Opening of the final exhibition of the cross-border project Peripheral Visions – Art and History on the Border
On 17 December 2025, the final exhibition of the cross-border project Peripheral Visions – Art and History on the Border opened at the renovated Palazzo Paternolli in Gorizia, Italy. The project was carried out as part of the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025.
The project was prepared, in cooperation with IoDeposito organisation, by the Graduate School of the University of Nova Gorica, within the study programme in Cultural Heritage Studies under the leadership of Marco Acri, MA.
The concluding event was marked by the opening of the exhibition of art residences, created by an international group of artists: Ana Vujović, Neja Tomšič, Jatun Risba, Alice Mestriner & Ahad Moslemi, Andreja Kargačin, Hugo Kabeya, Joseph Cochran, Claudio Beorchia and Manca Bajec. Their work probes into the outskirts as a geographical, social and symbolic space in which borders are not set up as dividers but rather as fields of encounters and co-existence.
Rector of the University of Nova Gorica, Prof. Dr. Boštjan Golob, pointed out on this occasion that art and research residences play an exceptionally important role in the development of universities and their surrounding, as they enable an intensive exchange of knowledge, creativity and, at the same time, establish long-term cooperation with the international environment. He also emphasised the key role of the Small Project Fund Interreg project programme, which also co-financed the Peripheral Visions project, as they connect the university and local space and encourage interdisciplinary and innovative developmental practice. According to professor Golob, connecting science and art is an important driving force of a responsible and dynamic university development.
The Peripheral Visions project has, within the art and research residences, for the first connected art practices and studies of cultural heritage at the cross border area of Italian Gorizia and Slovenian Gorica. According to Annalie Boldrin, head of the project, the project views the realm of outskirts and border as a space of possibilities, dialogue and new perspectives. Art residences have connected international artists with the local environment, and have encouraged research into contemporary social and cultural issues, while contemporary art strengthens across the border cooperation and mutual creativity.
Within the exhibition, a project named Mejniki / Pietre Miliari / Milestones was also presented; it was curated by Prof. Dr. Saša Dobričič from the University of Nova Gorica. The project developed a series of finely measured elements of urban equipment, interpreted by artists Tom Kerševan and Manca Bajec in cooperation with the local entrepreneurs. Milestones were also created for the GO! Kaki project, which was led by the School of Art of the University of Nova Gorica (within the official Europan capital of culture programme); the milestones will be placed near the Kaki – Tree of life. The milestones which are to be inserted into the space between Nova Gorica and Gorizia connect, symbolically and physically, the two towns, highlighting the central theme of the European Capital of Culture 2025 – GO! BORDERLESS.
The Peripheral Visions exhibition at the rennovated facilities of Palazzo Paternolli establishes the realm of outskirts as a space of dialogue, listening and mutual consideration concerning identity, landscape, ecology and potential future of the across the border urban space.
Andreja Leban, Public Relations
