September 13, 2004: Today Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, opened the special exhibition "The Image of Europe", a pop-art collage on display in a tent outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. The exhibit will be open to the public until the end of November and is sponsored jointly by the current Dutch presidency of the European Council and the European Commission.

According to information from the Dutch EU Council presidency, the goal of the exhibition is "to show the way in which Europe is represented through words and symbols." A main thrust of the exhibit is to demonstrate "the enormous and unexplored potential of the image of Europe" by using forceful symbols. Special attention is given to "contrasting perceptions by confronting Europeans with the views of non-Europeans." The exhibit narrates 50 years of EU history and projects events into the future in an unusually frank display of European self-perception and ambition.

Segments of the pop-art collage stretched across 80 yards of canvas predict that the 21st century will be the "European Century" as the European Union is pictured as expanding its borders to North Africa, the Middle East and into Eurasia. One of the segment headings is titled "Roman Empire returns" and predicts that the EU will one day simply be called "The Union" after it grows to include 50 countries in the coming 30 years. In addition, the euro is pictured as breaking the "overbearing monopoly of the dollar" by 2010, helped by China and India switching their currency reserves from U.S. dollar holdings to euro deposits to punish the United States for its huge budget deficit.

Another prediction made in the collage is that the United Nations headquarters will be moved to Gibraltar as the EU defends the international order against the "American onslaught." One segment of the exhibit pictures the United States as a weak superpower: "The lonely superpower can bribe, bully or impose its will almost anywhere in the world, but when its back is turned, its policy is weakened." In contrast, the EU of the 21st century will eventually dominate world affairs through its vast "legal and moral reach." In a disclaimer, the Dutch EU Council presidency states that the exhibit "speculates about its [EU] possible future."

World renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed the exhibit, which in his words attempts "to communicate Europe to its citizens." In his depiction of the current 25 states of the EU, Koolas combined images of porn stars, pop stars and political leaders in a deliberate attempt to sketch the schizophrenic condition of Europe today. "We are operating in a field that is polarised by extreme vulgarity, hedonism, shamelessness and market driven modernisation," he commented.