Lost Wor(l)ds

Apart from its economic dimension, the global financial crisis has sparked a social movement which has penetrated every class of society. It has also had an enormous impact on European awareness, the consequences of which remain to be seen. In view of this development, the project “Lost Wor(l)ds” wanted to investigate how the cultural, social and political processes of change in Europe have manifested themselves in its languages and literature. What are the predominant narratives? What fields of language have arisen? What lines of discourse have gone silent?
In three modules – a symposium with discussions and readings, a publication and a website – the project asked European intellectuals about their positions regarding these questions and discussed their role in the current processes of change. The festival has invited them to write and read texts, describing their thoughts and experiences related to global change. The texts will be presented on an interactive, multilingual website which will serve as a public platform for all who wish to share their experiences and participate in the discourse.
The goal of “LOST WOR(L)DS” was to reveal the multifaceted relationships between language, culture and politics and encourage a new manner of dealing with European values.

Artistic directors: Kateryna Stetsevych (UA/D), Katarina Tojic (SRB/D)
Research assistant: Stefanie Stegmann
Artists: Katja Lange-Müller, Melinda Nadj Abonji (CH), Martin Pollack (A), Aris Fioretos (SE), Serhij Zhadan (UA), Antonio Munoz Molina (E), Mircea Cartarescu (RO), Barbara Honigmann (F), Olga Tokarczuk (PL), Adania Shibli (PS)