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Le nove città europee della cultura nel 2000
CULTURAL CAPITAL OF EUROPE
©
Comunità europee, 1995-2000 (French
version)
Several million European people will take part this year in the numerous
cultural events organised by the European Cities of Culture of the year
2000: Avignon, Bergen, Bologna,
Brussels, Helsinki, Cracow,
Prague, Reykjavik and Santiago
de Compostela . The European Cities of Culture, which are a major
operation by the European Union, are a way of bringing together thousands
of people involved in culture from the European Union and the associated
European countries and of encouraging cooperation between them in the
areas of live performances, theatre, historical monuments, urban culture,
street arts and the new forms of artistic expression that use the new
technologies.
In the year 2000, the European Commission is providing
financial support for many cultural
events of the nine European Cities of Culture, with the dominant theme
of Europe under the "Culture
2000" programme, which is a new framework programme to assist
culture.
The many cultural events of the nine European Cities
of Culture, with the dominant theme of Europe, show the importance that
the European Union attaches to making Europe a vast area of cultural creation
and cooperation in which Europeans can develop an awareness of the richness
of their common cultural heritage, the vitality of creation in Europe
and the new opportunities provided by the development of cultural cooperation,
including in terms of social integration, development of the economy and
employment.
Conceived as a means of bringing Europe closer to the
citizen, the European City of Culture was launched in 1985 by the Council
of Ministers on the initiative of Mrs. Melina Mercouri. Since then, this
initiative has been more and more successful with amongst European citizens.
in 1990,the Ministers of Culture launched the "European Cultural
Month". This event aims to meet the same objectives as the City,
but was for a period of about one month and especially concerned non member
countries
The European cities of culture have been designated up until 2004 after
which their designation will be subject to a new selection procedure.
List of European cities of culture
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1: AVIGNON
The main theme of cultural Europe and of the year
2000 is "passage" (transition). The transition
from one town to another, from one millennium to another, between
intramural and extramural, from one neighbourhood to another, and
from one inhabitant to another. The projects are a genuine forum
for reflection on the city, its development and its part in history.
They show the involvement of the people of Avignon and of the other
Europeans in the events of the year 2000.
The 2000 Avignon Festival will proclaim the cultural
ambition of greater Europe. The choreographer Pina Bausch and
the directors Thomas Ostermayer and Frank Castdorf are
announced for Germany; the UK director Declan Donnellan will
direct 30 Russian actors in Pushkin’s Boris Godunov.
Several troupes from eastern Europe will take part in the drama
festival.
The exhibition entitled "La Beauté"
(Beauty), which will be spread throughout the town from 15 April
to 15 September, will be devoted to modern forms of artistic
expression. Various fashion designers have devised a system
of signs for guiding visitors to the exhibition venues. 400 works
from the Yvon Lambert Foundation, which is one of the largest collections
of modern art, will also be shown.
The AvignoNumérique project will identify
the economic and urban development of the city on the basis of the
new technologies.
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2: BERGEN
On 17 February, Bergen intends to open its
programme spread over three seasons, with Dreams of spring,
followed by Wanderings of summer and Spaces of autumn.
Bergen 2000 will develop its activities in cooperation
with cultural institutions from various countries: the conference
"Tackling the new millennium" on the history of
European ideas, and the exhibition on "Life on board the
North Atlantic" organised in cooperation with several European
maritime museums. The spectacular region of the fjords will provide
a theatre for several events.
An international conference entitled "Kafka
in the year 2000" on the German-language author from Prague
will be organised in May by Bergen University.
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3: BOLOGNA
Bologna is celebrating the Europe of culture and
the year 2000 by paying tribute to its past at a time when
it is looking towards the future.
The topic of communication has been chosen.
The famous University of Bologna, which is the
oldest university in Europe and the world, will play a crucial role
in the measures to promote the new technologies in the audiovisual
sector.
Bologna will present CaféNINE, which is a project
organised by Helsinki for the arts and the new media, bringing together
cyber-cafés in the nine European Cities of Culture.
The European spirit will be brought to the fore
in an exhibition organised in the Modern Art Gallery: the works
chosen will present the major figures of European art in the 20th
century (Picasso, De Chirico, Nolde, Kandisky).
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4: BRUSSELS
The "Brussels 2000" project encompasses
more than 350 artistic and educational events. The central theme
of these events is The City and the programme underlines
the importance of the collective memory of the city in relation
to its past and a shared vision of the future.
Brussels 2000 will open on 25 February with the exhibition
"The house of nine cities", which will bring together
nine artists from these cities and will be set up in the premises
of the European Parliament. Ms Reding will be patron of this
opening exhibition.
Unusual encounters between artists and the population will be organised
in public places: singing parking meters; photography sessions at
bus stops; literary structures on pavements, choreography on train
station platforms, etc.
The programme will include premieres in all fields of the arts:
the choreographer Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker will be staging
her own dance works and those of her pupils; Zinneke Parade,
a people’s parade, will involve a large number of local
groups. The musical events will include an Olivier Messiaen
retrospective, a celebration of the 75th birthday of Pierre Boulez
and several concerts given by the City of Birmingham Orchestra conducted
by Sir Simon Rattle as part of the Festival of Flanders.
