Introduction
Introduction Subjective Atlas by Annelys de Vet

Everything used to be different, and will be, tomorrow. The subjective ‘Atlas of the European Union, from an Estonian point of view’ is a compilation of current thougths and views of more than thirty young designers, or ‘image-makers’, who are trained to make complex information transparent. They have used their own stories to create new images.

I’m convinced of the need of creating personal images of and for Europe. The EU as such is intangible, the information produced too abstract. Of course there is not one single image of Europa. It’s outlook is an everchanging and endless collection of images. The EU is not just the administrators in Brussels or the politicians in Strasbourg. It is ‘us’, you and me, and so many others.

The true Europe is based on culture. Different cultures, subcultures, old and new cultures. And to feel attached to our own culture and the one of others we need to distinguish and preserve the differences.

Let’s tell each other what we think, who we are and what we’re like. We have to retell the stories over and over again, construct new narratives. Not in order to change, but to be able to exchange our alternating perceptions of cultural concepts, and to stay at a safe distance of the magnetic fields of mass media.