A Brave New Europe
In the framework of the Flux culture workshop at EASA 2008 I wrote a sort of manifesto, constitution or poem of a generation. To be precise my generation of Europeans. The text not so much geared towards setting a goal to strive for but rather it wants to articulate the feelings, the mindset of a generation. This texts wants to radiate hope and optimism about a generation of new and hopefully brave Europeans.
(watch the video in full-screen, its in HD)
A Brave New Europe from Edwin Gardner on Vimeo.
We are the brave new Europeans
We don’t inhabit houses but dwell a continent
We are not members of nation states, rather we are citizens of a state of mind
We roam our continent like a vast metropolis
Where the periphery is pregnant of the future and the centers condensate the past
We are the easy jetset, the inter-railers, the couch-surfers, the children of Erasmus
We know our town like the inside of our pockets
Daily we cross its streets, take its short-cuts and meet up on the other side of town
Our city surprises us by its unusual flavours of beauty
Our city is hard to grasp, its limits uncertain and its centre unstable
Our city is harsh for newcomers, an arrogant fortress for those outside its walls
Citizenship to this Polis is privileged, and comes at a price
Our Europe is a brave one, one that hasn’t made up its own mind yet
One that embraces the merits of uncertainty and welcomes the potential of change
We are the citizens of a city the size of a continent
We are the citizens of the Brave New European State of Mind
