Cultures d’Avenir : Students in France, Spain and Germany design a curriculum for the future

The project is labelled as part of the French presidency of the EU parliament in 2022.

Project Kick-off Discussions, Lectures, Exchange (non-public event)
Nov 1-5, 2021
Centre Pompidou, Paris

Media representatives can visit individual slots of the program after registering at elles@ofaj.org

Rethinking the way artistic creation addresses societal issues with young, committed artists – that is the goal of the Cultures d’Avenir project. How can a framework of new knowledge about art and the society be produced? How can culture and youth become a transformative engine through mindset renewal and networks? In a transnational model project, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) and Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin are collaborating to enable students to develop experimental new curricula and artistic ideas with a large financial and intercultural support from the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO).

Cultural institutions, universities and art schools tend to reinforce the status quo and to consolidate and reiterate knowledge. But the pressing issues that are important to younger generations now and that will ensure their survival in the future often don’t find enough their way into these structures. Effectively countering climate change or understanding and combating discrimination and racism – the tasks are complex. How can we think and act across disciplines? How can we incorporate fight against entangled forms of discrimination into our own work – and do so in a creative way that does not get bogged down in political trench warfare? The heart of this program is to address four pressing contemporary challenges through the artistic practice of 25 students: parity and gender, discrimination, the environmental emergency, and knowledge sharing and inclusion. How is it possible to bring together, think, share, and act?

With the support of a dozen universities and art schools, the Centre Pompidou, the CCCB, the HKW and the FGYO will generate an international creative network of 25 young art students from different disciplines, ranging from drama and dance to visual arts and architecture. During five months, they will develop a series of online creative projects with the support of a wide group of international experts and mentors. Apart from discussion in the digital space, they will also be meeting physically in Paris in November 2021 and in Barcelona in March 2022, and will be holding a virtual workshop in January 2022 in a newly created digital environment created by HKW.

The ultimate goal is for the students to further develop, modify or discard the ideas they bring with them, to gain new expertise, and to take their project experiences and results back to the universities. The various new networks – between the students themselves, between universities, between institutions, and any hybrids of these – should have a lasting effect to create a real European network.

The partners wish to extend their knowledge and practice of transnational learning with this project. Re-thinking and re-shaping society through sharing and producing knowledge connects the endeavours of all institutions. HKW extends its questions on learning in future environments as proposed by the ongoing project series Schools of Tomorrow into an international scale and into academic contexts.

Founding partners :

Centre Pompidou
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona
Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO)

Partner Universities:

Germany:
Braunschweig University of Art (HBK)
University of Duisburg-Essen
HFBK Hamburg
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Ludwigsburg
Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Design

France:
Villa Arson
ICI CCN, Master Exerce
Université Paris 8, Master Théâtres, performances et sociétés, UFR Arts, Philosophie, Esthétique
Association 1 000 visages

Spain:
EINA – UAB. Màster universitari de Recerca en art i disseny (MURAD)
ETSAB. MBArch (Màster Barcelona Architecture. The Contemporary Project)
Institut del Teatre – UAB. Màster Universitari en Estudis Teatrals (MUET)
Universitat de Barcelona. Màster en Producció i Recerca Artística.(ProdArt)

Media partner:
arte.tv