Upon Us All Equally – tranzit statements for the future is an event curated collectively by tranzit.org network and organised in Bucharest. The event brought together professionals of the international art and cultural world to present a marathon of visions about a shared and more optimistic future.
tranzit.org has been active as a platform in Central and Eastern Europe, and in the wider world, for almost 20 years, creating and debating local and global contexts, stimulating artistic production and engaging publics for critical, progressive reflection. All five tranzit institutions from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania got together on this occasion, inviting past and recent collaborators to share their visions about forms of resistance to the dominant neo-fascist and nationalist tendencies of the present political moment, as well as to the growing ecological crisis. More than 20 participants were offered the stage, to voice what our societies can focus on, in order to create a version of a world to live in that is more just and inclusive.
By organising such an event, tranzit is showing that hope can become an element for social cohesion and political act. From its experience of generating communities that come together on the basis of shared values, tranzit expresses the belief that in the face of crisis these values must not be eroded. Within tranzit network friendship and trust have grown and solidified, and the energy and enthusiasm in the community can be useful to assure one another. It is now a time to come together as many in order to inspire others as well into this collective confidence in each other and in the future.
The core of the event consisted in the marathon presentation of statements of cultural practitioners and theorists, who gave lecture and performed from within their histories and experiences. Here, the intensity of the interventions and the diversity of the speakers’ backgrounds created a kaleidoscope vision of a future that is attainable sooner rather than too late.
The building which is set to become CNDB’s permanent venue in the next years, Sala Omnia, a former conference hall of the Communist Party functioned as a second venue of Upon Us All Equally. There, the atmosphere of modernist ruin and its potential for an institution of live culture, which is yet to be accomplished, constituted the frame for some artistic projects especially chosen and adapted for this space.
