“Many people think that life in Europe is a luxury. But this is not true.”

The international team showed us a video performance at the end of the firstday of the conference Translating Worlds. The artists touched comple issue of refugees and attitude to them in Europe. €urovisions Performance was created two years ago and is particularly topic today.

On the screen appeared shots from TV shows and documentary chronicles. Musicians mixed music, streetsounds and voice narration. Initially there were stories of refugees from Afghanistan, Africa, Syria. Then comes the police chronicle: the story of the fisherman who became a migrant smuggler and dangerous refugee hideout under the bottom of a truck. At any moment they can fall out and get under the wheels of a truck.

Europe continues to build fences around them, to tighten passport control and methods of identification, to protect the luxurious life of the rich Europeans. No one wants to ignore the problems of refugees. No one wants to help them. It is easier to tighten entry at the border. However, this does not work, because the refugees mainly come illegally.

“Refugees do not have shelter, and sometimes food and water. And just die. Officials have no time for us, “- says an illegal refugee from Africa.

Those who came to the camp is not too sweet. Beds in three stories filled with refugees, they even sleep under the beds and conditions of life are the terrible. High fence isolating huge numbers of people in one place, making them just wait.

We must understand that the most important for us is humanism.

“Many people think that life in Europe is a luxury. But this is not true. This is not like in the TV show. It’s the stage. I was there, and it hard, “- says one refugee from Africa.

I took the feedback from participants of the conference about the performance.

«It is a really new way. I saw the courage of refugees. It was impressive for me, how five people can hide under the track, -Dora, Berlin.

“It’s for people who are more accustomed to this video consciousness. I liked the part of the documentary, as well as the visual component. But I think it’s not quite the right approach to represent the problems of refugees “- Arthur, Moscow.

“I think, this film is selected for a specific audience, probably the youth, who are not interested in news. The main task – is to interest and attract attention. Such video consciousness is inherent for the young people. It is just present in this live cinema performance”, – Oksana, Moscow.

€urovisions performance at the conference “Translating Worlds – Explorations on Foreign Reporting in Times of Crisis” Betahaus, Berlin, 19 – 21 November, video, text & photo credits: Vdovenko Mikolai.