Final presentation

The big final presentation began today with the BOUNDARY group: students, who were working on the notion of boundaries at a large scale and a private scale during the last two weeks, have also developed some merchandising items, such as T-shirts, “scratch-to-see” postcards, posters, business cards and an info-game, to explain all the conclusions they’ve collected so far about the concept of boundaries in Europe.
“Be careful in giving general representations of Europe: this image is changing every two years”
“Did your idea of boundaries change after these two weeks?”
“We appreciate your attempt to put all the graphics you produced so far on real products”



FAB group, who have so far developed a quality “certification” label for products made in Europe that reflects the basic principles and concerns underlying the idea of Europe and advanced by European institutions (social equity, environmental protection, etc.), presented today some examples of applications of their graphics on real everyday life products.
“I feel a little bit uncomfortable with creating symbols that should represent a wide range of values”
“It’s a good idea because you didn’t choose to put new products on the market, but to represent all the qualities these products should have”
“I think it’s an impossible project, but it’s very hopeful and I like it for that”



As suggested by the teachers during the last presentation, the FEARNIVAL group tried to see their project within a real context. They provided their carnival with a suitable calendar, having the first meeting starting in Brussels, and then travelling all around the european biggest cities, and also planning the activities during the three festival days (ending with the “No fear Party” on the last night). Flokloristic floats, costumes and masks were also presented to the audience.
“Be careful with the semantic aspect of signs and symbols you’re drawing: some of them are not politically correct, you might offend someone’s national identity”
“Turning fears into laugh is great”



FLOWS group, stating that Europe exists thanks to migration, came out with the idea of a travelling exhibition (set up on a camper), whose purpose is to show people the advantages of migration flows within the continent. They also developed some of the products shown in the exhibition, which are all “métissage”, result of interbreeding between native objects and cultural processes they’ve come across. Objects as a means of showing the contribution of immigrants to Europe.
“You’re giving a contribution in solving a problem in a positive way”
“You’ve opened a door. OO is exactly about this: spreading values”



As suggested last wednesday, KATE group provided their “We share” project with the study of a suitable internet network, to make their books be better shared throughout schools in Europe.
The sharing of this educational package will be a form of cultural exchange educating children about the views and lifestyles of children in other regions in Europe. The group also gave examples of the graphical layout of books.
“The graphic design you’ve developed it’s really appropiate”
“It’s good for children to learn in a non-academic way”



The wide range of products developed by group CARA, using space as the ultimate communication tool, was today enriched by two important elements: a diagram, which is intended to be the archetype of all the “Subtitles” products (a chart where all the concepts are explained) and a website containing the “Manifesto for Subtitles in Europe”, where each objects is exaustively described in details.
“Are you going to do that in practice?”
“You developed the very interesting question about building connections”
“Your project is good because interaction between people is not forced”
“A good project brief and a very clear communication”



BORDERLINE project’s aims are, as declared by the students themselves, “to shock people into communicating using european context; to help them realise how fortunate they are to be a part of Europe; to encourage them to gain a sense of european identity”. The range of “Other strategies” the group presented through a clear single video are all based on the same principles of intervenction: the students start from some of the most important articles of the European Human Rights, thus developing the related topics and planning a performance for each of them. Monitoring people’s responses is also part of the project.
“You dared to face delicate political question in a deep, active and coherent way: good!”



SPLACE group, working on the communicative potentials of public spaces, gave today some realistic examples of their project: they developed a system where the public can speak into a microphone and the vocal input will be converted into a graphical image and projected onto a large screen.
“The positive aspect of this project is that you choose a real space in Brussels to locate it”
“When you want to express yourself you have to use a language (words, symbols, …), but creating a brand new language is very difficult. It’s hard to relate images you see with the sounds they come from. I think there’s a lack of message here”
“Your concepts were well defined: not only your aim is to give freedom of expression, but also you force people to take an active part. Moreover, the fact that you choose a real building is interesting because this brings the idea of the personal issues becoming public”



On the last presentation, ERADIUS was definitely given all the characteristics and the interactive potentialities of a webradio. The students registered a real web address (www.eradius.eu) and showed realistic examples of how the interaction between the speakers and the customers, and among the customers themselves, should work. To explain the peculiarities of their project, they also presented the “story of Romain, Erasmus student, on the 20th birthday of the Erasmus program”, in the form of a cartoon showing all the benefits of this network of european universities.
“Your project is interesting because you didn’t only make a representation of a website or a logo, but, most of all, you designed a strategy: this is a complete design project”
“I think you can realize it somehow, really! Just go for it! Don’t let these ideas die here”



