R.E.D. Carpet (Reframing the European Dream)

R.E.D. (Reframing the European Dream) Carpet was born from the collaboration between the research team of the Departments of Sociology and Business Law and of Psychology at the University of Bologna, and the artists Sara Pour and Pietro Floridia together with Cantieri Meticci, a collective of actors and actresses from more than twenty countries around the world.

The project is carried out within the framework of PERCEPTIONS – “Understand the Impact of Novel Technologies, Social Media, and Perceptions in Countries Abroad on Migration Flows and the Security of the EU & Provide Validated Counter Approaches, Tools, and Practices”.

A red carpet – a symbol of welcome and hospitality – that transforms into an interactive, physical, and digital device, travelling through various European cities. Through their smartphones, visitors are invited to open new windows onto Europe and the people who inhabit it. In the twelve central rosettes that make up the carpet, metaphorical and polysemic images emerge, inspired by themes that surfaced during interviews conducted in Italy by the research teams of the Universities of Bologna and Rome “La Sapienza”.

Around the carpet, a constellation of QR codes invites spectators to explore the perceptions that migrants have of Europe – before and after their arrival – as well as those of the people who work daily in reception processes: social workers, law enforcement officers, and policy-makers. The performances of the theatre company Cantieri Meticci guide the audience through an experiential and participatory journey, inviting them to retrace the steps of migrants and to interweave perspectives and narratives that together shape the Europe we co-inhabit.