TRANSEUROPA 2019. Why Beyond the Wall
Every city is a community by itself, wrote Aristotle, thus revealing one of the great tensions that still accompanies us today: that between the universalism of notions such as humanity and justice and the often exclusive character of the polis, a space defined through contrast with those who have no right of citizenship.
Each border draws a line of demarcation that simultaneously includes and excludes: it identifies the us, the space of familiarity and solidarity, and the other, the space of estrangement and indifference.
Is it however possible to establish a political community on the transcendence of the wall? Is it possible to solve what Zygmunt Bauman considered the challenge of our time, namely “to plan – for the first time in human history – an integration that is no longer based on separation”? Is it possible to imagine a space that is always already overcoming itself; a space of multiplicity, where a plurality of borders intertwine and question each other, within and beyond every frontier?
This is, on closer inspection, a condition that we already find today in a city like Palermo: the centre of the Mediterranean; a cultural and political connector between continents boasting a transcultural and intersectional vocation lived in a completely compromising way. A microcosm crossed by contradictions and conflicts, experiences and stories that are absolutely irreducible to a single identity.
And so: what lies beyond the border?
Visit the website
Visit the official website for this edition and find out everything that happened that year.
Journal
The official journal of the exhibition. It brings together texts, interviews, and manifestos by the artists, activists, and scholars who participated in it
Programme
The full program: all the events, workshops, discussions, and concerts scheduled over the days of the festival.
Videos
Photos
A visual journey through the festival: performances, discussions, workshops, and the moments that brought the festival to life.