FABBRICA EUROPA 2007
Geometrie variabili
XIV edition
Florence, 28th April > 31st May
Stazione Leopolda and other spaces


The keys to the 2007 Fabbrica Europa programme are recent history; the "variable geometry" of the territorial, linguistic, cultural and symbolic European borders; and the currents and pathways that have delineated and continue to trace this geometry in its human and artistic variability.

These concerns provide a continuity with the open laboratories of past years and develop from the permanent and moving workshops undertaken across Europe by Fabbrica Europa, in partnership with public and private institutions, artistic collectives, and networks of experimentation or diffusion of contemporary creativity.

Confini d'Europa - Tales from the margins

The notion of the margin or the border is not tied merely to geography, but also to political, psychological, cultural and artistic issues and associations. Our perception of the margin is inevitably influenced by our background and our prejudices. These often  implicate an 'Other' on the far side of a border, separated from us. The border risks becoming a force that defines us in opposition to an 'Other'.
Transcending this limiting conception can be seen as the first step in a meaningful collaboration between different cultures. In this way differences are considered as areas of transition and interference, points at which different cultures flow into each other and surpass confines.

The challenge is therefore to overcome a reassuring but often prejudiced conception of what lies beyond, elsewhere, without simply assuming elements of the other that are to our eyes original, or promoting our natural differences as artistic creativity. The aim is to build a cultural productivity that works to destroy prejudice and establish real cooperation. 

An interrogation of the euro-centric perspective implied by the expression Confini d'Europa also creates the opportunity to critically examine the relationship between Europe and the rest of the world; a relationship reflected directly in any intercultural dialogue. A real dialogue must offer the possibility and prerogative of sincere and uncensored expression, not in a framework of simple tolerance, but in the comprehension and acceptance of one another.