PAST | PRESENT event of EYCH project WeAre#EuropeForCulture

WeAre#EuropeForCulture, financed in the framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, has the objective to realize a series of pop-up exhibitions across 2019 in various European cities, to celebrate the diversity of European cultural heritage and to empower citizens in a more participative approach to cultural heritage. The exhibitions are co-created joining institutional cultural heritage with crowdsourced stories and personal items.

As a common theme of these participatory exhibitions, the PAST | PRESENT event of the project celebrates the richness of this European cultural heritage, its value for our contemporary life, and the importance of best practices in the cultural heritage. The key concept is that the ‘past‘ is not just opposed to the ‘present‘ as in a simple chronological approach, but it is also experienced by and exposed to the audience in a contemporary context and shared as a ‘present' to future generations.

PAST | PRESENT – 10 European cities, 10 heritage stories

On 6-7 February 2020, a sparkling event at the House of European History in Brussels celebrated the experiences of all these participatory exhibitions that took place throughtout Europe.

In the afternoon, the project coordinators Fred Truyen, Antonella Fresa and Sofie Taes were received by the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture and Education, Youth and Sport Ms. Mariya Gabriel who expressed kind words and congratulations for the active engagement in the WeAre#EuropeForCulture projects, "making sure that cultural heritage is accessible to all people".

[Show picture list]

Afterwards, the exclusive invitation-only event started at the House of European History with speeches and interventions by Constanze Itzel, HEH Museum Director; Catherine Magnant, Head of Unit Cultural Policy, EC; Anne Grady, EC and of course with insight and stories of the project by the partners. The invited guests were then invited to visit the interactive installation especially realized for the event, bringing together images, recordings and interactions from the various locations which hosted and created the pop-up exhibitions.  A multiscreen setting allowed visitors to travel through and interact with the stories unfolded at the different events throughout Europe, showcasing a kaleidoscope of local history and the variety and commonalities of our cultural heritage.

A ceremony followed to celebrate the participants of the various local events, who came to Brussels from all over Europe.

On February 7th, the exhibition opened to the general public with guided tours.

Website: https://www.photoconsortium.net/europeforculture/