European Dream Festival: Invisible Symposium at New York Public Library

European Dream Festival Opening Gala September 19th: The Hungarian Cultural Center is putting on stage the Invisible Symposium at the New York Public Library

The idea of the Invisible Symposium originated with a distinguished Hungarian art movement known as the European School. In 1948, a questionnaire asking about the relationship of art and politics was circulated by members of the European School to artists, writers and philosophers.

Using that idea as a point of departure, the 2006 Invisible Symposium deals with generic questions of Europe, with its problems and its possibilities, in the hope that the project will produce intriguing, perhaps even disturbing reflections on the present dilemmas facing the European Union.

The following intellectuals have submitted their views about Europe:

Metin Arditi (Switzerland), Hélène Cixous (France), Leonidas Donskis (Lithuania), Agnes Heller (Hungary), Jörg Lau (Germany), Dusan Mitana (Slovakia), Gerard Mortier (Belgium), Peter Nadas (Hungary), Dan Perjovschi (Romania), Marieke Sanders-ten Holte (The Netherlands), Marek Tamm (Estonia), Mart Valjataga (Estonia), Vittorio Zucconi (Italy)
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The Project:

A dozen or so clear and thought-provoking questions have been sent to 30 to 40 European and American intellectuals, asking them to submit their written answers limited to two manuscript pages.

After the responses were collected, a skilled editor was hired to edit the answers in a format as if it were an extended conversation among the 30-40 participants – hence, the INVISIBLE SYMPOSIUM.

The next step is to design and print the text, which will be used as a gift or a handout over the course of a festival. Naturally, a parallel internet publication is also planned.

OPENING GALA:

Using the text as a form of script, participants will read the conversation in front of an audience in a symbolic venue like the New York Public Library. This is when the INVISIBLE SYMPOSIUM will actually come alive and become visible.
Some participants will be invited to read their own parts, others will be impersonated by actors who have links to Europe.
This opening gala in a certain sense will be staged. The event in terms of set and props would bear some resemblance to the classic form of a Symposium in antiquity.
There will be food from Europe, wine, fruit; participants will be seated in armchairs, or they might comfortably stretch on a daybed.
  		Malév