What Was The European Union? What Was The European Union? On The Occasion of The Elections in Greece   An evening of discussion, performance, and reflection.  Re-framing the debate by considering the root issues and ultimate stakes of the European Project. Event in English    This evening program attempts to intervene constructively in current discussions on the Euro-Crisis by focusing on the original and careful motivations of the European Union and the current political and economic crisis threatening it.  A rupture of the Union and its founding principles looms.  With this could come a return to ills it was built to combat.  With a consideration of the roots of the European Project, and on the day of a crucial European election: what is at stake, for Berliners, for Germany and for artists, citizens and observers alike?   The evening will begin with a public discussion on the issue - moderated by Fred Dewey.   In the second part will be three presentations, followed by drinks in the General Public courtyard.   Jeremiah Day: MAQUIS "This war will drag on beyond any platonic armistice.” - Rene Char Maquis, a slide-show performance, was made in 2004 to contribute to the dialogue around the European Constitution and the 2004 Dutch Presidency of the European Union. Originally presented at an Amsterdam squat to serve as the basis for a public discussion, the work poses political questions through art, speaking and moving, taking as it's point of departure the literal and metaphoric landscapes of the French Resistance.   Wolfgang Heuer: THE NAMELESS HERITAGE OF THE RÉSISTANCE What are the foundations of modern Europe: No more war, free mobility? Or the hidden history of the European resistance movements with their ideas of federation and spontaneous action - central elements of new politics of common responsibility which Stéphane Hessel in his pamphlet ”Indignez-vous!“ calls the “heritage of the Résistance” which was forgotten under the domination of neoliberal anti-politics.   Fred Dewey: THE LOOMING PERIL, THE PEOPLE, AND THE FEDERAL PRINCIPLE Dewey will attempt to put the federal principle, born in Europe of the French and European resistance, into context beside lessons from the EU and the USA, where states, localities, and continental power were to be balanced to free the people of tyranny, war, and imperialism. Without the EU, a crucial global potential will die, and with it, all face a potential return to nationalism, disintegration, totalitarianism, and war. What core principles must be recovered?   - Jeremiah Day graduated from the art department of the University of California at Los Angeles in 1997 and lived and worked in Los Angeles until moving to Europe in 2003 to attend the Rijksakademie.  His work has been shown recently by the Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam, Site Gallery, Sheffield, and Essays and Observations, Berlin.   For the last year, Fred Dewey has conducted an open working group on the works of Hannah Arendt at Berlin’s General Public. While in Los Angeles, he helped place self-governing councils on the city charter and, for fifteen years, ran the cultural public space Beyond Baroque. He is a writer, teacher, publisher, editor, critic, activist, and thinker.   Wolfgang Heuer teaches political philosophy at Free University, Berlin, Founder of HannahArendt.net – A Journal of Political Thinking, and co-curator of the Hannah Arendt Denkraum, Berlin 2006. > June 16, 2012   <- Back to: Discourse/Presentations
	General Public