AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Belgium Moves to Cultural Rhythm of 27 Countries With
Europalia.Europa in Brussels

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.-This autumn, Belgium will move to the cultural
rhythm of not one, but 27 countries! This year, the entire European
Union is invited to Europalia. The origins and evolution of Europe
and its culture can be characterized by, amongst others factors, the
circulation and dialogue of people between villages, regions,
countries and finally between continents. The development of trade
routes, pilgrimage routes, migratory phenomena and a thirst for
discovery, all contributed to encounters between people and the
spread and influence of ideas, thinking, science and art.

This proliferation and traffic not only enriched the culture of each
country but also developed a European cultural identity. During
europalia.europa, the public can learn more about this historical
cross fertilisation from which their culture stems. Nourished by
Barbarian, Byzantine, Moorish or Italian influences, European
culture continues to exist and mature today!

In exhibitions, concerts, films, theatre plays and numerous other
events, the festival will present examples of this circulation and
dialogue between the 27 European countries but also exchanges
between Europe and other continents. Europalia wants to draw the
public's attention to the specificity and cohesion of European
culture, how it developed and how it marks the present day and
influences the future.

In a juxtaposition of the past, present and future, this European
unity and diversity can be seen and heard throughout Belgium between
3 October 2007 and 3 February 2008.

Unity in diversity - Much more than a sum of 27 different national
cultures, Europe also shares a common culture. From Madrid to
Vilnius, passing through Athens, London, Sofia or Nicosia, European
culture has created unity throughout the centuries, in encounters
and exchanges between artists, their ideas and their artworks.
Europalia.europa will attempt to show the public in a programme that
includes all artistic disciplines, just what makes the specificity
and cohesion of this European culture, how it developed and how it
influences our lives today and in the future.

Past - The festival's central event is the exhibition "The Grand
Atelier. Pathways of Art in Europe (5th – 18th century)" taking
place at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels from 5 October 2007 to
20 January 2008. This exhibition follows in the footsteps of
travelling artists, artworks and patrons, giving an entirely new
view of Europe's cultural history. Many stunning and famous
masterpieces are evidence of an intense artistic circulation between
the 5th and 18th centuries, made possible due to the development of
trade routes and the ambitions of www.europalia.eu 6 3 October 2007
> 3 February 2008 patrons, princes and art dealers. Europe radiated
outwards in a giant atelier of artists, theologians and patrons who
circulated and influenced each other. This intense traffic also
opened the way to enriching influence from outside Europe including
Barbarian, Byzantine, Muslim and even from the New World.

The exhibition "The Grand Atelier. Pathways of Art in Europe" will
be constructed around 14 themes, each illustrating via artistic
masterpieces from across Europe, key moments in the emergence of
artistic dialogue and the development of European art.

The exhibition will pay homage to great names such as Vitruvius, Da
Vinci, Dürer, Van Eyck, Rubens, Ribera or Poussin and also to the
scores of lesser known gold and silversmiths, ivory sculptors,
miniaturists and architects.

This was posted on the Art4Development Yahoo! groups listserv.