The European Pavilion 2024 started sailing!

The first of four artistic crews participating in The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings set sail on the Danube on August 27. This marks the start of four journeys on four European rivers crossing 11 countries and travelling a combined distance of 1394 kilometres in which 37 independent artists and curators participate.

The four themes that have been defined for each river – “Ruins and Monsters”, “Perimeters”, “Togetherness”, and “Bodies and Politics” – will be the red thread for the research and explorations developed along the rivers. The Danube will be followed by the Vistula (from 31 August), the Rhine (from 17 September) and finally the Tagus (from 18 October). After the sails, the artistic crews will come together in Lisbon for a three-day festival on 7-9 November 2024 in which all the materials that have been created and collected during the journeys (notes, drawings, ephemeral actions, films and sounds) will be presented.

Lisbon festival
During the final celebration in Lisbon on 7-9 November, the four crews will share all the stories, ideas and suggestions for new and alternative modes of togetherness and living, that the artists have gathered and co-created with the communities they have encountered during the journeys. There will be newly commissioned work by Portuguese artists such as acclaimed author Gonçalo M. Tavares and theatre maker Paula Diogo. The works include a polyphonic composition created in collaboration with local young people, a speculative fiction and a sound walk on the theme of belonging. The festival will be held between the old port of Beato, where a boat will be stationed, and Quinta Alegre, a socio-cultural complex located on the northern outskirts of Lisbon.

We initiated The European Pavilion to put the question of Europe and its future at the forefront through artistic projects and art commissions. It stems from the conviction that we need more cultural spaces that go beyond national borders to explore and imagine what Europe is and what it can or should become. In 2023, we launched a new commissioning grant of 500,000 euros to be awarded to the most ambitious, imaginative and convincing curatorial proposal for The European Pavilion 2024. By offering fresh and inspiring perspectives on Europe and its future, The European Pavilion contributes to bringing Europe closer to its communities and to our mission to strengthen a European sentiment.