Another meeting, another colleague teaching me about “what is normal”. What normal people are. “If we want to communicate the European Parliament, we have to understand how normal people think.” Not again… 

Normal people = people outside the walls of the European Parliament. 

Scene 2: Brainstorming for normal people

I am a part of a brainstorming team brainstorming about viral videos that should spread the idea of the European elections through the net. 

We have an idea: let people explain Europe through their own eyes, in their own way, with their own mistakes…  

We need some details: the people. They are divided into three groups: dead people, celebrities and NORMAL people. 

Ola-Dele Kuku – Between The Lines 2008 Installation – Courtesy Musée d'Ixelles

We have the titles of the videos: 

Europe according to Sigmund Freud.

Europe according to George Clooney.

Europe according to a butcher. 

……

….

However, our ideas don’t get realized. They are on the way to being forgotten.

 Scene 3 = Scene 1 + Scene 2 = THIS POST

Well, if normal people exist only outside these walls, then I have plenty of them. 

I borrow Fred’s camera and call my friend Ola-dele Kuku. A real European: born in Great Britain, his roots in Nigeria, grew up in London, studied in L.A, lived in Switzerland, Milano…. Brussels. An architect, artist, researcher, sociologist… 

Ola-dele Kuku

Scene 4: Recording day with a normal person

On the day of recording, still perfectly opinionated in his Vivienne Westwood suit, Ola-dele gets shy.

 No cameras, please. 

So just a voice recording, that I have to transcribe after. Spoken like a true diva, but it’s my job to adapt to the whims of celebrities, MEPs and, yes, normal people.

Scene 5: Europe according to Ola-dele Kuku (normal person)

“What comes to mind is this title song from Kraftwerk: Trans-Europe Express.

Europeans were what the Africans, the Americans, the Asians saw. Those were Europeans, white people who arrived.

The two notions: Europe and European… there are two very prominent positions. It is not necessary that he who lives in Europe is European. That’s where very particular issues come from, especially with the new countries. 

In history, a European was someone that came from Europe, not really somebody living in Europe. When you live in Europe you are from Germany, you are from Britain… In Europe you don’t introduce yourself “Hi, I’m European”. Europeans were what the Africans, the Americans, the Asians saw. Those were Europeans, white people who arrived. When they came back here they were French, Portuguese or British. Outside, they were Europeans. 

So their European identity existed outside their borders, not inside their borders. The identity is more an external one. The European in Europe comes from a country which he is usually proud of. So he will say I am British. He will never say I am European. 

What is interesting about that is: there has been an evolution of Europe which starts to look like a kind of confinement. Europe is more defined as a place existing within defined borders. This is a little worrying for me. The new countries will never be Europeans, because they won’t have the chance to experience being European outside Europe. They live within the borders of Europe and this idea that Europeans live in Europe has been imposed on them. That is a total misconception. Europeans are people who come from Europe and have been able to establish socio-cultural and economic exchange with the world beyond their borders. So if they don’t have that, they can not achieve that.