The Borders of Europe – Editorial

Abstract

This issue of Stedelijk Studies aims to contribute to the historical and critical discourse on the European Union and the European integration project since 1992 in the specific field of contemporary art. In that year the Treaty on European Union (TEU) was signed in Maastricht—hence the “Maastricht Treaty”—which established the foundation of the EU. Comprising ten essays by international scholars, writers, and artists with a European nationality, background, or strong affiliation with European topics (from countries as varied as Belgium, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Turkey, and the United States), this issue explores whether this defining political moment is also indicative of an inevitable shift in the critical discourse in the field of contemporary art; from addressing the split and reunification of Eastern and Western European art since 1989, to broader contemporary European issues, challenges, and concerns, in search of a shared European identity within a global context. The issue opens with a roundtable discussion between four Dutch art professionals engaged with the EU’s cultural politics, networks, and projects, in which the key themes of this issue—the borders of Europe and the role of art and culture within the European project since 1992—are discussed alongside a much-needed debate on the lack of transparency in the (financial) policies conducted by the EU for the stimulus of contemporary art. Can we imagine that the contours of a new European concept and identity take shape in the informal, transnational cultures of the arts, as the Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, suggested at the W-Europe Festival (2016)?[1] Or should this propitious view be questioned with regard to European policymaking that mediates and funds rather particular artistic developments and trends, often intersected with the promotion of creative industries?