Brexit Tour - MOVED TO 15 MAY

BECAUSE OF LOCKDOWN, THIS TOUR IS MOVED TO SUNDAY 21 FEB AT 11AM - NEXT MONTH

This walk looks at the cultural dialogue between Great Britain and Vienna, which may be lost in the future, after Brexit.

Brexit is one of the key developments this year. No country has ever left the European Union, and all eyes are on Britain and its disengagement from the trade, travel, political and cultural commitments it has with Brussels.

As a passionate European, but also a Brit, space and place co-founder Eugene Quinn has a special interest in this subject. What happens next will affect him and millions of others - Europeans living in UK and British people who live across the Union. He finds that Brits make the mistake of viewing Europe as an economic project, ignoring the cultural, health, peace, sport, arts, education, travel and dialogue dynamics of contemporary European Union relations.

To mark this bizarre event, Eugene invites you to visit British art and architecture, look at pubs, football, media and some people from the island who have made a new life in Central Europe.

It's also interesting to explore how Austria has influenced the UK, with good music, art, philosophy and ideas. Also food, refugees, and the Freud family legacy.

The most visible British exports are pop music and the English language. FM4 employs 14 British moderators and DJs. Films like The Third Man present an outsiders' view of Vienna, and helped to romanticise this city in the USA. Here is a useful summary of what the film says to the Anglosphere about Vienna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iidNmjeKMs

We will discuss how the EU changes without any influence from London. Global players like Banksy, Adele and Neil Gaiman help to present a certain kind of youthful cool. Which country will step up to take the place of these iconic figures?

Humour is a notable British export. Which other EU nation can provide the clowny behaviour we see in so many photos of Boris Johnson? Here is a quick reminder that we Brits can turn anything into a joke, including leaving Europe (for those of you unfamiliar with the diversity of British-English, comedian John Oliver comes from Birmingham, in west England, but broadcasts for the American channel HBO):

The UK has been responsible for much innovation with global consequences, from the industrial revolution and trains, Parliamentary democracy and electricity, to telephones and the internet. Will Europe miss that? Or does the EU have a brighter, more unified future without those irritating British, refusing to join in with the Brussels party?

Eugene understands this walk as a kind of protest therapy, where he can show that not all Brits are as cynical or uninformed as our Government, about what Europe means, and the rich vitality that comes from migration, diversity, curiosity and cross-cultural engagement. And some people are treating this walk as a demonstration to show that we want more Europe, not less.

PLEASE NOTE WE JUST ADDED AN EXTRA EVENT ON BREXIT NIGHT, 31 JANUARY 2020, WHERE EUGENE WILL DJ ONLY COOL BRITISH MUSIC IN A PUB (THE TUBE STATION, IN LANDSTRASSE). PLEASE JOIN US THERE FOR FREE, FROM 5-MIDNIGHT).

Walk language: English (of course - most Brits speak only one language and this is part of the problem in terms of a lack of understanding of the Euro perspective). And yes, if you are a teacher, you can also arrange this walk for your students, as an open-air English lesson.

Time: 10:30 on Saturday 9th January, 2021, 9 days after the real BREXIT. The walk will end in a pub, of course.