MYTHS AND LEGEND FROM THE NORTHWEST IN CENTRIPHERY PROJECT

MYTHS AND LEGEND FROM THE NORTHWEST IN CENTRIPHERY PROJECT

New Culture Foundation starts a new moving project – CENTRIPHERY. Next three years and a half together with eight EU partners we will explore what is happening with our myths and how they affect our self-identification.
A central voice (CENTRAL) in exploration and transformation of local myths and the re-creation of local identities and European narratives is given to the citizens of the periphery (PERIPHERY).

CENTRIPHERY (CENTRAL PERIPHERY) is an interdisciplinary and inclusive European project engaging professional international artists in an intensive dialogue with local artists, participating citizens (citizen artists) and students in decentralised regions.

CENTRIPHERY is focusing on European regions esp. decentralized rural areas. The authors of the project believe that meeting the regional narratives and myths will significantly strengthen the European principles of unity in diversity, cohesion, inclusion and equal access for the regional cultural identities.

The artistic teams will identify common values of intangible cultural heritage, local and regional myths and their relations to the European idea by connecting artistic research, transnational cultural exchange and performative, participatory and co-creational art. Using stories as bridges between past and future, contemporary regional and European narratives will be developed.

A story or myth is a very compact format to registering sets of “best practices” for how to act under certain given circumstances. A story always proposes an attitude and contains a time dimension: things happen in a sequence, there is a before and an after. Opposed to most formats of preserving knowledge, stories and myths come with emotions. All the big epics are basically collections of stories preserving the collected knowledge of the cultures in which they have come to being.
On the other hand, narratives – though often referring to the past – through their fictional character (all
circumstances in all stories are “proposed”) offer directions and solutions for
a reality not yet existing. Telling each other stories, we draw outlines for the future.

We will look both for traditional and more recent myths and narratives of the participating regions. We will relate the big myth, the “Story of Europe”, to the local myths. We will research how the local stories will contribute to the “Big Myth of Europe”. Incorporating an interdisciplinary and participatory community-driven approach we will transform the local myths and narratives into performative and artistic creations for the future. Through stories CENTRIPHERY will be a European integration project.

The partner network: Festval der Regionen (Austria), Cultura Nova (The Netherlands), Dansehallerne (Denmark), European Capital of Culture Rijeka 2020 (Croatia), Asociatia Prin Banat (Romania), La Manufacture (France), Anda&Fala (Portugal/The Azores), Espoon Kaupunginteatteri (Finland) and New Culture Foundation (Bulgaria).

CENTRIPHERY is a European project funded under the Creative Europe framework of the European Union.