Café Europa / Mons 3.69

Because the virtual world should not be only the preserve of computers, Mons 2015 will attempt to bring it into the real world through the social fabric in the Cafés Europa. As hyper-connectivity in the civil society can end up finally in separating people, Mons 2015 is strongly supporting the return of real social contact. Indeed, the more technologies evolve, the more people feel the need to return to what is essential, direct human contact, and not a virtual one. Is there a better place than a café to renew these links and rebuild the world?
A social haven par excellence, the café of 30 or 40 years ago was an engine of social integration, a rare place where aristocrats, middle classes and workers would mingle in a happy atmosphere, a very Belgian melting pot. The “People House” fashioned a collective identity. We must ask the question today whether the café still performs a strong social function or even works as a territorial marker.
By launching the concept of Café Europa, Mons 2015 hopes to bring back these emblematic places for meetings and exchanges and reinstate their stated role through the digital dimensions of accessibility, conviviality and fun.
Instead of providing a venue for card tournaments, the local Mutuelle office or bingo games, the Café Europa aims at understanding the digital world. It is a place where one can indeed have a drink, but also manipulate the new technologies such as 3D printing, networking and learn from other Europeans. More than a café, Café Europa is a new way of reaching out to others in a world where technology and life are one and where the word “network” will fully mean what it says.
Drawing from various backgrounds, these Cafés have been designed to be in phase with the times: sustainable, modular, interdisciplinary, mobile and connected.