Danish-German Remembrance and Future Parliament

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On occasion of the centenary of the Schleswig plebiscites, held in the German-Danish border area, a parliament of remembrance and a parliament of the future will be organised. The aim is to create a forum to discuss and to develop a common understanding of historical perspectives and future possibilities in the Danish-German border area. Until now such a joint discourse among citizens has been absent. 40 interested persons from the region will be selected to participate in the parliamentarian sessions. In these one-week events, the participants will jointly research, develop and prepare different types of background materials, which will then be used for discussions during the councils and plenaries of the parliament sessions. To gain distance to once own history, and regional interests, there will be a swap of roles during the parliamentarian sessions. All participants will take on a mandate from the opposite region. Danish participants will be looking at issues out of a German perspective, and vice versa. The aim of the project is to explore and draw up different perspectives by looking into the past history of the border area, as well as to explore the implications for possible futures. The outcome of these processes and the parliamentarian hearings will be publicly presented in a series of public events. This will be launched, to enable a broader societal discourse (in the area). The parliamentarian events will be accompanied with activities by selected artists from the project region. During the last year of the project these artistic works will be publicly exhibited. Additionally, during the course of the project an annual Danish - German Art award will be conferred upon artists, who in their works are dedicated to the topic of the project. The project is taking on the challenge to foster a cross-border identity. Its overall goal is to break-up the manifested national historical perceptions and instead look into pluralistic perspectives and possible joint collaborative futures. Taking an arts and cultures perspective will also create spaces for action, for people across the border area, interested in arts and cultures. The project, pioneers the approach - To let the participants switch standpoints and perspectives, and articulate these in the parliamentarian settings (remembrance and a parliament of the future). Historical narratives will be subject of consultation and reconciliation. The outcome of which will be a joint effort by the Danish-German participants, and might become a model for other regions.

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