Let’s talk about Europe | Kathrin Deventer

It's a big question, but how would you define Europe as a cultural entity right now?

That's a very difficult question, because it's nearly impossible to have an objective perspective on it. Speaking from my experience, I feel very pan-European as an individual: I've studied in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, and I felt all countries to be part of the same context - initiatives like Erasmus really put these things into focus.

Though I understand that this could be strictly speaking a privileged perspective, for most of my peers there exists no cultural alternative other than the European one. But there are a number of challenges that need to be dealt with. One of the main challenges, I think, is that we can't 'imagine' Europe - to flag up the name of this very seminar.

The 'imagination', the philosophy and narrative of the European Union project is sorely lacking, and the economic situation is indicative of that. The euro crisis needs to be dealt with urgently, but it's good that Europe is splashed all over the news right now - at least the problems are out in the open, and they're being discussed. And this is where art and artists come in - it's their prerogative to be proactive and solidify cultural links, and to lend necessary nuance to the discussion.

I'm reminded of a concert the famous Italian conductor Ricardo Muti gave while Silvio Berlusconi was still Prime Minister... before launching into an encore, he turned to the audience and lambasted the government's cultural policy, saying that if Berlusconi continued on the path he was headed, he would "destroy" Italian culture.

What are some of the specific ways in which people can contribute to the European project?

A problem worth mentioning in this regard is the fact that people are overwhelmed by the EU, and so they tend to fall pray to a lot of lazy 'negative propaganda' that gets circulated in the media. You know what I mean: if something's wrong, it's the EU's fault, and if something actually goes right, the EU as a whole gets the credit... this needs to be changed, with more dialogue between EU States and cities.

And a cultural festival is the perfect place to for this dialogue to happen, as it creates tangible objects out of this dialogue that we can actually remember and refer to.

If we do not support this mission, all the other issues will not be properly addressed because they won't have a reference point, they won't have artistic products that can guide our perception as to what's wrong, and what can be improved upon.

Valletta is one of the smallest candidate cities for European Capital for Culture - do you think this has an impact on how 2018 will unfold?

Of course, size matters. The scale of a city defines what you do, but I don't think there are any positive, or negative, connotations to size per se.

I will say that one advantage smaller cities have is that it's easier to create a sense of community spirit... I saw this first hand, when dealing with smaller places like Avignon - which was European Capital for Culture in 2000 - as opposed to big cities like Berlin or London.

Valletta has the opportunity to carry the project across to the entire city, and to make the Capital for Culture initiative directly applicable to citizens, not just tourists. It'll be a good way of highlighting things that need to be improved upon - be they elements within the fields of research, culture, heritage or anything else.

The most important thing is to identify and enhance the quality of the place and to solidify cultural networks while encouraging creative thinking.

This will help Valletta to determine where it stands, right now, and what is meaningful for the city in the run up to 2018. Because the fact is that so many things we do in life aren't all that important... we do them just because we do them - it's a self-feeding process, and nothing more.

Unfortunately some of our infrastructures tend to behave that way too, and initiatives like the Capital for Culture can help us think about how we can make them meaningful again.