Children of Europa
How young people are changing Europe
New Europe is not a place, it’s a young person. Committees, constitutions and commissions may hold Europe together as a political project, but it is people that hold it together as a cultural entity. This project will look at the aspirations of geographical Europe’s youngest generation, focusing particular on the way they make and exchange new-media with one another.
Themes
Children of Europa will aim to answer many questions including:
Universal Language Youtube, video phones, second hand computers and free software are creating a generation of young people across Europe at ease with creating audio-visual media. They are creating their own universal language in pictures and sounds. What does this reveal about their aspirations, their relationships to one another and European identity?
Spaced Out Organisations Across Europe democratic cultural policies tend to focus on increasing access to “cultural institutions” like art galleries and museums. Does the way that young people are making and creating audio visual media challenge those institutions and demand a new forms of public intervention?
Lost Voices Young Europeans are dying out. The population of Europe aged under-24 fell from 32.2% in 1995 to 28.7% in 2006. At the same time their experience of the world couldn’t be more different than their parents. Many can’t remember when they first used the internet, let alone the iron curtain. How will the distant voices and new language of young people connect remain connected to bigger political debates?
If you would like to read an updated version of our thinking on this project and the concept of Expressive Democracy please download our research questions.
The Project and You
We are currently determining the scope of our research in a literature review. You can keep abreast of the project by checking the project blog and our themes. We will also set up a wikispace where you can keep abreast of what we are reading. We will post any interim papers here. During Spring 2008 we will make visits to several different countries across Europe. We will publish the dates and locations of these visits here (if you’d like to meet up).
Finland: We were in Helsinki from February 18th to 22nd. You can read some of our thoughts about the visit here; and watch a video of our trip here.
Berlin: We were in Berlin from March 24th to 26th.
Romania: We will be in Romania from April 23rd to 28th.
Publishing
This project will lead to a public report in October 2008.
We are grateful for the support we have received from our friends at the European Cultural Foundation and the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation in funding this work.