mare/Sat., 15 November 2025 – Sat., 7 February 2026
Through the Prism of Borders
Episode 3: An Exhibition Across Four Museums and Public Spaces in Bolzano
Where Bolzano / Bozen, BZ ’18–’45 Exhibition Trail within the Victory Monument, Eurac Research, Mercantile Museum, Bolzano Civic Museum, South Tyrol Museum of Natural History
Curated by
Katia Anguelova, Angelika Burtscher, Marion OberhoferAs part of
Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies (B-SHAPES), Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action projectArtists
Pamela Dodds, Esra Ersen, Missirkov/Bogdanov, Ivan Moudov, Karin Schmuck, ZimmerFrei (Anna de Manincor)Save the date!
Opening: 15 November 2025, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Meeting: 10:00 a.m. at the Civic Museum
Itinerary: Civic Museum → Mercantile Museum → Museum of Natural Sciences → Exhibition route at the Victory Monument → Eurac Research (with final refreshment)
From November 15, 2025, to February 7, 2026, Lungomare presents in Bolzano Through the Prism of Borders, a dispersed exhibition spanning four museums and public and poster spaces across the city. The traveling exhibition, whose previous stage was at the National Museum of History in Sofia, and was conceived by Lungomare as part of the European research program B-Shapes – Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies. The exhibition, the result of a three-year artistic and curatorial research project, investigates the multiple meanings of borders and their political, spatial, and personal narratives. The works of seven artists and collectives address issues related to migration, collective memory, identity, and the relationship with landscape.
The exhibition gathers for the first time the artistic works produced in the two border regions, in a route across four city museums, the Eurac Research square, and urban poster surfaces. Furthermore, the exhibition in Bolzano presents for the first time in Europe the drawing series Documenting Border Barriers by Canadian artist Pamela Dodds, along with a work by South Tyrolean artist Karin Schmuck, from the series opposites, created at the Italy–Austria border.
Pamela Dodds
at the Documentary Exhibition at the Victory Monument
Documenting Border Barriers(2021–2024) shows the increasing construction of physical barriers at borders worldwide. The print series, exhibited in the museum crypt, turns elements such as barbed wire, cement, and steel into symbols of institutionalized violence. The series highlights both the material and symbolic effects of borders.
Esra Ersen
at the Civic Museum
The Travelling Monument (2025) is a counter-monument commemorating those who lost their lives fleeing the Eastern Bloc by crossing the Bulgarian border. The photo series, propaganda material from Bulgarian state archives, and a model for a counter-monument question institutionalized forms of collective memory. The works are exhibited on the 4th floor of the museum.
Ivan Moudov
at the Museum of Natural Sciences, in front of Eurac Research, and on urban poster spaces
Repellent B-Shapes (2025) intertwines the border landscape with its natural resources and is presented in a diorama at the Museum of Natural Sciences.
Border Flowers (2025) creates landscapes from plastic waste and occupies three public poster spaces in the city.
Sound Flags (2025), created in collaboration with Sibin Vassilev, is an AI-driven work that transforms images of flags into sound. This work is broadcast every hour in the Eurac Research square.
Karin Schmuck
at the Mercantile Museum
The series Opposites (2020–2024), part of Karin Schmuck’s long-term project Limitis., explores the Alps from a cross-border perspective. A diptych from the series, installed in the courtyard of the Mercantile Museum, conceives the border as a space of possibility and critical reflection, in which territoriality, identity, and belonging are questioned and negotiated. Walking, observing, and photographing become a bodily discourse on these themes.
Zorka Wollny
at the Mercantile Museum
With the project Polska : Česko | Sound Match, Zorka Wollny and Martin Dytko worked with young adults on the soundscape of the divided city of Cieszyn/Český Těšín. Through a co-creative process, they explored border practices in everyday life. The voice- and sound-based research conceives the border area as a space for encounter, interaction, and exchange. The work is presented in two parts – a filmic documentation of the performance and a sound installation – in the museum cellar.
ZimmerFrei (Anna de Manincor)
at the Museum of Natural Sciences
The Answer is Out There is a video and audio installation based on extensive research in the border region between Bulgaria and Turkey. Using the documentary medium, the artist interweaves continuous images of landscapes, nature indifferent to borders, with intimate stories of people living there The work is presented on the 1st floor of the museum.
Guided Tours
Katia Anguelova – Independent curator. Her research focuses on collaborative practices, oral narration, and interventions in public space.
