Euro-Neuro

Every day we have to face our European legacies. In the streets, when we celebrate our birthday, when we watch the Olympics, when we go to an exhibition, when we fight, when we say words of love…

George Steiner once wrote that Europe must learn how to deal with the legacies of Greece and Israel (i.e. the inventions of reason and faith) and that being a European is an attempt to negotiate morally, intellectually and existentially with the ideals and the praxis of the cities of Socrates (Athens) and Isaiah (Jerusalem), with the tension between Hellenes and Jews.

Europe is a big house, a place of memory and comfort. But it also holds a history of famine, ethnic cleansing, genocide, torture, wars and epidemics. It’s true we feel protected and warm in our homes, under this common roof. However there's a shadow hanging over this region. There is a dark side to this sovereignty of  memories, this self-definition of Europe as “lieu de mémoire”.

Together with the participants we will explore these relations between Athens and Jerusalem, past and present, attempting to create texts, scenes, theory and ideas around our own work and universe, and to create a possibility of a performance where Europe’s nerve  (neuron/ νεῦρον) will be fought, discussed and negotiated.

Come and see the result of the workshop on Friday 6th of June at 7pm at Atelier 210.
210, Chaussée Saint Pierre, 1040 Bruxelles

Free entrance!

The workshop

"Euro-Neuro" wants to be a moment for thinking, a mixture of doubtful intimacy and intolerant preaching, served by periods of action and artistic jumps.

We will not be together. There is no such thing as sharing a meaning and a generous interactivity. There isn’t even the slightest hope of understanding each other. We are opening a department for communication with no guarantees. The participants are expected to take initiative, to read, listen and adore because, as Europeans do, without reason and faith you can’t move the sea or conquer the world. The ambition is enormous so that the fall may be more vertiginous.

Abstract from "Teargas" by Teatro Praga:

"Let the Games Begin and Let There Be Light

I'm Greek. My vocabulary is Greek. My theories are Greek. My architecture is Greek. My Athletics are Greek. My aesthetic models are Greek. My natural sciences are Greek. My conflicts are Greek. My reason is Greek.

I'm Jewish. My book is Jewish. My right is Jewish. My sense of history is Jewish. My moral commandments are Jewish. My faith is Jewish.

I am Jewish, I manufacture teargas.

I am Greek, I throw it in the streets.

I'm Jewish. I'm Greek. I'm Jewish. I'm Greek. I'm Jewish. I'm Greek. I'm Jewish. I'm Greek. I'm Jewish. I'm Greek…

Who am I? I'm a Tale of Two Cities.

Let me explain:

“I’m a dog shaped ashtray. I’m a shrugging moustache wearing a speedo tuxedo. I’m a movie with no plot written in the back seat of a piss powered taxi. I’m an imperial armpit, sweating Chianti. I’m a toilet with no seat, flushing tradition down. I'm socialist lingerie, I'm diplomatic techno. I'm gay pastry and racist cappuccino I’m an army on holiday in a guillotine museum. I’m a painting made of hair, on a nudist beach Eating McDonald's. I’m a novel far too long, I’m a sentimental song. I’m a yellow tooth waltzing with wrap around shades on. Who am I? I am Europe.”

Chilly Gonzales

Teatro Praga

WHO NEEDS REALISM WHEN WE CAN HAVE FAKISM?

Teatro Praga is a group of artists working without a director and wishing to emphasize the singularity of the theatrical practice. They are always different, in constant metamorphosis and they subject themselves to unpredictable variations.

Teatro Praga is based in Lisbon and regularly collaborates with some of the most prestigious cultural structures in Portugal and has performed at festivals and theatres in several European countries (Italy, UK, Germany, France, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia and Denmark) from which we emphasize the participation on the European Prospero Network as Young Associated Artist, the various collaborations with MC93-Maison de culture de la Seine-Saint-Denis and the participation at Chantiers d’Europe 2013 at Théâtre de la Ville (Paris).

Illustration

The Cifas asks contemporary artists to illustrate its communication. Fanny Dreyer illustrated the workshop "Euro-Neuro".

Fanny Dreyer is Swiss but has been living and working in Belgium for serveral years. Her poetic images are often part of a story, in order to develop the spirit of the text, the image and their interaction. Her drawings swing between realism and naivety, giving particluar attention to plain colours. Her technique is varied, mixing simple pencil with inks or acrylics. But it all comes from her desire to draw bears, birds, foxes, leopads, tigers, forests, boxes, houses, monsters and as a good Swiss, mountains.