EU BARCODE, NETHERLANDS, ROTTERDAM, 2001

In May 2001, following the treaty of Nice in which Brussels was formally appointed capital of the European Union, the president of the European Commission Romano Prodi and Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt invited AMO to join a group of intellectuals for a series of brainstorm sessions on the needs and functions of a European capital and how these could be best expressed in Brussels.

AMO addressed Europe's presence in Brussels through the architecture of its institutions, but also went a step further, addressing Europe's representation at large: its symbols, the visual language of its communiqués, its media presence etc... AMO criticized Europe's representations as mute, limp, anti modern and totally ineffective in an age dominated by mass media. They went on further to suggest a direct relation between the absence of a visual language, described as 'Europe's iconographic deficit,' and a widespread ignorance about Europe's causes among the general public.

As food for thought to the brainstorm sessions, AMO made an attempt at developing such a visual language that was exclusively associated with Europe, conveying Europe's essential idea in a direct and powerful way. This operation resulted in a series of illustrations or rather 'image-bites,' of which the barcode is one. The barcode merges the flags of current EU member states into a single colourful symbol. It intends to represent the essence of the European project, showing Europe as the common effort of different nation states, with each state retaining its own cultural identity while sharing the advantages of acting together.

Whereas the number of stars on the current EU flag is fixed, the barcode can be expanded with new members joining the EU.

After 2003…
The barcode has been featured in a number of prominent European newspapers, mistakenly touting it as the new European flag to replace the current twelve gold stars. This, however, was certainly not the idea behind its conception. The barcode was merely a suggestion for an extra symbol, parallel to the existing EU symbols, to bring Europe in a new way to new audiences. The joining of ten new members to the EU in 2004 resulted in a first official 'update'of the barcode. The Austrian EU Presidency of 2006 marked the first official use of the barcode. AMO designed the visual identity for the Austrian EU Presidency that took place from January 2006 – July 2006. The design, which is based on the barcode, resulted in various 'barcoded' items ranging from coffee mugs to trains and was prominently used at various summit meetings.

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