Angelika Burtscher – Curator and co-director of Lungomare. She works in the fields of art, design, and urban space and is actively involved in transdisciplinary projects such as FLUX – River Explorations and Actions.
Marion Oberhofer – Curator at the Museum of Technology in Vienna. Her work focuses on artistic and scientific practices related to climate, memory, and decolonial perspectives.
Inauguration and Guided Tour of Exhibition 1
(with closing refreshments)
When: Saturday, 15 November 2025, 10:00–14:00 — departure at 10:00 from the Civic Museum
Tour route: Civic Museum → Mercantile Museum → Museum of Natural Science → Exhibition Path in the Victory Monument → Eurac Research
Guides: all artists and curators of the project
The Institute for Minority Rights (Eurac Research) is an interdisciplinary centre dedicated to the protection of minorities, autonomy, and the governance of diversity. Based in Bolzano/Bozen, it recognizes South Tyrol’s diversity — its autonomy and minority rights system — as a foundation for research and as a reference point for providing international expertise on minority issues. The Institute is a partner of B-Shapes – Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies.
Guided Tour of Exhibition 2
When: Saturday, 13 December 2025, 10:00–13:00 — departure at 10:00 from Eurac Research
Tour route: Eurac Research → Mercantile Museum → Exhibition Path in the Victory Monument
Guides: Researchers from the Institute for Minority Rights (Eurac Research)
Rotte Balcaniche is an informal collective of activists committed to supporting people on the move along the Balkan routes, collecting testimonies and documenting police violence at Europe’s borders, while mobilising civil society around migration-related issues.
Guided Tour of Exhibition 3
When: Saturday, 17 January 2026, 10:00–13:00 — departure at 10:00 from the Exhibition Path in the Victory Monument
Tour route: Exhibition Path in the Victory Monument → Civic Museum → South Tyrol Museum of Natural Science
Guide: Rotte Balcaniche
Ingrid Kofler is Associate Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the Faculty of Design and Art, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. She teaches in the Master in Eco-Social Design and the Bachelor in Design. Her research interests include culture, identity, borders, future studies, globalisation, social change, and eco-social transformation.
Guided Tour of Exhibition 4
When: Saturday, 7 February 2026, 10:00–13:00 — departure at 10:00 from the Museum of Natural Science
Tour route: Museum of Natural Science → Mercantile Museum → Civic Museum
Guide: Ingrid Kofler
Other Activities
Anna Tudos has extensive experience as a social researcher and in the cultural sector, working as a facilitator, curator, and coordinator of participatory projects. Her work explores contemporary artistic positions related to physical and mental health, social relations in urban playgrounds, food systems, and the creation of creative spaces from an ecological perspective.
Zine-Making Workshop
with Anna Tudos
When: 16 January 2026, 16:30–18:00
Where: Lungomare, Rafensteinstr. 12
Book Presentations: Limitis and Through the Prism of Borders
With: Katia Anguelova, Angelika Burtscher, Sabine Gamper, Karin Schmuck
When: 20 January 2026, 19:00
Where: Lungomare, Rafensteinstr. 12
Francesca Berardi – Senior Content Producer and writer.
A journalist based between Turin and New York, she fell in love with podcasts while cycling along the Hudson River, listening to Serial and the voices of Radiotopia. She has worked for major international radio stations and publications, producing audio stories and urban documentaries.
Stefano Bernardi – Sound worker, musician, and sound designer.
Trained at the Zelig School in Bolzano, he works in creative documentary as a sound technician and designer of soundscapes. He collaborates with filmmakers, architects, and design studios, creating interactive installations combining sound, material, and perception.
Bordercast: Words on the Border | Podcasting Workshop
When: 19 November, 20 December, and 13 January — full day
Where: Casa Goethe / Radio Tandem
A creative workshop for young people aged 18–25 who wish to learn how to produce a podcast exploring the theme of borders — personal, emotional, social, cultural, and physical. Together, participants will delve into the concepts of limits, protection, opportunity, and crossing, creating stories through interviews and collective narration.
Project by: Geographer Kolar Aparna and artist Beatrice Catanzaro
Text by: Elena Pugliese
Produced by: Lungomare, within the framework of the 2016–2017 Artist-in-Residence research project
You are but you are not
Reactivation of the Walk
A trilingual audio guide that accompanies listeners on a real walk through Bolzano, from the railway station to Rosegger Park — a sound journey on the themes of borders and hospitality.
Starting point: Platform 3, Bolzano Railway Station
Practical advice: For an optimal experience, please bring headphones.
Listening: The audio guide is available at the following link.
