The “Rencontres européennes” -a continuation of those initiated last year by the Avignon Festival- are open meetings which bring together artists, politicians, intellectuals and cultural operators to share ideas and debate on a major European cultural theme. This year, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence have joined forces and allowed the ambition of the meetings to be broadened and strengthened by offering their festivals as a unique platform for dialogue and by placing Art and the artists at the heart of the reflection on the European political project.
Festivals such as those of Aix and Avignon present artists from different horizons and bring together spectators from many generations and origins. They constitute laboratories and make it possible to highlight some of the most positive and prospective experiences. They can also be unique venues for a reflection to be shared between spectators, artists, policy-makers and cultural operators.
At the occasion of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the two festivals intend, to reflect on that very concept, based on concrete artistic experiences, in order to lay the foundations for future action.
From the dawn of time, culture and artistic expression have been subject to cross-breeding and reciprocal influences. Globalisation and the movement of populations it induces strengthen, accelerate and impact these phenomena. We are now witnessing a broad decompartmentalisation, a genuine movement towards interdisciplinarity, the emergence of artistic forms that reflect a multicultural society. Concurrently, we are observing the rise in communitarianism, accompanied by a strong temptation to fall back on one's identity.
Intercultural dialogue can also appear in its turn either as a panacea that guarantees the appeasement of conflicts or as the spectre of acculturation and the enemy of cultural diversity. Are there several acceptances of the idea of intercultural dialogue? Is it based on respect and mutual recognition or on domination and assimilation? What role does Europe have to play in promoting an active dialogue between the cultures that have founded it and those of other continents? Can we ignore Europe's colonial past and the cultural domination that accompanied it? Is intercultural dialogue likely to reduce fundamentalism, fight exclusion and build a common space, imaginary and geographic, peaceful and prospective? Artists and cultural operators are confronted with these basic questions in their practice.
The “Rencontres européennes” will be divided into four thematic half-days that will present -through a series of moderated dialogues- contributions, personal accounts and reflections on the subject.