The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings - Boat trips on four European rivers launched

Artists depict the future of Europe

On 27 August, the first of four boats with an artistic crew taking part in The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings sailed up the Danube in Baja, Hungary. This marks the start of four sailing trips up four European rivers - the Danube, Vistula, Rhine and Tagus - crossing 11 countries and covering a combined distance of 1,394 kilometres.

A total of 37 independent artists and curators are taking part in this adventure. Each team follows its own route, seeking new ways of being together. Along the way, the artistic crews reflect on a better, fairer and more sustainable future for Europe, one that is just and abundant for all.

The four themes defined for each river - "Ruins and Monsters", "Perimeters", "Togetherness", "Bodies and Politics" - form the common thread for the research and explorations along the rivers. The Danube will be followed by the Vistula (from 31 August), the Rhine (from 17 September) and finally the Tagus (from 18 October).

After sailing the four European rivers, the artists and curators will gather in Lisbon for a three-day festival on 7-9 November 2024. There, the material collected and created during the voyages (including notes, drawings, films and soundscapes) will be presented.

(Re)imagining Europe's future

During the collective residencies on the boats, participating artists engage in a dialogue with the landscape and the people the travelling pavilion encounters on each trip. The artistic programmes along the four rivers include pre-planned public events ranging from shared meals, performances and jam sessions, presentations, meetings with activist groups related to rivers, site visits to public lectures.

In this radical experiment, artists, intellectuals, experts and citizens set out to invent new ways of being together. In part by listening to the stories of ordinary Europeans outside the usual centres, Liquid Becomings aims to contribute to redefining the future of Europe.

More details on the artistic programmes of each trip can be found in the fact sheets on the four rivers.

Festival in Lisbon

At the closing event in Lisbon on 7-9 November, the four groups will share all the stories, ideas and suggestions for new ways of being and living together that the artists have collected and created with the communities they have encountered during their travels.

It will feature new work by Portuguese artists such as acclaimed author Gonçalo M. Tavares and theatre-maker Paula Diogo. Artworks include a polyphonic composition made in collaboration with local young people, a speculative fiction and a sound walk on the theme of togetherness.

The festival takes place between the old port of Beato, where a boat will be stationed, and Quinta Alegre, a socio-cultural complex on the northern edge of Lisbon.

The full programme will be announced at the start of the Tagus sailing trip (from 18 October). For regular updates on the voyages, visit liquidbecomings.eu.

The European Pavilion

Initiated by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), The European Pavilion brings Europe and its future(s) to the fore through cultural projects and artistic productions. The programme follows from the conviction that we need more cultural spaces that cross national borders in order to explore and represent what Europe is and what it can or should become.

In 2023, the ECF launched a €500,000 commission grant to be awarded to the most ambitious, imaginative and compelling artistic proposal for The European Pavilion 2024. By offering fresh and inspiring perspectives on Europe and its future, The European Pavilion contributes to a wider shared Europe and ECF's mission to strengthen a European feeling.

More information: theeuropeanpavilion.eu

Credits

The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings is a commission from the European Cultural Foundation and a collaboration of international organisations led by the Dutch Pássaros Foundation and its network espaço agora now: Teatro Meia Volta (PT), MS Fusion (AU), United Artist Labor (SE), FLOW (PL), made possible by the European Cultural Foundation.

Bojan Đorđev, Laura Kalauz, Maria Magdalena Kozłowska, Siniša Ilić, Alfredo Martins, Annette Mees, Naomi Russell and Olga Uzikaeva, with Agnieszka Brzezanska and Ewa Ciepielewska, are the curators of this project.

The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings receives additional support from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, DGArtes and República Portuguese, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgrade, Founding Friends of espaço agora now, Adam Mickiewicz Institute with co-funding from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Quinta Alegre and Resonance FM.

Short biographies of all the artists and curators are here to read.