Lost Highway Expedition [LHE]
The Lost Highway Expedition is a tour to explore the unknown future of Europe. A massive joint movement of over 200 artists and individuals traveled through nine cities in the Western Balkan (Ljubljana, Zagreb, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Skopje, Priština, Tirana, Podgorica and Sarajevo) from July 30 to August 24 of 2006. Expedition participants formed a virtual and physical network of collaborations for artistic and architectural production while traveling through each city. Traveling through the politically dynamic territories of the Western Balkan, the expedition’s aim was to explore the future of Europe and find new ways of making the future civic society through the artistic process. In a series of different events, participants of the expedition interacted with each other and produced works of art, architecture and theory, while simultaneously forming a temporary society.
The Lost Highway Expedition was initiated by Centrala – Foundation for Future Cities and the School of Missing Studies [SMS] as the first event of Europe Lost and Found [ELF], a multi annual and three-phased project. Europe: Lost and Found is an interdisciplinary and multi-nationally based research project to articulate and imagine the current evolution of new and transforming borders and territories of Europe. The subject is the continent of immigration, and its depopulation and aging, and the need for redefinition of states, sovereignties and citizenships. Challenged is the established belief and practice of nation-state, including non-representative and technocratic construction of European Union yet to vision more open and alternative definitions for populous in movements. The rejection of constitutional referendum and the riots in France signal the contradiction between homogeneous and multiple identities, the fluidity of capital and containment of labor, the liberation of individuals and their restrictions under sovereignty. Clearly, Europe cannot subsist by itself, and is already being redefined by “the others” in its quest for a self-identity. In such contexts, ELF suggests the future of Europe is best seen in the Western Balkan.
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Azra Akšamija, Lost Highway Expedition [LHE], 2006
Collaborative curatorial project organizing a joint travel of over 200 individuals engaged in cultural production
Place: Western Balkans. LHE was initiated by Centrala, Foundation for Future Cities , which includes Azra Akšamija, Katherine Carl, Ana Dzokić, Ivan Kucina, Marc Neelen, Kyong Park, Marjetica Potrč and Srdjan Jovanović Weiss, and the School of Missing Studies. Partner Organizations: SKUC (Ljubljana); Mama, Platforma 9.81, WHW (Zagreb), Kuda.org (Novi Sad), Prelom kolektiv, School of Missing Studies (Belgrade), Missing Identity (Priština), Press for Exit (Skopje) and SCCA/Pro.ba (Sarajevo). Photos: Ana Dzokić. Sponsors: Lost Highway Expedition is supported by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ljubljana and the Trust for Mutual Understanding, New York. Additional in-kind support comes from LHE partner organizations in the cities of the Lost Highway Expedition, as well as from the Council for the Arts at MIT. Project Website http://www.europelostandfound.net