common language. The idea of a "citizens' Europe" could be the starting point for joint steps.

European Capital of Culture – A Model for Culture?

(10.09.2011, 1.30-3.30 pm)

The project "European Capital of Culture" can be seen as a model and example for the different European cultural programmes. It was originally set up to highlight the richness and diversity of European cultures, to celebrate the cultural ties that link Europe together and foster a feeling of European citizenship. How can this idea be kept alive and given a new impetus? How to give the city its role in Europe?

The Impact of the European Union Cultural Programmes and their Future Shape

(10.09.2011, 4-6 pm)

Integrated Europe needs to create a common but still rich in its cultural diversity space for all European citizens. It's an important role then for the forthcoming EU programmes which would appear under the name "Creative Europe" to enhance cultural identity and take full advantage of artistic achievements, cultural heritage and potential of cultural industries. The panel will be an approach to discuss some examples of MEDIA and CULTURE programmes.
European Culture Congress
September 8-11, 2011
www.culturecongress.eu
This event is part of Attention Culture!, the Cultural Program of the 2011 Polish EU Presidency, which comprises a six-month series of exceptional events and artistic projects, held as a part of the Polish presidency in the EU Council.

Source: culture.pl

• The official website
• Local organizers: Wroclaw - the Meeting Place
• Organizers: National Audiovisual Institute, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland

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