The Kidnapping Europe project was initialized by the artists Christina Clar (Paris, France) and Peter Jap Lim (Berlin, Germany) in 2001. Based on the "Europa Myth" (Zeus kidnapped the phoenician princess Europa and brought her to a continent which now has her name), the project aims to approach the topic of migration and the dreams, hopes and visions of migrants, in particular, from a contemporary perspective. In addition to their own work, which resulted in an installation that made its debut at this year's Los Angeles International art show, Christina and Peter approached a number of people from other disciplines – e.g. film, graphic design, perfume making) and asked Beau Rivage to put together a music compilation for the project. "Turning Dreams & Shifting Harbours" is the resulting compilation of 16 exclusive musical contributions. Its Belgian release will be celebrated at the event in Brussels. Some of the contributors will play live (partly solo, partly with their bands) and there will also be corresponding installations from Christina Clar and Peter Jap Lim.
The Contributors and a Selection of Their Past and Present Musical Contexts:
JOCHEN BRIESEN (Berlin, Germany) – Semuin, Gaston, Taunus
INGWIO D'HESPEEL (Gent, Belgium) – Wio, De Portables
JULES ETIENNE (France) – Jules Etienne
DAVID GRUBBS (Chicago, USA) – David Grubbs, Bastro, Gastr del Sol
JÜRGEN HECKEL (Paris, France) – Sogar, Ion+
PHILIPP JANZEN (Cologne, Germany) – Kleine Wohnen, Hessen, Urlaub in Polen, Von Spar
ANDI KÜNNECKE (Hamburg, Germany) – Künnecke & Smukal, Unhold
CHRISTOF KURZMANN (Vienna, Austria) – Christof Kurzmann, Orchester 33 1/3, Charizma Label
CHRISTOPH LEIDIG (Göttingen, Germany) – Hessen, one third of Beau Rivage
HOWARD MONK (London, UK) – Billy Mahonie
ALEXANDER POLZIN (Hamburg, Germany) – Alexander Polzin
JUKKA REVERBERI (Italy) – Giardini di Miro
STEVE RODEN (USA) – Steve Roden
ANDI SCHOON (Hamburg, Germany) – Jullander, Kanton
DAVID SHEPPARD (London, UK) – State River Widening, Ellis Island Sound, The Wisdom of Harry
CHRISTIAN SMUKAL (Hamburg, Germany) – Sport, Künnecke & Smukal, Mobiles Klangkommando
LOZ SPEYER (London, UK) – Loz Speyer Quartet
CHRISTOPHE STOLL (Hamburg, Germany) – Nitrada, 2-nd rec
LUKE SUTHERLAND (London, UK) – Long Fin Killie, Bows
JAN THOBEN (Berlin, Germany) – Gaston, Taunus, Kinn
JAMES MERLE THOMAS (Pittsburgh, USA) – James Merle Thomas, Hessen
VOLKER ZANDER (Munich, Germany) – Calexico, Sommerweg Records
A rhetorical question:
Is it possible to construct an identity without memory?
A rhetorical remark:
Memory is nothing but implanted sequences and narrations as vignettes.
The Alchemy of Memory through Formulas for Identity
It is impossible … to decode the cultural texture of Europe straight away or to estimate how the diversities of this texture have fused into the globe and in return absorbed the unknown treasures of other geographies. The inheritance of the cultural image for Europe is the amalgamation of Greco-Roman Antiquity, Old and New Testaments together with Russian Orthodox, Jewish, Anglo-Saxon, Turkish-Muslim (Ottoman) and Arabic-Muslim civilizations. This amalgamation presents a highly schizoid picture for any attempt for framing Europe in a homogeneous understanding. Today, together with the unstable dynamics of this picture, and along with the influences of the colonial inscriptions, “collective memory” has been shaped locally and temporally in the contemporary European cultural social and political landscape. It is mostly constructed by how the recent past is remembered in various geographies. With the influence of the ideological division of the East and West brought forth by Communist pasts, the social construction of collective memory in contemporary Europe during the Cold War and after the fall of Communism in 1989 constantly reveals new and widely divergent sequences and narrations in different geographies within the continent.
Then, here comes the migrations from/to/in Europe together with the impact and problems of increased global trade, communications on international and national governance, creation and distribution of wealth and information, cultural heterogeneity, and environmental awareness. Being more and more invisible as a “nomad” on such shifty grounds of the globe.
Being inspired by a simple imagery – like the myth of beautiful Europa who was keenly abducted by a fascinating bull – could help to understand the “state of being nomad” in and/or outside your homeland as an inhabitant and/or a stranger who seeks for identity and memory.
All of the big global cities have become temporary shelters for contemporary nomads.
Cities covered by techno-surrealist images, picturesque sights, hi-life regions, poverty-stricken districts, glamorous entertainment zones with cut and paste designs, hygienic and synthetic shopping centres, hi-tech buildings and superimposed historic references. Los Angeles, Berlin, London, New York, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Paris …The desire for living in one of these cities is as attractive as the bull, yet it needs the courage to mount upon his back … but nobody knows the rest … Europa was never found by the Phoenician relatives who sought her.
It is not surprising to detect searches for uniform identities, collective memories and even a desire to believe in meta-narratives. Now it is the physical and psychological traces that create memory. Not altered histories but only evidence and real life experiences articulate sequences and narrations as vignettes of memory. At that point, the complex relationship between memory and forgetfulness starts to operate.
“Kidnapping Europe” will re-write a collective memory once again. This time with different formulas as the outcomes of the project. The representational routing of the dialogues of the migrants in Los Angeles will complicate the fragments of the nomadic identity. The aural axis of this projection will manifest itself through a CD. The name "turning dreams and shifting harbours" already implies the drive of this projection: the mobility between spaces, experiences and lives, which give the hints for the cultural texture of the globe. It will not be Europe. It will not be the United States. It will be the picture of the current shifty ground generated by time and enforced mobility. - BASAK SENOVA
Kidnapping Europe is a project of the artists Christina Clar and Peter Jap Lim in cooperation with Beau Rivage and (K-RAA-K)3. The event in Brussels receives the support of the Flemish Government and Recyclart. Contact: info@kraak.net