Europe of the Regions or Province Europe

Workshop:
- August 28, 2012, 4-6 p.m.
- August 29, 2012, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. & 3-5 p.m.

Lecture and discussion in English:
- August 30, 2012, at 6 p.m.

KIBLA, Ulica kneza Koclja 9, Maribor

Boris Buden (Berlin), Helene Breitenfellner (Maribor), Jernej Habjan (Ljubljana), Mate Kapovič (Zagreb), Birgit Mennel (Vienna), Stefan Nowotny (Vienna) and others.
assistent Kris Merken

We are all aware of the phrase “Europe of the regions”. It stands for a Europe which consists not only of several nation-states, but also of the geo-cultural areas into which these states transcend. While such a European region is often perceived as a region with a specific and unique cultural identity, such segmentation of Europe is not compatible with the ever-persistent regime bound to nationalist sovereignty. Maribor – isn’t this also a name of a European region with a hybrid cultural identity that still needs to be defined, especially on the base of language practice and its cultural and political implications? Which is the spoken language of Maribor as a region? The answer can be neither a single homogeneous national language, nor a simple plurality of such languages. The best assumption is the existence of multiple translation processes whose specific cultural and social effects always break the cultural and political framework of Europe apart. A Europe of the regions only makes sense in a Europe that perceives itself as a region of a global ever-changing World.

Amongst the participants is the artist Alenka Pirman, author of the project Arcticae horulae (e-archive of the project (1991-2005); Dictionary of "Germanisms" in Slovene language (1997), on-line edition (2005). For a long time Alenka Pirman had collected "Germanisms" appearing daily in everyday Slovene conversation, but which are not allowed in the written or formal usage of the language. The artist concluded the project with the publication of a dictionary of these words (1997) and with the on-line edition in 2005 produced by SCCA-Ljubljana.

Alenka Pirman will present the project Arcticae horulae and the implications of her artistic interpretation of "Germanisms" in Slovene language. She will speak about her experiences with the instability of (national) language revealed by the Arcticae horulae and later by the first user-generated online dictionary of spoken Slovenian language – The Unleashed Tongue (since 2004, Domestic Research Society).

Europe of the Regions or Province Europe is a part of the program As We Speak by Goethe-Institut and in the framework of European Capital of Culture "MARIBOR 2012".

MORE INFORMATION

• Europe of the Regions or Province Europe
• Alenka Pirman
• Arcticae horulae
• The Unleashed Tongue

[Published August 20, 2012]