The Peace Institute – in the year of its 20th anniversary – in partnership with the Centre for Peace Studies, Zagreb, Croatia and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, Istanbul, is organising a transnational transdisciplinary “Cross Border Experience” conference in Ljubljana in the period between 25 - 30 October 2011. The aim of the conference is a critical rethinking of the current social and political situation in Europe with the focus on the European Union (EU) enlargement issue. The conference, which is a part of a wider international Cross Border Experience project, is rethinking – and hopefully breaking – stereotypes about the Balkans, South Eastern Europe (SEE) region and Turkey in the EU and vice-versa. The five day-long event seeks to contribute to better networking and exchange of ideas and experiences by bringing together almost sixty engaged theoreticians, academics, journalists, publicists, activists, cultural workers, artists and representatives of non-governmental, research, cultural and artistic organisations from all of the EU, SEE countries and Turkey. It is structured as a mixture of round-table debates, presentations and lectures, accompanied with cultural, artistic and social events, bringing together different profiles of participants, as well as different discourses and approaches.

Round-table debates, discussions and lectures will be held in the City Museum of Ljubljana and in the Atrium of the Scientific and Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SRC SASA), art programme of the conference and social gatherings in Gallery Škuc, Slovene Cinemateque, Club Gromka and Menza pri koritu (AKC Metelkova Mesto), Kino Šiška andSocial Centre Rog. 

Participants of the “Cross Border Experience” conference – representatives of NGOs, theoreticians, researchers, activists, journalists, publicists, artists and others – will be rethinking the current situation in Europe with the focus being on EU enlargement issue from multiple point of views: the position of the SEE Europe and Turkey in the process of EU integration; economy, solidarity and labour relations; the role of the civil society; multiculturalism and human rights; environmental issues; EU scepticism; national identity in the process of EU integration; secularism; the question of citizenship, borders and migration policies; the future of the SEE region and Turkey in the process of EU integration … 11 panel discussions and a concluding lecture will take place from Wednesday, 26 October until Saturday, 29 October in the City Museum of Ljubljana. Participants of the conference are, among other: a journalist and former spokeswoman at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague Florence Hartman (France), renowned cultural worker Borka Pavićević (Serbia), academic and human rights fighter Murat Belge (Turkey), curator and cultural/art producer Dunja Blažević (Bosnia and Herzegovina), theoretician of the new social struggles and movements, Manuela Bojadžijev (Germany), filmmaker Kaspars Goba (Latvia), environmental activist Tom Kucharz (Spain), political activist and theoretician Leart Kola (Albania) …

The evenings of the “Cross Border Experience” conference belong to art. The international exhibition of 17 artists from the Balkans and Turkey will be presented at Gallery Škuc. In Slovene Cinemateque there will be the Slovene premiere of the awarded workers’ drama White White World by Oleg Novković (Serbia). In Menza pri koritu (AKC Metelkova) the poet Elizabeta Bakovska (Macedonia), playwright Jeton Neziraj (Kosovo) and writers Bekim Sejranović (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Norway) and Olja Savičević Ivančević (Croatia) will present their writings. In the City Museum of Ljubljana, in Club Gromka (AKC Metelkova Mesto) and in Kino Šiška, the following musicians will perform for the first time in Slovenia: the Roma hip hoper from Serbia Muha Blackstazy, Turkish Reverie Falls on All and Replikas and Croatian Cripple and Casino. And for the dance conclusions of the conference evenings we will host DJ duo Brat&Sestra (Slovenia), DJ Basic (Slovenia) and DJ Chaspa (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Germany).

A short documentary video-film was also made in the framework of the project. The Cross Border Experience video-film, conducted in all of the EU candidate countries in the Balkans (Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina) as well as in Turkey, aims at critically rethinking the role of the EU in the so-called South-East European (SEE) region and Turkey, and also at challenging the stereotypes in the EU about the SEE region and Turkey, and vice versa. A preview of the video- film will be at the opening night of the conference on Tuesday, 25 October in the City Museum of Ljubljana.

The “Cross Border Experience” conference will conclude on Sunday, 30 October in Atrium of SRC SASA with a Co-operation Brunch – a presentation and discussion of/with selected international foundations active in SEE region and Turkey.