Each year, the European Union designates one or more cities as European Capitals of Culture with the aim of bringing Europeans closer together and highlighting the richness and diversity of the continent’s cultures. The project was conceived by Greece’s former minister of culture Melina Mercouri and her French counterpart Jack Lang in 1985. By emphasising the importance of art and culture in the project of European integration, both politicians underlined the argument that Europe’s dream of union should take shape beyond a one-sided focus on economics and financial benefits. In 1993 the city of Antwerp campaigned as Europe’s Capital of Culture with the memorable slogan ‘Can Art Save the World?’ This was shortly after the shattering victory of the far-right nationalist party Vlaams Blok, which openly advocated the repatriation of all immig…
