Through sorcery and extraction, the EURO–VISION series begins with Prof Adekeye Adebajo, Director of the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg. The conversation focuses on the history of extraction between the European and the African continent, which has laid the groundwork for the Critical Raw Materials Initiative to take shape. A key event in this genealogy is the Berlin Conference (1884-85), led by the Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, during which plenipotentiaries of fourteen states — none of which were from Africa — assembled to discuss the partition of the African continent. After a century and a half ago this meeting continues to shape Africa's borders today, as well as its governance, its economy, its international relations, and the extraction of its materials. The latter of which is often either towards Europe, or to benefit European-owned companies. Based on Adebajo’s monograph, 'The Curse of Berlin: Africa after the Cold War', we delve into the extent of von Bismarck's legacy and the significance of this event in contemporary international affairs.

More https://euro-vision.net/publications
Download the transcript https://euro-vision.net/files/Ep_1_TheCurseofBerlin.pdf

FRAUD (Audrey Samson & Francisco Gallardo)

Original music by Frédéric Laurier
Sound editing by Kitty Turner
Images by https://franciscaroseiro.com

The EURO—VISION public program has been commissioned by Arts Catalyst & RADAR.

Partnerships was produced as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial — Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and curated by: Mariana Pestana, Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben.

This public programme has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.

Episode 1 📢 The Curse of Berlin — a conversation with Adekeye Adebajo

In this episode we consider how the very foundation of the EU was predicated upon an extractivist model. In their book ‘Eurafrica, the Untold History of European Integration and Colonialism’, Peo Hansen and Stefan Jonsson, debunk the theory of what they refer to as the Immaculate Conception of the European Union formation, one where a group of benevolent Western European leaders chose to set aside nationalist rivalries to unite for peace, democracy and freedom, to one where the cooperation of European states to no little extent was predicated upon the exploitation of African resources, which could be better accomplished through a coordinated effort. 

This institutionalised the colonies' role as purveyors of raw materials. Hansen and Jonsson have summarised it as follows: “Eurafrica is able to make sense both of the political and discursive discontinuity and the infrastructural or economic continuity between the late colonial period and an emerging Neo-colonial globalisation.”  This is supported by archival research, foremost into the inter-governmental negotiations that led up to the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, and numerous other sources. As one analyst put it in 1957: “It is in Africa that Europe will be made”.

More: https://euro-vision.net/publications
Download the transcript: https://euro-vision.net/files/Ep_2_Eurafrica.pdf

FRAUD (Audrey Samson & Francisco Gallardo)

Original music by Frédéric Laurier
Sound editing by Kitty Turner
Images by Francisca Roseiro https://franciscaroseiro.com

The EURO—VISION public program has been commissioned by Arts Catalyst & RADAR.

Partnerships was produced as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial — Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and curated by: Mariana Pestana, Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben.

This public programme has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.

Episode 2 📢 EURAFRICA — a conversation with Stefan Jonsson and Peo Hansen

After developing an understanding of the Berlin Conference’s implications, of the concept of Eurafrica, and of how the European Integration project was truly founded in the previous episodes, we wanted to understand more about how these structures have continued, and how they have been transformed and institutionalised in contemporary international relations. One fundamental example of this is the Franc of the Financial Community of Africa (CFA). We invited Ndongo Samba Sylla, a development economist at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Dakar (Senegal), who recently co-authored 'Africa’s Last Colonial Currency: The CFA Franc Story' with Fanny Pigeaud (published by Pluto Press), onto the podcast to discuss these issues with us.

More: https://euro-vision.net/publications
Download the transcript: euro-vision.net/files/Ep_3_CFA.pdf

FRAUD (Audrey Samson & Francisco Gallardo)

Original music by Frédéric Laurier
Sound editing by Kitty Turner
Images by https://franciscaroseiro.com

The EURO—VISION public program has been commissioned by Arts Catalyst & RADAR.

Partnerships was produced as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial — Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and curated by: Mariana Pestana, Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben.

This public programme has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.

