The basic purpose of the European Media Art Platform (EMAP) program is to enable European artists to collaborate on projects and consequently to create closer bonds between European media organisations. The unification and extension of Europe, triggered by the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, has created new problems to be faced as well as new opportunities for cooperation and exchange. This period of transition has been characterized on the one hand, by the challenge to become more ‘European’– which generally has meant, more homogenous – and, on the other, by a desire to define what constitutes national and regional identity, in order both to retrieve a sense of traditional cultures, now lost; and to consider how respective national and cultural identities might enrich and enhance one another, as opposed to being divisive.
