TransEuropa Festival
What
Transeuropa is a festival of politics, culture and art coordinated by European Alternatives. It is held biannually and each edition takes place in a different European city together with an organisation or social movement from that city or country. Transeuropa: Convergent Spaces was the edition held in Madrid in October 2017 with ZEMOS98 as co-coordinator. The festival was held at different venues around Madrid, including Matadero, CentroCentro and Medialab Prado.
How
Over the course of one week, lectures, debates, exhibitions and workshops were organised around three core themes: Europe as a place of refuge, cities of change and the commons. One of the essential characteristics of Transeuropa is the willingness to work in an intersectional way in order to address the challenges prioritised by the festival; with this in mind, a group including activists, academics, journalists, and artists came together. Some of the people and collectives that participated in the festival are Marina Garcés, Iva Cukic, Santiago Alba Rico, Oliver Ressler and Metromuster. A meeting of the European Commons Assembly at Medialab Prado coincided with the festival and featured a series of workshops on urban commons. In addition to co-coordinating the festival, we also conducted audiovisual documentation of the event together with Julio Albarrán.
Why
Our experience organising events for social transformation has naturally pushed us to participate in the organisation of the Transeuropa festival, advocating for intersectionality between research areas within the festival as well as among the professional profiles of the attendees. This approach has also helped us coordinate activities such as Moha Gerehou’s audiovisual source code, “Cómo sería mi vida si fuera un negro de película” (What would my life be like if I were a black moviestar) and a workshop on human rights and the commons together with SOS Racismo Madrid.
Resources and networks
Date
2017
Level
International
Role
Partner
Services
Media production