Abstract
The unprecedented increase in refugee and migrant arrivals in Europe since 2015 has been one of the most pressing challenges facing European policymakers in recent times. It has also profoundly unsettled European societies, prompting deep questions about national identity and cultural membership. It has taken nearly a decade for the EU to develop a New Pact on Migration and Asylum which is applicable to all member states. Despite significant tensions between the security imperatives of member states and international humanitarian obligations, compromise and consensus-building was eventually achieved and the Pact was formally introduced in June 2026 (European Commission Citation2026). The consequences of a decade of Europe’s attempts to respond to mass migration have extended well beyond institutional and legal frameworks. The sheer scale of displacement and the human cost (as seen on the example, in the Mediterranean crossing) exposed the incompatibility between political and legal frameworks, and the lived experience of those seeking safety (UNHCR Citation2015). During this long period of policy negotiation and political contestation, migrants and refugees continued to navigate their paths through European legal and socio-political landscapes, marking their presence, demanding understanding and recognition, and contributing to the cultural fabric of the continent.
Immigration has been a central focus in European public discourse, dominating elections, referenda, and media discussions about European integration and identity. It also entered the realm of culture and art, not only unsettling comfortable assumptions about what European culture is and who it belongs to but also reshaping the agenda of major art institutions and festivals. One of the world’s largest and most prestigious exhibitions of contemporary art, Documenta, made the tension between the political establishment and the lived experience of the displaced, the organising premise of its 14th edition in 2017. The exhibition divided its programme between Kassel, where it has been staged since 1955, and Athens, a city at the sharp end of the European debt crisis and the refugee emergency. The decision by director, Adam Szymczyk, to position Athens as an equal centre of European cultural production rather than its periphery was motivated by aesthetic and political reasons. Documenta 14 was a provocation that asked whether Europe could honestly confront and accept the heightened borders, unjust exclusions and power asymmetries that mass migration was making visible.