Project Heracles #1

Last May, inspired by an email exchange between philosophers Lieven De Cauter and Dieter Lesage, Domus invited readers to send in their ideas for possible ways to connect the European and African continents across the Strait of Gibraltar. The results range in scale—and feasibility—from a simple cablecar to a giant floating Mediterranean city, frequently questioning the troubled history of the relationship between the two continents.

As a postcard is not suited to exposing a project but only to capturing an idea in an image, I drifted towards the stronger images. LDC

As a Belgian, I feel tempted to address a direct question to the European president, who also happens to be Belgian: Dear Mr Herman Van Rompuy, what are you waiting for in order to develop a plan for a hospitable entrance and gateway to Europe on the Eurafrican border? You might want to have a look at all the suggestions many people have made for the Heracles Project. Thank you and thanks to everyone who has contributed. DL

Cable-Car
This is a very poetic, light and picturesque image. At first sight it seems almost feasible. But, as the texts explains, for each visitor who enters, another one must leave, for that's how it works with cable-cars. It is a painful mechanism in today's perspective. At once wishful thinking, and a mirror of our vain migration stop. LDC

Eurafrican airship
Does the "bridge" between Africa and Europe need to be a physical bridge? There are a lot of critical issues to be raised against a physical bridge. This contribution is particularly polemical about it, and makes the point very well. At the same time, it still proposes a physical link, but using other means. The airship seems to be a feasible and ecological possibility in order to link Africa and Europe. If you think that there are so many dumb tourist attractions around Europe using airships or balloons, this airship concept is a very interesting and political one. DL

Who's Behind Bars?
More of a T-shirt than a postcard, yet I kind of like it. Who's behind bars? It's a simple reversal, but still a good question. LDC

Frontier Fun Park
I like the hybrid nature of this proposal. At first it looks like an airship, but then we understand that it is in fact a cable-car. Again, in this proposal, a device that is mainly in use at tourist destinations is put to work at a sensitive geographical spot. One could presume a deeper sense to the suggestion, repeated in several contributions to the Heracles Project, that the Strait of Gibraltar should be conceived of as an "attraction". Why indeed would one not restyle this frontier as a fun zone, rather than a war zone. However, that is what it is now. DL

Swimming Pool
A Koolhaasian solution for Europeans, but alas not for Africans (as the majority of them don't swim). LDC

Harsh Reality
This proposal sheds light on the harsh reality of the militarisation of the Mediterranean, and is all the more truthful since the beginning of the Libyan War. Rather than dreaming of the Strait of Gibraltar as a yet to be developed fun zone, entertainment park or whatever, it zooms in, literally, on the need to engage in an active struggle against the militarisation of the Mediterranean. As long as the Mediterranean is as militarised as it is now, the idea of a bridge between Africa and Europe will remain a nice dream. DL

Eurafrican Roundabout
The Eurafrican Roundabout is a sublime yet ironical image, hard to capture in words. It suggests traffic yet it is land art, a sort of geological wedding ring, uniting the continents that are so far apart. This is the only project that plays well on the fact that the continents were once one. The invitation on the backside for a visit to this new paradise adds to the charm. LDC

Immigration Reform
This proposal is probably a very reformist one, although not very revolutionary, but nonetheless necessary. It engages in detailed thinking of how the existing illegal immigration into Europe can be supported. The criminalisation of immigration for economic reasons should stop, all the more so in a capitalist society, which hails the benefit of free enterprise. Why, precisely in capitalism, are some people not allowed to be capitalists? The reason, of course, is that capitalism is a state-supported game. If one day the state fails, or rather the whole state system fails, capitalism will fail too. So the true anxiety of the game players is not that one player might not be able to play any longer, but that the whole game will be deserted. Toughness on immigration has to do with the anxiety that the state, whose prime function is to support capitalism, will no longer be able to support the beloved game. DL