Art Nouveau: a new EUtopia. How the past can be a bridge to a sustainable future

ongoing

As a significant European heritage style that paved the way for the emergence of modern architecture in Europe, Art Nouveau is the key to better apprehending and exploring the connections between heritage and sustainability and between man and nature, yesterday as today. This project, built upon the results of past European and international projects, proposes to explore the active role of Art Nouveau today and to reinvent itself in the light of sustainable development. This is done through innovative ways to generate public awareness through a pan-European programme made of training opportunities around restoration for professionals, residencies for artists, new pedagogical approaches, as well as ambitious public events. The project provides elements of answers to address contemporary needs faced by cultural heritage today: environmental, educational and social. Its objectives coincide with the needs of very specific target groups such as professionals and audiences, from artists to architects or house owners, or young and elderly people. To meet these needs, the project stimulates the exchange of good practices, triggers creative interactions between artists and Art Nouveau buildings, develops new educational and fun approaches and increases public awareness of Art Nouveau heritage. Because of its transversality and transnationality, as was the Art Nouveau movement, the project brings together 12 partners whose activities are defined on the basis their local needs, skills and experiences. They are used to working together, since the majority of them are members of the Réseau Art Nouveau Network (RANN), which coordinates this project. All partners aim at valorising Art Nouveau, the conservation of its sites and the promotion of scientific research.