The multimedia travelling exhibition ‘The New Marshall Plan Europe 1948/2018 – Memories, Discoveries, Lessons’ will be on display at the Kleve campus from 28 November to 20 December 2018.
The idea of a united Europe is currently in crisis. However, proposals such as a new joint initiative – for example, an investment programme in the form of a ‘new Marshall Plan’ – often remain superficial and lacking in substance. This is partly because we seem to have forgotten how to communicate such a vision to the public.
Against this backdrop, Radboud University in Nijmegen is organising a travelling exhibition entitled ‘The New Marshall Plan 1948/2018 – Memories, Discoveries, Lessons’. The multimedia exhibition forms part of a larger, multinational research project at the university and aims to help sharpen our critical understanding of the visual language used to accompany the United States’ European reconstruction programme following the Second World War (1948–1952). In particular, it seeks to highlight the ‘stories’ used at the time to convey the vision of a new, democratic Europe to the public. The exhibition draws on remarkable archive material from the period of post-Second World War reconstruction. It focuses on the visual language and aesthetics of the materials circulated as part of the historic Marshall Plan. The aim of these materials was to translate the abstract ideas and ideals of the initiative into concrete and easily understandable messages.
From 28 November to 20 December 2018, the exhibition will also be on display at the Kleve campus of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in the foyer of the Audimax (Building 01). An entertaining and interesting programme of events has been specially organised for the opening on 28 November 2018 at 7.00 pm: The long-forgotten Marshall Plan opera ‘La Sterlina Dollarosa’ from 1949 will have its staged premiere, featuring soprano Deborah Cole (USA), tenor Gerald van Gemert (Netherlands), Frank Mehring (Netherlands) and pianist Jens Barnieck (Germany), together with the RWTH Aachen University big band and the choir of the Gesamtschule am Forstgarten in Kleve. This lively opera was written by Alfred Friendly, head of the Marshall Plan Information Division in Paris, and draws musically on popular songs from the 1920s to the 1940s to cast an ironic and satirical eye on the aspirations and realities of the Marshall Plan.
The event offers a blend of musical entertainment and political analysis. Between the musical performances, Professor Dr Frank Mehring, Professor of American Studies at Radboud University, Professor Dr Emanuel Richter, Professor of Political Science specialising in Political Systems and Comparative Politics at RWTH Aachen University, and Professor Dr Alexander Brand, Professor of Political Science specialising in International Relations at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, will discuss the topic ‘Politics in 2018 – Germany and the USA’.
In addition, on 12 December 2018 at 6.00 pm, Professor Mehring will give a lecture on the topic at the Kleve Campus, in the Lecture Theatre Centre, Room 01 01 006 (Lecture Theatre 3), and will lead a guided tour of the exhibition.
