Rem Koolhaas gaat op zoek naar Europese identiteit met kleurrijke expositie in Brussel (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - For weeks, a brightly coloured circus top has stood on Rond-Point Schuman - at the very heart of Brussels' European district - prompting several jokes about the EU and its similiarity to a circus.

But today, the tent opened to the public and revealed an impressive array of multimedia images charting the history - and future - of Europe and the EU in an exhibition entitled "the images of Europe", jointly sponsored by the European Commission and the Dutch Presidency.

The exhibition contains an 80 metre panoramic mural depicting world events on a lower level and European and EU events on an upper level. The display uses pictures of European figures, past and present, graphs, pictogrammes as well as sound recordings and a video projection of the latest European news.

From the Big Bang to a big row

The lower level spans global history, beginning with the Big Bang roughly 13.7 billion years ago and ending with the EU's row over the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Describing the European leaders in favour of the action as "the axis of reflexive Atlanticism", the exhibition notes, "ignoring public opinion in their home countries, many of Europe's leaders follow America to war in Iraq".

Also along the lower part of the exhibition is a profile of each of the 25 member states with the words to the individual national anthems written out along the wall.

Great war to the euro

The upper level charts the history of the EU, starting with World War I in 1914 and ending with the appointment of José Manuel Durao Barroso this year.

This part of the exhibition is divided into four main areas entitled "heroism and stealth" (1945-1992), "visibility and vulnerability" (1993-2002), "Threat and Opportunity" (2002-2004) and then a not-entirely-serious projection of the EU's future.

Amongst the multiplicity of historic dates in these sections are: the Schuman declaration in 1950 which led to the creation of the EU, the 1958 Treaty of Rome, which established the European common market, the gradual expansion of the EU from the original six members to the current 25 and the 1991 Treaty of Maastricht, which paved the way to the euro.

A thick red line shoots all the way through this section, charting the support for the EU during this period.

And the exhibition is not shy of portraying the EU's failures and weaknesses. There are pictures of the fall of the fradulent Santer Commission in 1999, the UK's ignominious exit from the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 and various defeats for the EU in referendums.

Chinese as official language?

But perhaps the most interesting part of the exhibition is its projection of the EU's future.

This slightly tongue-in-cheek section projects several highly ambitious and some downright impossible events in the next ten to 15 years.

In 2010, according to the exhibition, the EU will expand to include Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and the Ukraine.

Following this, in 2015, the EU will take in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and change its name from the European Union to simply "The Union".

The exhibition also sees the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) being phased out in 2012 after a massive "scrap the CAP" campaign by citizens. Also in this vision of the future, the EU will adopt Chinese as its official language in 2012.

Possibly the most unlikely event in this fantasy is that the EU will overtake the US in competitiveness by 2010, as projected in the exhibition and enshired in the EU's "Lisbon agenda".

EU lawbook

Another interesting feature of the exhibition is the EU's acquis communautaire - the EU's book of laws - which runs to over 80,000 pages and takes up approximately eight metres when stretched out in a display case in the exhibition.

Other features include a huge circular table in the centre of the tent replicating the table that houses the members of the Commission and a large transparent white ball hanging from the ceiling on which is projected news from around the Union.

Entrance to the exhibition - designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas - is free for citizens brave enough to cross the busy roundabout to get there.

Travelling circus

And, according to sources at the Presidency, which is co-sponsoring the exhibition, there is a possibility that the circus tent will be moved around the EU.

"We have heard that some places are interested ... but nothing has so far been decided", said one diplomat.