Culture for Solidarity’ is a 2,5 year artistic research into root causes of fragmentation in Europe by Krytyka Polityczna (Warsaw), ZEMOS98 (Seville) and European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam). By highlighting cultural practices that bring unusual groups of people together, connecting these practices and scaling them across the continent, the project-partners aim to contribute to more solidarity in Europe. The project supports a more inclusive cultural sector and offers cross-sectoral solutions to counter polarisation.
Political, demographic and economic changes have opened gaps between people and between people and institutions, leaving fertile ground for populism, radicalisation and fear. The hardening of borders at the edges of and within Europe is causing great anxiety. And just when we need ways to discuss these changes, social media is entrenching viewpoints and spreading falsehood. It is hard to find common ground or the institutions that can create it.
In this continent of increasingly polarised communities we need organisations and practices that can support new ways of living together - ways we can use to learn, discuss and make new ideas together. This is a challenge to all public institutions and particularly all those who consider themselves part of the cultural sector in Europe. Culture in Solidarity is the project-partners’ response to that challenge.