The WalkAbout/stalk project is an artistic presentation in
public places, designed and created by two young dancers, two young
architects and two young musicians. This initiative will be re-run
in the eight other Cities of Culture of the year 2000.
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5: HELSINKI
The theme chosen by Helsinki is Knowledge, Technology
and Future. The programme includes no fewer than 500 events
– post-modern opera, street carnivals, concerts of Orthodox
religious music, Iron Age crafts, and KIDE – a huge
interactive area of glass and light...
The 125th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius will
be commemorated by a competition for conducting the master's works
in May and a violin competition in December.
During the Night of the arts, which will be organised in
August, a street festival will go on until dawn.
A high-tech interactive exhibition on the impact of the new technologies
on communication will be opened in Helsinki and will then go on
tour to the eight other European Cities of Culture.
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6: CRACOW
Cracow, the former capital of the Kingdom of Poland,
is presenting itself as the cultural capital of Poland this year.
In the year 2000 there will be celebrations of the millennium of
the Bishopric of Cracow and of the 600 years of the Jagellons
University. The particular focus on the anniversary of the restoration
of the university in 1400 will provide an opportunity for reflection
on teaching and knowledge in modern Poland and European society.
The main theme of the "Cracow 2000" Festival is Thought-Spirituality-Creativity:
reflection on the foundations of culture at the turn of the millennium
and encounter between tradition and modernity, but also between
artists from the east and artists from the west. The importance
of the sacred in the history of images and of the visual
arts will be particularly underlined.
A unique concert based on the historical musical notations of the
liturgical chants of the Codex Calixtinus of Santiago de Compostela
will be given by internationally renowned European artists and local
choirs. The concert will then be given in Santiago, Helsinki, Avignon,
Bergen, Reykjavik, Bologna and Prague.
Crossroads – the melting pot of traditions, a festival
of traditional music from central Europe will present the various
traditions and influences of folk music in the heart of Europe.
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7: PRAGUE
Prague has chosen Cultural heritage as the
theme for the cultural year of 2000. The programme includes traditional
cultural events in an innovative environment and projects specially
designed for the year 2000.
The projects with a European dimension include:
Birth of a metropolis, an exhibition devoted to architectural
thought and the birth of modern town planning from 1890 to 1937
in central Europe, which will compare Prague, Budapest, Cracow,
Zagreb and Ljubljana;
The cycle of concerts given in January 2000 by the internationally
famous pianist, Yefim Bronfman, covering all the works of
Beethoven.
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8: REYKJAVIK
In the capital of a country in which culture is
intimately linked to the forces of nature, Culture and Nature
was the obvious theme for "Reykjavík 2000". Environmental
awareness is the basis for numerous projects involving creative
use of the forces of nature.
Internationally renowned artists, such as the singer
Björk, will take part in the various celebrations of Icelandic
cultural expression. Another event will be the premiere of a choir
work by the famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
An exhibition will be organised on the drawings
and models of major European and international architects, including
Mario Botta, Richard Rogers and Aldo Rossi.
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9: SANTIAGO
DE COMPOSTELA
Under the leitmotiv of Europe and the World,
Santiago de Compostela, the destination of the famous pilgrimage,
the routes of which cross the whole of the European continent, will
be organising major activities to celebrate Europe and the Year
2000: "The faces of God", an exhibition dealing
with the way in which God is represented in various religions and
cultures, or the Millennium music festival in August, which
will stage performances of music, dance and drama from Europe and
around the world.
The city will also be organising an exhibition,
entitled "Faces of the earth", on Europe's contribution
to land and sea cartography and the influence of this map-making
for the great discoveries. Institutes from several European countries
have taken part in this project.
Santiago de Compostela is cooperating with other
European Cities of Culture in the year 2000 on several transEuropean
projects.
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Cooperation
initiatives supported by the European Commission
The nine cities are organising numerous joint projects,
but are also involved in partnerships with other European cities. In all,
more than 70 cooperation projects will be run in the year 2000. The preparation
phase of some projects have been supported through Community fund: examples
The Voices of Europe: A choir
of 90 young singers from the nine European Cities of Culture of the year
2000 will accompany the Icelandic singer Björk in Reykjavik and
then in the eight other European Cities of Culture. One of the best known
European composers, Arvo Pärt, has composed a new work for this
occasion.
Hotel Europa: coproduction project
involving about ten directors, choreographers and stage artists. Each
of them will create his/her own bedroom in each of the towns in which
there is a "Hotel Europa". A travelling exhibition of photographs
will be organised in several cities.
Theorem is a programme of cooperation,
training and production involving about 15 young European theatre troupes.
The aim is to familiarise western European audiences with the theatre
of central and eastern Europe (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Hungary,
Czech Republic). Coproductions will be presented at the Hamburg or Berlin
Festivals and at the Avignon Festival of 2000.
Citylink is a clearing house between
the cultural information departments of the "European Cities of Culture"
for ensuring the best media coverage of the main events and to make it
possible for these programmes to be broadcast throughout Europe
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