THE ROLE OF THE ARTISTS AND THE INTELLECTUALS IN A WIDER EUROPE

Report from a conference in Semmering, Austria, November 21-22, 1998, organized by the European Council of Artists (ECA).

The preliminary headlines or topics of the conference were:

• Do the artists and the intellectuals have a specific responsibility for the age, they are living in – as well as artists and intellectuals as responsible citizens?
• How far can the artists and the intellectuals go in relation to the market forces, the media development and the existing political realities before their intellectual and artistic integrity are seriously threatened?
• Freedom of expression. Economic and political oppression and restraints.

Which measures should be taken on national and European cultural political level?

The following speakers were invited:

The two writers Ursula Owen and Haideh Daragahi, both from London, the Serbian director Borka Pavicevic and the Serbian writer Jasmina Tesanovic, both from Belgrade,

Merete Mazzarella, professor of literature from Helsinki, Finland, and finally Gavin Jantjes, visual artist living in Oslo, Norway.

The conference was chaired by Arne Ruth, former chief editor of the Swedish daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter.

The six speeches or introductions were each followed by a plenary discussion. The first part of this report summarises Arne Ruth´s introduction, four of the six speeches and the discussions. The two speeches given by Jasmina Tesanovic and Gavin Jantjes consisted in the reading of two texts, that we have chosen to publish at full length.

The report also contains an article written by Arne Ruth: "Culture, Arts and Politics – The capriciousness of Universal Values".

The report was prepared by Finn Frandsen and Orla Vigsø Sørensen.

The report "The Role of the Artists and the Intellectuals in a Wider Europe" can be ordered from ECA office. The price for sending it within Europe is 10 Euro.