Episode 3 📢 Colonial currencies & investment stratagems — a conversation with Ndongo Samba Sylla

This episode focuses on modes of maritime extraction that continue legacies of colonial rule. In discussion with Liam Campling we explore some of the legal and economic infrastructures that support and perpetuate fishery extraction, such as Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), and Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY), based on his recent book, co-authored with Alejandro Colás, 'Capitalism and the Sea'. As the EU has the third largest fishing fleet in the world, the majority of which belongs to companies registered in Spain, fisheries become a paramount resource to consider. Like most states, the EU approaches marine natural resources using mechanistic lenses such as input/output paradigms. This is exemplified in the usage of the word ‘stock’ to designate populations of fish. Understanding oceanic spaces as resources that can be measured like an inventory exists within a form of marine management which has facilitated the industrial, long-haul fishing responsible for much of today’s overfishing. This episode focuses on the specific tools and agreements that enable overfishing, bringing its logic to the Global South in a gold-rush for resources.

More: https://euro-vision.net/publications
Download the transcript: euro-vision.net/files/Ep_4_Terraqueous.pdf

FRAUD (Audrey Samson & Francisco Gallardo)

Original music by Frédéric Laurier
Sound editing by Kitty Turner
Images by https://franciscaroseiro.com

Partnerships was produced as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial — Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and curated by: Mariana Pestana, Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben.

The EURO—VISION public program has been commissioned by Arts Catalyst & RADAR.

This public programme has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.

Episode 4 📢 Terraqueous Territoriality — a conversation with Liam Campling

This EURO—VISION podcast episode examines pelagic extraction with fisherfolk testimonies in conversation with Dr Epifania Amoo-Adare, outlining alternative modes of coexistence, and how we might go about this ‘labour of love’.

Previous episodes have focused on certain measures of conservation in fisheries, such as Maximum Sustainable Yield, which were historically put in place to protect domestic industries rather than fish populations. These measures often reinforce legacies of pelagic extraction. This episode focuses on the situation from the perspective of fisherfolk. Their testimonies are in conversation with Dr Epifania Amoo-Adare, an artist, ‘renegade’ architect, pedagogue and researcher based in Accra who is currently engaged in what she describes as the “art of unthinking”. In this episode, we join Amoo-Adare in the art of unthinking, where the very idea of ‘development’ is questioned in a discussion of Ghana’s depleting marine landscape, the othering of artisanal fishermen, fish mothers and their fishmongers, which ends by the outlining of fundamentally non-extractive alternative modes of coexistence.

More: https://euro-vision.net/publications
Download the transcript: https://euro-vision.net/files/Ep_5_Apopofo.pdf

FRAUD (Audrey Samson & Francisco Gallardo)

Original music by Frédéric Laurier
Sound editing by Kitty Turner
Images by https://franciscaroseiro.com

Partnerships was produced as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial — Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and curated by: Mariana Pestana, Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben.

The EURO—VISION public programme has been commissioned by Arts Catalyst & RADAR.

This public programme has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.

Episode 5 📢 Artisanal Fisheries & the Art of Unthinking — a conversation with E. Amoo-Adare

In the previous episode, we considered legacies of pelagic extraction from the perspective of artisanal fisherfolk, and discussed how to begin unthinking and unknowing these extractive ontologies. In the following, with Dr Jennifer Telesca we focus on the role of institutions tasked with conservation management in 'managing extinction'. We discuss how marine policymaking has contributed to the accelerating extraction of maritime life. In her recent article, 'Fishing for the Anthropocene: Time in Ocean Governance', she denounces the role of managerial capitalism, armed with bleak yet powerful persuasive tools such as visual charts, scientific models and statistical formulas, which together "plan, measure and quantify time as an exercise of power at sea".  In this vein, our discussion will focus on the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and how it has managed and administered the extinction of the blue fin tuna, which is the focus of her recent book, Red Gold. We also consider modes of decentrering the legal spaciest policies by redefining value systems based on multispecies respect and environmental justice.

More: https://euro-vision.net/publications
Download the transcript: https://euro-vision.net/files/Ep_5_RedGold.pdf

FRAUD (Audrey Samson & Francisco Gallardo)

Original music by Frédéric Laurier
Sound editing by Kitty Turner
Images by https://franciscaroseiro.com

Partnerships was produced as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial — Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and curated by: Mariana Pestana, Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben.

