Since the beginning of the new millennium, the European Union (EU) is going through a massive process of transformation and re-orientation in the face of what has been discussed as a polycrisis. Moreover, the EU is confronted with an unseen international constellation where the post-war balance of power has been unsettled and where established patterns of international leadership and cooperation do no longer apply.
Europe is by today, more than ever, in a position to play a leading role in the world. At the same time, the EU and its member states are currently confronted with yet another set of challenges in the context of combatting COVID-19 and the economic consequences of the pandemic. How can the EU live up to these multiple challenges? What can be done to draw Europe and Europeans together in these turbulent times?
The panel discussion seeks to shed light on the various types of challenges the EU is currently facing, but also how the EU’s role is perceived in the member states and internationally. In so doing it will take inspiration from the illustrations assembled in the exhibition “Drawing (for) Europe”.
Catharina Sørensen, Deputy Director of The Think Tank Europe
Thorsten Borring Olesen, Professor of History, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University
Jens Blom-Hansen, Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
Sandra Eckert, AIAS Fellow and Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, Goethe University Frankfurt - Main, Germany.
18 freelance illustrators have put their enthusiasm, ideas and concerns about Europe into art works and have donated the 20 originals to Pulse of Europe for auction for their work. Markus Weber, Moritz Verlag Frankfurt am Main, had the generous idea for the exhibition “Drawing (for) Europe”. A collection of the work of 45 illustrators entitled “Drawing Europe together” was published by Pan Macmillan in 2018.
Since 2017 the works are on an exhibition tour through major European cities. On 17 September 2020, the art works will be exhibited in the Hall of AIAS, accompanied by a multidisciplinary panel discussion on the theme – that is definitely more relevant than ever in times of a pandemic.
Read more about the drawings here:
https://pulseofeurope.eu/en/oureuropenow/drawing-for-europe/
Sandra Eckert, AIAS Fellow and Associate Professor at the e Department of Political Science, Goethe University Frankfurt - Main, Germany
Email: saneck@aias.au.dk
