Europe DayEurope
Day'24

9 May

We are Europe is a cooperation project first launched in 2015 and gathering eight cultural organizations from all over Europe, each of which organises a contemporary music festival and a public and professional forum on the global issues of cultural mutation, innovation in creative fields, and European democracy.

The project aims to highlight a new generation of cultural actors who are committed to shaping Europe’s present and future: cultural entrepreneurs, artists, creators, designers, researchers, journalists, new media actors, young elected representatives in cities, music industry activists – all European either by birth or by choice. They are the « change-makers » we want to give a voice, and that we aim to support through our ’Faces of We are Europe’ selection.

We are Europe was founded on the belief that art, culture and festivals are essential for civil and political life. It aims to connect forgotten initiatives, new models, intelligent practices and concerted policies to rebuild a European Cultural was imagined by its people: open, democratic, independent, ambitious and creative.

The cooperation is also behind the creation of a new online media – European, collaborative and forward-thinking -. Through this new project, We are Europe aims to formulate and advance a new vision of Europe, powered by artists, activists, change-makers and citizens.

We produce various text and audiovisual pieces, ranging from long gestures to podcasts, contributions, interviews, and video content. We share stories about arts, activism, cities, environmental crisis, technology and innovation, democracy – always from a cultural and artistic standpoint.

In a context where the cultural sector, European democracies and societies are all deeply challenged, We are Europe aims to be amongst those shaping new alternatives and redefining the future.

Bird Signals for Earthly Survival is an audiovisual and musical creation presented by We are Europe, resulting from an artistic residency that brought together sound artists Mehmet Aslan and گليثر٥٥ Glitter, filmmaker-anthropologist Stratis Vogiatzis & visual artist Malo Lacroix. In its conception, this project was also meant to demonstrate the opportunities created by residencies organized on a wider timeframe, thus allowing each participant to have both creative initiatives exercised remotely and key gatherings accelerating the overall production of the project. This was also a way to showcase the possibilities for transnational collaboration in Europe (the artists are hailing from Switzerland, Greece and France). Bird Signals for Earthly Survival is intended to encourage viewers of creative thinking and cooperative experimentation by illustrating how music can emerge visually. Emblematic of this, the theme of bird migration is used to create a metaphorical bridge to the far-reaching issue of immigration. Using a variety of media, including video, photography, soundscapes, electronic sounds and voices (spoken and singing), Bird Signals for Earthly Survival connects ecology, science and art and thus broadens our awareness of today’s environmental challenges. This project was presented for the first time in Lyon at Le Sucre, as part of Nuits sonores Hors-Série’s programme. We took this opportunity to exchange with the four protagonists on their thoughts emerging from this project.