Dear Curators Francesca Bria, John Schellnhuber and Wael Al Awar,
Dear members of the High Level Round Table,
Dear friends,
What an honour and a great pleasure to share this inspiring event with you! Dear Prof. Albrecht, thank you for hosting us in this unique place.
I also join President Von der Leyen in thanking Lesley Lokko, curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, for welcoming the New European Bauhaus in the Biennale's vibrant Laboratory of the Future.
And to all of you who spent time and energy to create this beautiful, shared moment: our brilliant curators, speakers, students and staff of the University of Venice, congratulations, and grazie mille. Today was a gift. There is no greater pleasure than to be inspired by beauty, to be engaged in collective thought, to be immersed in the uniqueness of Venice and come face to face with our quest to emulate nature and seek the essence of humanity in art.
I had the pleasure to visit the exhibition Thus Waves Come In Pairs at the Ocean Space, San Lorenzo Church.
“Will humans still be able to find solutions in the future by learning from nature?” – asks Simon Fattal with her stunning installation of glass and ceramics. And today, in our own Laboratory of the Future, we sought the answer to that question too.
Nature itself has shown us time and again that we need to respect its boundaries.
As we speak, Emilia Romagna is shaken by the tragedy and destruction of floods. My deepest sympathy goes out to the families of those who lost their lives.
The force and frequency of natural disasters – earthquakes, floods, forest fires and drought, in Europe and the world over, reach radical dimensions and call for radical change – in us. And by showing us that the radical is possible, nature teaches a lesson: it is not a question of nature versus humanity, but of a conscious pursuit of Cohesion in its widest sense – between nature and us.
Venice epitomises this permanent struggle: the city and its residents live in a symbiosis and interdependence with the lagoon, where the waterline on the side of building walls marks the delicate balance of life itself.
And while we are still shaking off the shock of the pandemic, one of the memories we will retain is the beauty of the Venice canals – the return of its translucent waters and the power of nature to recuperate life in all its magnificence.
The New European Bauhaus was born out of this understanding that beauty is inextricable from sustainability, for all of us.
That beyond a political commitment, the European Green Deal needs people, art and culture for a beautiful, sustainable and inclusive future, leaving no one behind.
In 2021, 75% of European citizens believed that climate change was the single most serious problem facing the world.
In the same year, during the co-design phase of the New European Bauhaus, many identified the way we live together, our behaviours and habits, as the areas where crucial changes were needed to tackle this global threat.
Citizens have embarked on this journey – local organizations, grassroots projects, universities, neighbourhood communities, companies, teachers, designers, artists, activists, students many here with us today – make the aspirations of the New European Bauhaus a reality. Today, this is a Community of more than 1000 members, now joining efforts to build Local Chapters across Europe, in a true spirit of solidarity and cooperation.
Witnessing this development is an absolute inspiration.
Our movement is only two years old, but it has radiated amazing energy and enthusiasm, thriving on this new kind of people-driven approach, drawing from vast experiences and disciplines.
Its questions, methods, and objectives strongly echo the theme of the Biennale: the New European Bauhaus itself is an open laboratory of the future, dedicated to all of us who want to change our daily lives to better protect others and nature.
The manifesto remains open-ended, guided by the aspiration to reconcile people and planet.
Dear participants, over the past two days, we have seen passionate young people - aspiring architects, artists, fashion designers – exchanging ideas with renowned thinkers and experienced practitioners from various fields.
Together, you allowed yourself to ask simple, but fundamental questions about the way we learn, consume, build, and design.
How can we change our desires? Unlearn unsustainable behaviours?
How do we design for and with nature? How to develop human-centric technology? What is the best way to build resilience?
And you addressed these questions in the workshops yesterday and the discussions today taking the perspective that radical, yet possible solutions to global challenges do exist.
That we can act now, and must act now, with a new mindset to support the goals of the European Green Deal: with the understanding that resilience is built through inter-generational solidarity on a strong foundation of climate justice and an inclusive digital future.
By gathering here in Venice today, at the forefront of the climate crisis, we zoomed in the local challenges to craft global solutions. We listened to the voices of Venetians, knowing that their messages resonate the world over.
Curator Lesley Lokko calls the “quality of being both general and precise, influenced by vast forces and yet shaped by the specifics of place” an “oxymoron” of our time.
This echoes also with our mission and challenge in the European Union, to align our joint common goals with the different realities of our territories.
And with the conclusions we draw today, we are one step closer to resolve this oxymoron through radical, yet possible space solutions, here in Venice, in Europe and globally.
The 2023 biennale Laboratory of the Future importantly brings focus to Africa and the African Diaspora, and our presence here allows us to say again, loud and clear, that we believe in a sustainable, beautiful, and inclusive future built with collective intelligence, beyond borders.
And indeed, we have witnessed again how the principles that inspire the New European Bauhaus are embraced and practiced at global level, how the multiplicity of perspectives offered by our thirty-five speakers, joining us from eighteen countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe, have the power to shake certitudes and renew our imaginary, as true agents of change.
We will continue this change – in dialogue and with actions.
The European Commission will continue to provide the framework within which all of us can deliver on the New European Bauhaus objectives.
As President Von der Leyen said earlier, we have worked hard on integrating New European Bauhaus projects within EU programmes and initiatives. Substantial funding has been dedicated to disseminate excellent examples.
I started by alluding to Cohesion between people and nature.
Let me now turn to EU Cohesion Policy support to New European Bauhaus projects at the local level, integrating place-based policy with sustainability, inclusion and aesthetics.
Together with European Member States and regions we have been promoting New European Bauhaus projects and principles on the ground: all 27 EU member states have clearly stated that this is a strategic goal for the 2021-2027 Cohesion operational programmes.
Because this too is a natural symbiosis: a socially resilient and territorially cohesive Union is based on balanced growth, leaving no one behind.
But beyond aspirations, we need to continue learning by doing, as we have done today and since the start of the movement.
Cohesion Policy embraces this learning process.
This is why we are supporting small municipalities with the required expertise and inter-disciplinary know-how to turn their New European Bauhaus ideas into reality.
This is why the European Regional Development Fund's Urban Innovative Actions offers the investments that will allow cities, large and small, to experiment and find innovative, perhaps radical, but certainly possible, solutions for sustainability, quality and inclusiveness.
Today is a milestone in our journey, and I invite all of you to join our next one: on 22 June in Brussels, when we will focus on the relationship between Cohesion and the New European Bauhaus, in close dialogue with Member States, regions, local municipalities and community representatives, and importantly, celebrate amazing NEB projects.
On this occasion, for the third year in a row, I will also have the pleasure to award the New European Bauhaus Prize winners!
We will recognise young people, our rising stars, established projects championing NEB values, and in the Year of the Skills, projects dedicated to Learning and Education, echoing today's conclusions.
The New European Bauhaus prizes are a celebration of bottom-up initiatives and enthusiasts who first showed us that the radical is possible, that solutions for a better future exist, and that the New European Bauhaus is already a reality in many minds and many places, and in various forms.
Thank you for being part of crafting these radical, yet possible solutions today.
I hope to see you soon again, in Brussels next month and at the New European Bauhaus Festival in the spring of 2024.
Until then, let us be inspired by the unique symbiosis between the sea, the stone and the shape of the Serenissima.
| Zařazeno | pá 26.05.2023 17:05:00 |
|---|---|
| Zdroj | Evropská komise en |
| Originál | ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/documents?reference=SPEECH/23/2941&language=en |
| lang | en |
