On Europe Day the 9th of May young artists from across the country unveil their works to share their vision of the Europen Union with fellow citizens. Representing Europe in Art is a way to engage citizens in the EU debate, says spokesperson for the EUSR, Andy McGuffie.
By Annemarie Majlund Jensen
Today at the Alija Izetbegović Square in Zenica the opening of the exhibition EU in Art was the setting of a true gathering of people all meeting up to celebrate Europe Day – the 9th of May, a day celebrated across Europe in all kinds of ways, but with the same idea: to celebrate the EU’s achievements including lasting peace, economic cooperation and border-free travel. ‘EU in Art’ is the outcome of the competition by the same name launched by the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this year and the opening was attended by Peter Sorensen, the EU’s Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina who rewarded the three best artists of the competition their prize for representing each their individual vision of Europe. The exhibition consisted of a total of 20 pieces of art, all of which have been selected among contributions made by citizens aged 16-30 and evaluated by an independent 5-person expert jury.
Out of the political box
“It is one of the responsibilities of the EU Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina to raise public awareness of EU enlargement policies. However, Europe Day is traditionally a day to think out of the political box and for activities that can engage everyone and perhaps also those who do not necessarily follow the debate every day,” says Andy McGuffie, Head of Communication of the European Special Representative for Sarajevo Times.
“Apart from being a form of communication which is ideal to express lots of diverse ideas, Bosnia and Herzegovina is renowned for its cultural history, it’s art, music and its festivals. Thus art is something that Bosnia is particularly good at.”
Diversity and citizenship
While some of the works presented on the Alija Izetbegovic represented maps of Europe, one also took up a reference to Pink Floyds ‘Another brick in the wall’ with an encouragement to the audience: ‘Don’t be just another brick in the wall. Be an active member of the European Union’.
And the focus on the individual citizen and proactive citizenship in general is exactly one of the ideas behind the ‘EU in Art’ the EUSR spokesperson says: “2013 is the European Year of Citizens. In Bosnia there is a much focus on the whole issue of constituent peoples. A competition in art is a good opportunity to focus on individual citizenship and to enabling citizens to give their individual contributions to the debate.”
A matter of belonging
Getting back to the whole idea behind celebrating Europe Day and breaking out of the political box. “The EU tries to use as many means of communication as possible not least those that have come with the rise of the social media,” says McGuffie, “Art in particular is a less dry language that can facilitate the more emotional expressions. Therefore art is good to get beyond the purely political discussion of belonging to Europe which the EU is also about.”
