On Wednesday, February 25, at 7 p.m., we invite you to the conversation ‘Pipes and Walls: Europe’s Paths and Missteps” with Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis and Eva Quistorp at the Contemporary Art Centre Reading Room. The discussion will be moderated by art historian and writer Laima Kreivytė.
The evening with the first Head of State of restored Lithuania, Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis, and Eva Quistorp, co‑founder of the German Green Party – both former Members of the European Parliament – will explore questions about Europe’s changing ideas and identity. Through a historical lens, the discussion will consider the values that unite Europe today, as well as the projects that divide it, examining their causes and consequences. The conversation will address Europe’s paths and missteps from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the transformations brought about by the war in Ukraine, as well as the role of art in shifting political and cultural landscapes.
In his speech ‘The Berlin Wall’ at the conference Europe 70 Years After the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (European Parliament, Brussels, 14 October 2009), Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis said:
‘The Berlin Wall still exists. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact has not disappeared either. “Where do you see that?” someone may ask. Well, look at the Putin–Schröder pact on the Baltic pipeline, once again signed behind our backs; but first, look closely at that peculiar mindset of Soviet communism – now mutated into nationalism –and at the ambitions of its representatives to enslave neighbouring nations and territories again and again and again.’
Event will be held in English. Participation in the event is free of charge.
Participants:
PROF. VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS – Lithuanian statesman, political and cultural figure, cultural historian, pianist, and musicologist. Signatory of the Act of 11 March. Member of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science (since 1997). Doctor habilitatus (Humanities, 1994). Honorary doctor or honorary member of more than 15 universities, including the Sorbonne.
DR. LAIMA KREIVYTĖ – art historian, curator, writer, lecturer at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Department of Art History and Theory, and laureate of the National Prize for Culture and Arts.
EVA QUISTORP – former Member of the European Parliament representing the German Greens. She currently serves as a member of the European Parliament’s Ukraine lobby group and as a Senior Advisor to the World Future Council. In 1979, she co‑founded the Green Party together with artist Joseph Beuys. Later, she supported solidarity initiatives and Charter 77. Inspired by the Greenham Common women’s chain, in March 1983, she began organising human chains against nuclear weapons and encouraged peace groups in southern Germany to form a human chain during Action Week on 22 October 1983, which gathered 250,000 participants. She is also a co‑founder of Women for Peace, the Böll Foundation, and the Global Women’s Climate Justice Network.
The exhibition is part of the project ‘Aspects of Presence’, co-organised by the Contemporary Art Centre, the Goethe-Institut in Lithuania, and the Akademie der Künste
Photography and/or filming may take place during the event. Photographs and/or video recordings may be used to promote the event on social media, websites, in the media, and elsewhere.