Last but not least, the four girls of the former NOA group, who have explored the European identity by interacting among themselves and with the city of Brussels, presented their four different projects: they, in fact, have finally resolved to each select a location and analyze it from the perspective of their own specialty/viewpoint. So Noa presented her video “Europe in my eyes”, a collection of images and suggestions she elaborated from her outside-Europe point of view. Laura told the audience about her journey in search of her own european identity, ended with the discovery she doesn’t feel to have one and stating that european unity is not based on cultural common aspects but dependent on location. Laura gladly opens the discussion to everyone holding a different point of view, through the “Never be a tourist in Europe” blog she set up for the occasion. Larissa will stick a block notes on one of the walls of the camp’s entrance, asking each student to write what Europe is about, and then sending the result to the Propaganda group for the final publication. The video presented by Elena tells the story of a foreigner struggling to integrate himself and making useless efforts to communicate to people, while visiting Brussels. The story has neverthanless a happy ending, underlined by the Beatles famous hit “All you need is love”, which is also the conclusive message of today’s presentation.

Second public presentation

The second public presentation began today with SPLACE group. The students made their choice about the space they intend to use for their installation. It’s a public space within the European District in Brussels, located in Gare Léopold. The project will include a microphone, which the people is free to use. The sounds will then be turned into graphics through a computer and displayed in the bridge connecting the buildings of the environment. This action is intended to be repeated in other big cities, symbolic places around Europe. A webcam in site, with a view of all the visual effects, and a website, containing all the produced graphics, will also be part of the project. The aim is to give people freedom of speech and of expression, even if they don’t speak the same language (using the graphics as a translator).
The debate that followed took in consideration whether it is really an expression of freedom to speak not being understood, if not through graphics; whether the graphics could be seen as a kind of censorships to the speaking person. In any case, teachers pointed out that encouraging active speaking instead of the virtual one (sms, email) is a good and strong argument of this project.



BORDERLINE provoked then the audience with shocking images and strong campaigns. Beside the burning flag, they presented a video in which the members of the group were performing a “human chain”, followed by some images, like a fake newspaper reporting the effects of the Third World War, or the prices labels in a supermarket, reporting prices in the old national currencies but with their actual values, thus enhancing the good effects brought by the introduction of the Euro. All these actions are supposed to make people feel lucky to be european. At the end of the presentation, the group distributed a questionnaire to the audience, which is intended to be the beginning of next performance.
The tutors agreed that the students had done a good job trying to provoke situations rather than persons.



CARA came out with the first images of their products catalogue, called “Subtitles”. These are all objects thought to enhance the already existing places, using the city as a layer and not introducing new brands on the market. According to these students, space is the ultimate communication tool.
Five projects were then shown in detail: “Reality Belfast”, a metaphor of the wall as a separation object, which is intended to give new neighbours to people, by projecting on the wall next to their house the image of somebody else’s house; “Neighbours skies”, the projection of another european country’s sky on the ceiling of bus stops; “Dancing in the streets”, which consists in mapping people’s walking round a piazza and then projecting their footsteps in another european piazza, thus provoking a kind of dance; “See saw”, benches that go up and down depending on whether someone else sits down on the corresponding bench in the other city; “The Others”: when, at night, you’re staying under a streetlamp, the shadow that you produce is reported in another street somewhere.
The simple but strong objects this group has collected so far, together with the gentle and clear graphic, was appreciated by the teachers, who underlined two main qualities: the fact that interaction between people is not forced and the fact that it concerns everyday life’s imaginary.



ERADIUS group found the graphic identity for their radio station: it basically consists of a barcode, where each bar is given a different colour, representing the different 27 european countries. The program of the radio was also set out, divided into permanent broadcastings (like the local news) and temporary broadcastings (which can be joined and updated by everyone). The program was then translated into a layout for the website, adding symbols representing the different broadcasting typologies.
The idea to set up a radio station for Erasmus students was found “excellent” by the teachers, although there were some doubts conceirning the graphics (which they suggested to keep simple and perhaps more interactive) and the philosophy behind the project: what is the strong idea that keeps this radio different from all the others? Students will have to explain on friday.



