"Europe's financial crisis is also cultural". On 27-28 February, Danish Minister for Culture, Mr Uffe Elbæk, convened a pan-European taskforce (Team Culture 2012) in Copenhagen to investigate how culture and art can play a decisive role for Europe in the midst of the financial crisis.

The Danish Minister for Culture, Mr Uffe Elbæk, says:
“It has been tremendously exciting to experience how—despite the vastly different geographic and professional backgrounds of the group members—all have been convinced that art and culture both can and ought to contribute to finding solutions to the massive societal challenges facing Europe.”

Until June, the group will seek out answers to how art and culture can contribute to solving these challenges. Firstly, each group member will find a concrete European example of how culture can contribute to a solution of one or more of the challenges. Secondly, the group will jointly draw up a manifesto with recommendations for the general public and politicians of Europe. Both will be presented in Brussels in June at a large meeting to EU’s ministers for culture, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and representatives of the European public.

The members of Team Culture 2012:

• Benedetta Tagliabue (Italy/Spain): architect, CEO of the architect studio Miralle-Tagliabue-EMBT in Barcelona.


• Efva Lilja (Sweden): choreographer, professor of choreography and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Dance of Circus in Stockholm.


• Josephine Green (Great Britain/The Netherlands): former manager of Trends & Strategy at Phillips Design.


• Julie Edel Hardenberg (Greenland/Denmark): visual artist, photographer, author.


• Kathryn Bennetts (Belgium): artistic director for Koninklijk Ballet van Vlaanderen, Antwerpen.


• Margot Wallström (Sweden): special representative for UN’s Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Former commissioner of the EU.


• Moukhtar Kocache (France/Lebanon): art historian, curator and former programme manager at Ford Foundation.


• Neil MacGregor (Great Britain): director the British Museum.


• Paul Khera (Great Britain/Nepal): designer, photographer.


• Peter Schneider (Germany): author, debater.


• Stojan Pelko (Slovenia): philosopher, essayist, former Minister for Culture in Slovenia.


• Vibeke Windeløv (Denmark): film producer, owner of Windelov Productions.


• James Marsh (Great Britain): film director.

Read more and also press release on Team Culture 2012

Read article in The Guardian: Europe's artists can make sense of the chaos and create hope

Denmark currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Jan-Jun 2012)

Image: Ole Hein Pedersen © 2006 – 2011 Olafur Eliasson see KNSTRCT for more images of Copenhagen's Danish Art Museum.