The European Pavilion is commissioned by the European Cultural Foundation as an arts programme that explores and imagines Europe, offering a unique opportunity to question what Europe is and what it can or should become.
Initiated in 2020, The European Pavilion provides a space for critical and artistic exploration beyond borders. It encourages Europeans in diverse communities to reflect on their past, present, and future, connect across the continent, and envision ways of shaping a more sustainable, responsible, and fairer Europe.
Since 2021, 15 cultural organizations have received grants to fund a diverse array of artistic projects—ranging from participatory processes to performances, exhibitions, debates, and residencies—connecting makers and thinkers with children, students, activists, farmers, riverbank communities, and many more across the continent.
The inaugural edition of The European Pavilion took place in Rome in 2022 and was curated in collaboration with ten organisations from across Europe, including the ARNA – Art and Nature Association from Harlösa in Sweden, the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, Brunnenpassage in Vienna, the EUPavilion collective from Rome and Zürich, the Institute of International Visual Arts in London, Europe-wide network L’Internationale, OGR-Torino, State of Concept in Athens, Studio Rizoma in Palermo, and Studio Wild in Amsterdam. Bringing together over sixty artists, activists, and scholars, The European Pavilion in Rome was presented across seven of the Italian capital’s leading cultural institutions, addressing the question: How can we imagine Europe through the metaphor of the pavilion?
Under the evocative title Liquid Becomings, the 2024 edition takes this vision further. Selected by an independent jury through a call for curatorial proposals, the project curated by Espaço Agora Now and their partners across five European countries redefines the concept of the pavilion. Instead of centring on a physical space, Liquid Becomings unfolds across four European rivers—the Vistula, the Danube, the Rhine, and the Tagus—where small boats operated by artistic crews explore fluid identities and European futures. These journeys culminate in a three-day artistic programme in Lisbon featuring rhizomatic, dynamic, and personal perspectives on the challenges and possibilities of Europe today.
The European Pavilion is a burgeoning initiative with the potential to grow into a significant platform, addressing the profound transitions facing Europeans through creative practice. It not only responds to the need for more cultural spaces and perspectives that transcend national borders, but it is a testament to the vital role that art and culture play in the present as much as in the shaping of our common future.
Read more about the genesis of The European Pavilion by following this link.
Listen to The European Pavilion Podcast by following this link.