FAB purpose is to enhance people’s consciousness about the European Union through graphics. They developed a label, which will work on everyday products as a kind of certificate of european values. The logo consists of the words “eu” on a blue background decorated with stars, and the slogan “feel european” is thought to follow the logo for special communications (like campaigns). The group intends the label to be democratically approved by the european population, before giving it to companies. They focus on a strong communication, rather than on an advertising campaign, since this is no new brand, but a sort of certificate to put on already existing products. The group also developed some images for campaigns: a net of coloured threads, kept together by a blu strip, to symbolize the european way of life; a group of different birds standing on an orizontal rope, representing the different european cultures kept together by the European Union identity; a map of Europe outline without borders followed by the slogan “values don’t have any borders”.
The teachers and the audience, after pointing out the good aspects of the project, gave many suggestions to the group: using “feeling european” rather than “feel european”; try to make some real examples, applying the label on products; work out the label to be just a symbol; re-think the outline map of Europe they designed, because Switzerland is missing and it seems apparently that they don’t share the same values as the europeans, which of course is not completely true; finally, the group was suggested to develop new proposals and let the audience vote them during next presentation.



FLOW idea was based on immigration fluxes around Europe and the way these movements affects the lives of products. They choosed four products, which are usually thought to be “typical” of a specific country, and collected historical information about them, to prove that, at the end, what seems obvious about the “nationality” of an object is just something that we take for granted, without going too deep in to it. So, for example, tea, everywhere recognized as the typical English drink, comes instead from India, the Italian pasta has Greek origins and the Belgian beer went on a very long journey before becoming this country’s national drink. The group’s project consists of a very interesting purpose: if you use techniques and processes present in a different culture’s traditional products you can move forward. They already gave some examples: a Japanese fan in the hands of a flamenco dancer and the French typical tissue “toile de jouy” mixed with some Indian tissues decoration.
This group’s approach to the project really impressed the audience, and now they are suggested to move forward coming out with real products.


NOA girls didn’t do the presentation today, because the group still needs some more walks around the city to come out with a suitable project.



The BOUNDARY question is still being checked by the former “Maya” group. They presented a wide range of works and analysis that took in consideration different scales, to prove that big scale boundaries and little scale boundaries have often the same origin points. So, from the Europe map to the city, from the bus to the camp in Place des Martyrs, the students showed to the audience that the boundary question has not immediate solution, it’s an open question. To respect these characteristics, they proposed to translate their research into a wiki-like tool, a dinamic map where everything can constantly be added, changed or removed.
The group was then invited to turn the interesting idea into some real examples.



KATE project’s starting point was the proposal of having children as european mini-ambassadors in the world. As a tool for the children to know eachother’s cultures and countries, the group developed a set composed of six books, characterized by an “identity” section and an “expression” section, which the kids should then fill. Some games, like the “assotiation game” and the “treasure hunting”, are also included. Once the children have completed the books, their teacher is responsible of sending the set to another country, in order to share information and experiences with other schools. The logo that represents the whole project, in fact, contains the sentence “we share”.
What the teachers proposed was to think about using internet and interaction as a tool to make the project more easy to “travel” around schools.



TASTE of IDENTITY were today more focused on “tastes of diversity”, deciding to take fear of diversity as main topic. They then presented their “Fearnival”, a special itinerant carnival where european citizens can benefit and laugh of diversities, to overpass them. Stereotypes and prejudices in the “Fearnival” are represented by masks, costumes and installations, because, as the students said, “the best way to leave our fears about diversity behind is to laugh about them”.
According to the teachers, turning fears into laugh is great. Neverthanless, they feel that something is missing: the group should put the “Fearnival” in a real context: when is that happening? Where? Who is participating? The appointment for these answers, and for many more, is for friday.

Second feedback session

What we are calling a “feedback session” isn’t actually happening according to a precise time or in a specific place: groups just go on discussing their projects with the tutors as soon as they have new ideas or new doubts, and this is happening from 9 am to midnight, in La Cambre, but also at the camp or in a bar.
Just before the second “big” public presentation of tomorrow, FAB is concentrating on labels, whereas FLOW is focussing on products and their origins, even if the final outcome is not yet clear. BOUNDARY mapping and CARA catalogue of objects seem to work quite well, like the project of ERADIUS, now concentrating on graphics. SPLACE is moving to sounds and some people of the BORDERLINE group has been seen around Brussels wearing strange uniforms… Still some troubles in defining for KATE, whereas TASTE of IDENTITY finally decided to work on people’s fears and stereotypes, trying to overpass them with a carnival. The MACKA girls (formerly known as NOA) are still walking around the city collecting experiences and then trying to communicate them.

