Felix Meritis - Europees centrum voor kunst, cultuur en wetenschap

Gulliver

The Informal Working Body Gulliver started in 1987, aiming at the creation of a European, non-governmental, informal and independent working group as a platform for the exchange of ideas between European artists and intellectuals on essential issues for the future of European culture.

Gulliver was established as a pan-European working group that wanted to initiate ideas and projects, which promote the spirit of free cooperation between artists and intellectuals throughout Europe. Gulliver organised a number of meetings which have eventually opened up new prospects for further cooperation as a result of the need felt by the participants to devise new patterns for cultural action beyond borders.

'European Artists Forum', 1987 in the framework of Amsterdam Cultural Capital
"We were looking for a name. The word Europe is so misused that we thought it would be helpful for us and others to look for a name which is able to express our visions, our hopes". 
Günter Grass, 1987                                                                                                                                        Read more...

'Europa, Europa', Gulliver Amsterdam 1989
Intellectuals and artists came together to discuss the political and cultural changes in Eastern Europe and their consequences and influences on Europe: "We now see the first gap in the Iron Curtain, the barbed wire is being rolled away."
György Konrad, 1989                                                                                                                

'The Role of the Cities in Building Europe', Leningrad, 1990
For the first time after the October Revolution a non-official, foreign body was able to invite Russians and individuals from all over Europe to gather for an intercultural dialogue in Leningrad:

"A conference in Leningrad will give us the feeling that we are not alone, and that you are not alone. Petersburg is the best example of being Europe, losing Europe and maintaining Europe."
Andrei Bitov, 1990                                                                                                                    

'Disintegration and Individualisation, Hysteria and Composure', Sinaïa/ Bucharest 1991
Gulliver members met in Romania to talk about the construction of the European Union and the duties of a possible European cultural policy.

"The last two years have been of great historical troubles leading to intolerance and the lack of words to describe what is really happening. How can we find those words? And how can we find the right terms to describe this process of decay and regeneration?"
Karl Schlögel, 1991                                                                                                                  

'The reflection comes to an end; the future belongs to art', Amsterdam 1992
Dedicated to "Philosophy and Art" a Gulliver meeting was held in Amsterdam. With a discussion on the implementation of the theoretical dimension of cultural co-operation in Europe it tied up to the essence of Gulliver gatherings: 

"Europe is moving. The 90ties could progress into a period in which the theories lay behind the actual happenings."
Steve Austen, 1992                                                                                                                    

"Deutschland in Europa in Duitsland" marked an event that concentrated on Germany's role within European unification. The East-German playwright Heiner Müller exemplified the situation of an artist who found himself in the middle of political transformation: "The reflection comes to an end; the future belongs to art."
Heiner Müller, 1992                                                                                                                                     

'Multiculturalism', Istanbul 1993
Gulliver members refreshed their Declaration from 1987:

"Gulliver members believe that artists and intellectuals have to be provided with space necessary for them to create freely without the limits imposed by bureaucracy and institutionalisation."                                     

'European Cultural Politics: The Diversity in Unity', Vienna 1994
To discuss the cultural paragraph of the Maastricht Treaty:

"Culture is neither regarded as an instrument or a goal within the network of political processes, nor as a unifying force for Europe, not even as the field where integrating movements can play their role."
Melchior de Wolff, 1994                                                                                                

'Curtain Up? From the Berlin Wall to New Walls: 10 Years of Gulliver', Bucharest, 1997:

"An empire that seemed eternal has collapsed and the spiritual curtains, the movement of ideas, the obsessions of the European world have changed. The iron curtain has disappeared, but there are other curtains that we are particularly aware of."
Augustin Buzura, 1997

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