The Paradox of Europe: Artistic Freedom, Democracy and Tolerance

Culture has a powerful potential to advance European values, which are central to our democratic societies. Together with Media and Academic Freedom, Artistic Freedom provides an essential counterweight to injustice and oppression, as well as raise awareness, challenge perceptions and stimulate public debates, in the EU as well as in candidate and potential candidate countries. Digital transformation, accelerated with the Covid 19 pandemic, is changing the way we participate in cultural life. Stripped down to cultural products and devoid of larger social and communal experiences, access to digitised culture is a click away. However, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) ruling the Internet are neither fair nor neutral. On the contrary, they often reproduce and even amplify existing biases as algorithm learning depends on data. Algorithms that reflect certain biases (racial, gender or ideological) are shaping cultural production and consumption. Regarding the digital cultural production and dissemination, we need specific cultural policies that tackle the critical environmental toll of our current data ecosystem and imagine future sustainable technologies. A holistic strategy, as proposed by the Cultural Deal for Europe framework is needed, as this cultural dimension cannot be forgotten whenever we tackle the societal, environmental, and economic challenges that need transversal and multidisciplinary responses.