Propaganda group

This is a group constituted by participants in former editions of the workshop, who are responsible for documenting the workshop as it moves forward, and will work on the publication to follow.
They have also created a new role as a vehicle for information and communication between groups: a wall, part of the workshop room, where all the different inputs, outputs, pictures, oddities, etc. are sticked up following a precise structure, from day one to day 14, from one group to the other, from Europe biggest issues to the specificities of each project. A very important part of this work is the critical support this group is trying to give to the others: suggestions, information, an external view on their projects. This blog is also edited by Propaganda group.

First public presentation

Beginning at 2pm, the first public presentation of the workshop was a very important step for everybody, since it pushed each group to communicate their ideas and projects to the audience, thus clarifying better the issues to themselves, too.
The meaning of being European, the question about the European and the different national identities, urbanity and the relationship between tourists and inhabitants were the keywords that basically came out.

The latest idea of the FAB group was to introduce a certificate for european value products. Next step is to concentrate on the list of products and the graphics.

FLOW presentation was more about exploring the history of immigration movements in Europe and trying to point out some common issues within this phaenomena.

The BOUNDARY group showed a video enhancing virtual boundaries within a defined common place: the bus. Also weather maps, as examples of virtual boundaries, were part of the presentation.

ERADIUS presented a sample of mixed music and languages of their radio station.

PAZ, turning their name into SPLACE, pointed out that the bigger is the public space you choose, the more rules you usually will find. They want their space to be as much free from laws as possibile and they propose the graffiti art as possible tool to integrate different layers.

As announced, SHEME group came out with a kind of shocking performance. They showed a video in which one of them was burning the European flag. This provoking action, just the first of many others they’re planning to do, will, in their intention, make people happy of being european by shocking them. For the occasion, they turned their name into BORDERLINE.

The CARA group showed the pictures (and the concepts behind them) of their first three projects: the sky of the abribus, the footwalk in the street and bench with level depending on the weight. They were suggested to think more about the european context.

KATE choosed the birthday of Europe as a pretext to see what an european party can be. The group will explore and identify this common idea of Europe and develop a means to communicate it.

NOA group went on a trip in Bruxelles and produced, per person, one text, one object, one picture of the experience. They’re also trying to find a connection between their four identities, interacting with different performances.

The TASTE of IDENTITY group came out with the idea of a card game to share and exchange different ideas and information about european cities, especially for those who can’t travel or for tourists travelling in a superficial way.

OO.2: Groups and topics

This morning students had their first approach with their group (10 groups in the whole + the “propaganda” team) and the topic: they came to know eachother and began to investigate about the common living in an european city. Three were the main suggestions given to groups to work on: communication tools, signs and simbols, space and objects. Each team has to give, by the end of the morning, a short brief of what their project is going to be about.

OO.2 in Brussels - Vivre ensemble dans une ville européenne

L’Europe semble un terme évident, naturel pour un workshop se déroulant à Bruxelles. Au-delà de sa situation de capitale, c’est sa matière même — forme urbaine et réalité cosmopolite —, qui interpelle le designer et le graphiste, l’artiste, l’architecte et l’urbaniste. Et cette matière est fort proche de celle de toutes les grandes villes du continent. Les questions du « vivre ensemble » à Bruxelles ont une pertinence générale. Comment établir les conditions d’une citoyenneté et d’une civilité communes à des habitants issus de multiples origines ? Comment communiquer malgré la barrière des langues et des cultures ? Comment créer un espace public où se croisent les différences ? Comment se connaître et se reconnaître ?

Ces questions très générales n’ont rien d’immatériel pour les designers. Elles se traduisent en stratégies de travail dans plusieurs champs :

- Les symboles du commun : des objets, des images, des signes, des œuvres ; toutes ces choses qui affichent la part commune, acceptée par tous, du projet européen, ses valeurs fondamentales, ses figures tutélaires et ses monuments.
- Les règles du partage : celui des lieux, des espaces publics, des rues, des places et des jardins ; un partage favorisé par des règles de jeu à inventer, pour aboutir à des usages multiples, des ambiances plurielles, des esthétiques mélangées… une expression de culture cosmopolite à travers le mobilier urbain, l’architecture et tout autre objet qui contribue à la forme de la ville, à son décor.
- Les outils de la communication : tout ce qui permet de réduire le handicap de la langue, tout ce qui fait circuler les traductions ; des objets, des services dans la ville pour qu’on ne s’y perde plus aussi facilement quand on est étranger, mais aussi pour qu’on s’y rencontre ; toute une technologie de l’identification, du repérage, de la communication et du dialogue.

Claude Eveno
Directeur des Études
ENSCI Paris