wolfgang tillmans and rem koolhaas need you to help rebrand the european union

artist wolfgang tillmans and architect rem koolhaas, as well as his colleague at architectural studio OMA, stephan petermann, are calling on creatives to help rebrand the european union in the run-up to the european elections in may 2019. the campaign goes up against a rise it recognises in populist nationalism in the midst of brexit negotiations. 

 

[continued from previous post] We are looking forward to receive your contributions in our mailbox [email protected] as soon as possible and no later than April 18. Please send files as PDF, maximum 15mB, with files named as ‘Surname_Name_Eurolab2018’. For more information on the Forum on European Culture, please visit their website. — Eurolab respects the intellectual property rights on the contents of the submissions of the participants. You will retain the rights to it, however you agree that they will become part of larger body of work and broader community and not exclusively yours. At any stage you will be given opportunity to ensure you are correctly represented in the larger framework of the project. About the Forum on European Culture: After a successful edition in 2016, De Balie and DutchCulture organize the second edition of the Forum on European Culture from May 31st until the 3rd of June 2018. During this 4-day festival, leading international artists and philosophers will come together at various locations in Amsterdam to share their ideas about the future of Europe. The second edition of the Forum is titled ‘Act for Democracy!’ More info on www.cultureforum.eu. You can follow the Forum on European Culture on their Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. #foec18 THIS IS PART 3 OF A 3 POSTS

A post shared by Wolfgang Tillmans (@wolfgang_tillmans) on Mar 22, 2018 at 4:09am PDT

the trio are asking for ideas on how to better communicate the EU as a part of the second biennial forum on european culture. a 4-day event will act as a forum, titled ‘art for democracy‘ and is due to take place in amsterdam from may 31 through june 3 this year. there artists and thinkers from all over the world will gather for the forum on european culture combining theater, performances, film, debate, music and expositions, to exchange ideas about europe and imagine a shared european future.

‘the image of europe‘ european union exhibition in brussels in 2004, led by rem koolhaas and reinier de graaf from AMO
courtesy OMA

ahead of the event eurolab is are asking for proposals including drafts and designs of ideas that can contribute to an improved communication campaign for europe which could be later developed with communication and media experts during the forum event. the call runs through april 18. all three are known for their contributions to pro-EU discussion with tillman’s designing a pro-EU poster campaign in the lead-up to the UK’s brexit referendum in 2016. similarly in 2001 Koolhaas launched his ongoing project ‘the image of europe‘ releasing renders of possible EU rebrands including an updated flag and logo.

imagining an EU rebrand
courtesy of OMA

eurolab wants to collect ideas about how cooperation and solidarity can be spoken for in ways large audiences will find compelling. workshops and interview sessions form a fact-finding mission analysing the pros and cons in the last 25 years of communicating europe, aiming to compile a toolbox of arguments, strategies, and ideas that can be applied to campaigns across different demographics and used by different professional groups (e.g. ‘teachers for europe’ ‘scientists for europe’ ‘farmers for europe’).