Observing Walls: 1989-2019

Observing Walls: 1989-2019 Supported by the Europe for Citizens programme. Many walls were brought down, but new ones were raised instead, some of them deeply troubling our society.

The project OBSERVING WALLS: 1989-2019 focused on the walls in Europe – understood as a physical reality and as a symbol of division in divided cities: Berlin, Gorizia/Nova Gorica, and Sarajevo. The project was triggered by the realization that thirty years after the fall of the Berlin wall the process of democratisation of Europe failed to fully accomplish its goals. The project helped understand these facts and build a sense of community among the citizens.

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Observing Walls: 1989-2019

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin wall we can see that the processes of democratization and unification of Europe announced in the historical 1989 failed to fully accomplish its goals. Although many walls were brought down, new ones were raised instead, some of them still deeply troubling our society.

Co-funded by the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Union, the project OBSERVING WALLS: 1989-2019 will reflect on the issue of the wall understood both as a physical reality and a mental boundary in three European cities: Berlin, Gorizia and Sarajevo. The choice of the cities is driven by their unique but at the same time complementary experience of the wall. The once divided city of Berlin provides a good practice of how to constructively face one’s past, continuously trying to overcome mental barriers. Nicknamed “little Berlin” or “piccolo Berlino di casa nostra”, the divided city of Gorizia saw the suburbs cut off from the city proper when the line of demarcation was drawn between Yugoslavia and Italy in 1947. When the new countries joined the European Union in 2004, Gorizia’s Europe Square was chosen as the stage for the symbolic celebration. Titles such as “Europe’s last wall has fallen” proposed narratives of a new Europe, pacified and unified. However, invisible borders were traced throughout Sarajevo back in 1995, persisting to this very day, shaping the citizens’ understanding of the concepts of freedom, identity and democracy.

Bringing together partners from Bosnia and Hercegovina, Germany, Italy and Slovenia the project aims at reflecting the legacy of the three contested towns through the issue of the wall, highlighting national peculiarities and unearthing their common European value. In-depth historical reflections will be presented at ROUND TABLES and WORKSHOPS; ARCHIVES OF MEMORY will stimulate active participation of the civil society while the ONLINE CONTEST will activate young people to challenge the walls of intolerance, stereotypes and hatred. The material gathered will appear in BOOK form and at the INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLING EXHIBITION.