Limes and the invasions
exhibition of the artworks produced in the artistic residencies of the B # Side War Festival, 6th edition
B#Side War was created in 2014 as a widespread cultural and artistic event, with the aim of investigating the legacies and heritage of the world wars and wars of the twentieth century conflicts to the new generations.
From the first events in Italy and Slovenia, during its first five editions, the festival quickly found its ideal form, extending between the Adriatic Sea, the Karst and the Julian Alps – the territory of choice – and then spreading the events all over the world, creating experimental artistic interventions that act on memory and history, which aim to encourage people to approach our shared wartime past, aiming to bring reflection back to today’s world through the investigation of disastrous legacies , of the ruptures and legacies of the wars that have affected the world over the course of the century. The festival is based on the idea that the strong symbolic and significant power of contemporary arts can help to explore the depths of our individual and collective consciousness, dissolving the trauma of war (which is silently and unconsciously transmitted from generation to generation) and bringing us into contact with the human experience of those who have lived through the conflict.
The 6th edition of the festival focuses on the geo-political characteristics of Friuli Venezia Giulia that have led its territory to serve as the geographical and cultural border between the “east” and the “west” of the world, starting from the times of the barbaric invasions. From the time of the Roman occupation, the Goths and the Huns, different cultures, coming from the other side of the natural watershed constituted by the Alps and the Karst, had access to the Italian peninsula, passing through the metaphorical gates and passages that the territory offered (Lombards, Franks, Turks, even the Cossacks in 1944-45), allowing the stratification of a historical legacy that has characterized our identity even in the context of modern history, world conflicts and up to the Balkan conflict – even giving rise to a its preventive militarization in the years of the Berlin Wall, the last moment in which the invasive threat was perceived as pressing on the Friulian-Julian border by the populations of the continent.
Through a system of artistic residences on the regional territory, between December 2019 and September 2020, international artists were involved in the research and creation of new art works based on the history and memory of the place, actively involving citizens in workshops and participatory art activities. Examining the past of the region, especially in the border areas, the artists, who in their countries had experiences and identities based on the topic of the border and invasion, explored the history and cultural heritage of the area, aiming to cultivate a culture of peace, but above all the cultural richness of the region.
In the exhibition, artworks by: Alice Mestriner & Had Moslemi (Iran, Italy), Barbara Mydlak (Poland), Carmela Cosco (Italy), Nantia Skordoupoulou (Greece)
EVENTS AND VERNISSAGE:
- The exhibition opens on 15 January 2021 @ the Cantori gallery, in the heart of Trieste (Via Francesco Crispi, 28, 34125 Trieste) from 6.00 pm to 9.00 pm. Admission by reservation only, to avoid gatherings. Please write to info@iodeposito.org, or to magdalena.dokowska@iodeposito.org;
- Saturday 16 January, free guided tours upon reservation, from 3.00 pm
- Also on Saturday 16 January, at 6.00 pm, Carmela Cosco’s performance “Luce al Kita” (free admission, by reservation);
- On Saturdays of 23 and 30 January from 15.00 to 19.00, free guided tours by reservation
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ARTWORKS SYNOPSIS AND THE ARTISTS PROFILES:
ALBERO A GOMITI by Alice Mestriner & Ahad Moslemi
THE WINDOW by Nantia Skordoupoulou
The exhibition takes place in partnership with the Trieste Film Festival, and with funding from the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