The EURO—VISION public programme has been commissioned by Arts Catalyst & RADAR.

This public programme has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.

Episode 6 📢 Red Gold Rush — a conversation with Jennifer Telesca

AD Awake Trailer

I travel to the Withernsea on the Southern part of the Yorkshire coast, chat to owners of shop The Emporium (Jan, 2019)
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A monthly reflection on change. (sometimes) poetic rants, (often) political ramblings and (always) unexpected conversations resulting from adventures to different British coastal towns and chatting to people that live there. Hosted by me, Leeds-based artist and community organiser Samra Mayanja - gal from London via Harwich (Essex coast).

Commissioned by Live Art Bistro for Performing Britain, a 24 hour performance marathon that was supposed to happen on the day that we were supposed to leave the EU (29-30th March 2019)

Withernsea (EDGING HOME)

Epi-Hop: True Trap Tings 12-2020

📡  EURO—VISION 🛰 the podcast

From the 31st of March and throughout the month of April, a series of weekly podcasts will be featured here. The podcasts compile a series of conversations with activists, scholars, fisherpeople and artists, hosted by FRAUD, around the politics of extraction, migration and international agreements that are affecting communities and ecologies on a global scale and that perpetuate European colonial legacies.

Speakers include:
📢 Prof. Adekeye Adebajo, Director of the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
📢 Dr Epifania Akosua Amoo-Adare, artist, architect and independent scholar based in Accra, Ghana.
📢 Dr Nishat Awan, Topological Atlas, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.
📢 Prof. Liam Campling, International Business and Development, School of Business and Management of Queen Mary, University of London, England.
Collectif des Communautés Subsahariennes au Maroc (Subsaharan Community Collective, Rabat, Morocco.
📢 Dr Jennifer Telesca, Assistant Professor of Environmental Justice in the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies at the Pratt Institute.
📢 Prof. Peo Hansen, Political Science, Division of Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO), Linköping University, Sweden.
📢 Prof. Stefan Jonsson, Ethnic Studies, Division of Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO), Linköping University, Sweden.
📢 Mr Nii Ayitey Sackey, traditional fisherperson from the Greater Accra area, Ghana.
📢 Mr Solomon Sampa, traditional fisherperson from the Greater Accra area, Ghana.
📢 Dr Ndongo Samba Sylla, development economist at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Dakar, Sénégal.

EURO—VISION is an art-led enquiry that explores the extractivist gaze of European institutions and its policies. The relationship between international relations, trade, economic policy and military operations come into focus through the lens of 🇪🇺🪨⚒️ Critical Raw Materials 🇪🇺🪨⚒️  In 2008, the European Commission adopted the Critical Raw Materials Initiative, which defined a strategy for accessing resources viewed as imperative to the EU’s subsistence 📘 📄 The criticality of resources is measured according to supply risk and economic importance 📊 📈  Policies are drawn up to ensure the continued availability of materials deemed critical. Such policies have led to agreements guiding the biological and geological exhaustion of the Global South 🌎🌍🌏 The current list, revised in 2020, includes 30 materials, including Silica, Cobalt ⚙️ Natural Rubber 🌳 Phosphate rock 🪨 and the newly added Lithium 🔋 and Titanium 🦾 EURO—VISION focuses on the inscriptive operations of such initiatives, such as the establishment of Free Trade Zones 📦 FTZs 📦, fisheries partnerships agreements 📄 FPAs📄, and de-risking investment tools like public-private partnerships 🔖 PPPs 🔖

FRAUD is an artist duo (Audrey Samson & Francisco Gallardo)

Original music by Frédéric Laurier
Sound editing by Kitty Turner
Images by Francisca Roseiro

The EURO—VISION public program has been commissioned by Arts Catalyst & RADAR. 

Partnerships was produced as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial — Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and curated by: Mariana Pestana, Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben.

This public programme has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.

This project originated as a collaboration between King's College London's Department of Digital Humanities and artist duo FRAUD, brokered and supported by the Cultural Institute at King’s in partnership with Somerset House Studios.