Photos from the artistic research by ZimmerFrei, February 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the artistic research by ZimmerFrei, February 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the site-visit in the Border Region Czechia-Poland, January 2024, courtesy of Lungomare

Photos from the artistic research by Esra Ersen, March 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece

Photos from the artistic research by Bogdanov/Missirkov, February 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the artistic research, February 2024, courtesy of Lungomare

08.04.2025, 5 pm – National History Museum – ul. Vitoshko Tulip 16, Sofia 1618, Bulgaria Through the Prism of Borders – Episode 2: Artistic Journeys in-Between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey EXHIBITION 08.04.2025, 5 pm – National History Museum – ul. Vitoshko Tulip 16, Sofia 1618, Bulgaria Through the Prism of Borders – Episode 2: Artistic Journeys in-Between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey EXHIBITION 08.04.2025, 5 pm – National History Museum – ul. Vitoshko Tulip 16, Sofia 1618, Bulgaria Through the Prism of Borders – Episode 2: Artistic Journeys in-Between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey EXHIBITION 08.04.2025, 5 pm – National History Museum – ul. Vitoshko Tulip 16, Sofia 1618, Bulgaria Through the Prism of Borders – Episode 2: Artistic Journeys in-Between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey EXHIBITION

Through the Prism of Borders: Five artistic interventions within the collaborative research project B-Shapes – Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies

B-Shapes investigates the role of borders in shaping societies, culture, heritage, and belonging. Lungomare, a cooperative for cultural production, partners with eight European universities and various institutions, including a research institute, a national museum, a foundation, a political association, and a consultancy. Through its site-specific artistic productions, Lungomare contributes to a deeper exploration of public, individual, and spatial narratives, encouraging a more nuanced understanding of borderlands.


Under the theme Through the Prism of Borders, artistic interventions take place in two European borderlands. Boris Missirkov & Georgi Bogdanov, Esra Ersen, Ivan Moudov, and ZimmerFrei explore the southeastern European border between Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, while Zorka Wollny works in Český Těšín/Cieszyn, a city divided by the Czechia-Poland border. These performative acts engage with the concept of ‘borderscaping,’ shifting the perception of borders from fixed lines to dynamic spaces shaped by experiences, interactions, and political possibilities.

The artistic works explore questions such as: How can border narratives be revisited and deconstructed? How do cultural and historical phenomena shape landscapes? How do borderlanders navigate their borders? What cross-cultural exchanges define European identities and influence the perception of borders?

 

 

Episode 1 – Polska : Česko | Sound Match

by Zorka Wollny
Borderland: Czechia-Poland

 

2–3 October 2024

Český Těšín/Cieszyn

 

The performative concert Sound Match in the former synagogue in Český Těšín and at the Krytyka Polityczna Center in Cieszyn, addresses the question: How does a border resonate?

In collaboration with composer Martin Dytko, Zorka Wollny explores this question through a sound-based project in Český Těšín/Cieszyn and Ostrava. By engaging local residents, the project examines bordering practices as an integral part of daily life. In this context, the border is not just a historical marker, but a dynamic space that shapes identity and belonging.

 

 

 

Episode 2 – Artistic Journeys In-Between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey
Borderland: Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey

 

9 April–29 August 2025

National History Museum in Sofia

 

The exhibition Through the Prism of Borders – Episode 2: Artistic Journeys In-Between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey at the National History Museum in Sofia examines the complex socio-political landscape of Europe’s southeasternmost border. Site-specific works by Esra Ersen, Boris Missirkov & Georgi Bogdanov, Ivan Moudov, and ZimmerFrei address remnants of the past, local border symbolism, and the experiences of those who traverse these lands. The proposed artworks reflect on suppressed voices, challenge official narratives, and propose alternative ways to perceive and remember borders. By seeing borders as thresholds rather than barriers, the project fosters dialogue and redefines borders as evolving spaces of shared histories and futures.

Artists

Borderland: Czechia-Poland

 

How does a border resonate? Zorka Wollny invites composer and musician Martin Dytko to a sound match exploring borderscapes in Czechia-Poland. In a co-creative process with residents from Český Těšín/Cieszyn and Ostrava, they delve into narratives surrounding the meanings and materializations of bordering practices, as part of everyday life. The voice and sound-based research conceives the borderland as a place of encounter, interaction, and clash. Therefore, the border is seen not just as a point where various histories converge, but also as a space that shapes both individual and collective processes of identity formation and belonging, continuously transforming, contesting, and subverting the socio-political order. As the idea of Europe and the European Project undergo transformation, it becomes vital that diverse voices shape their emerging meaning. What futures can be imagined from here?

 

The performative concerts take place on October 2–3, 2024, at the former synagogue in Český Těšín as part of the city’s 33rd International Theatre Festival Without Borders, and at the Krytyka Polityczna Center in Cieszyn. These performances are featured in a video work by the artist that introduces the participants, provides insights into the production process, and further elaborates on questions surrounding bordering practices between Czechia and Poland.

 

Participants:

CZK Team: Kateřina Rézi Szopová, Zuzana Sekerová, Joa Ferfecki, Pepe Valíků , lead by Martin Dytko

 

PL Team: Weronika Masarska, Paulina Łyczek, Dawid Bury, Anita Kramarczyk & Fiona Swoboda, lead by Zorka Wollny

 

With the support of Natalia Kałuża, Anna Pluta and Joanna Wowrzeczka
of Krytyka Polityczna Center in Cieszyn, as well as Petra Slováček Rypienová and Stefan Mańka, directors of the 33. International Theatre Festival Without Borders.

 

Comissioned by Lungomare as part of the B-Shapes project.

Zorka Wollny (1980 in Krakow, Poland), lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Her works are situated at the boundary between music and visual arts. As a director and composer, she collaborates with musicians, actors and dancers, as well as members of local communities. Social justice and participation, political empowerment and agency as well as the interrelationships between humans and their (built) environment are recurring themes in her artistic practice. Wollny also works as an associate professor at Stettin Art Academy.

 

Martin Dytko (1989 in Ostrava, Czechia), he composes soundtrack music and cooperates with theatres across the Czech Republic, performs with the bands Sothein, Octopus field and Šamanovo zboží and hosts loose solo guitar concerts with focus on improvisational ambient jazz. When engaging in noise collages and documents, he seeks to create an intersection between the conception of noise and sound, and their follow-up inverted arrangement. He also gives guitar and musical theory lessons, writes poetry and released a debut collection of poems bearing the name „Epoch of the Lightbulb“ (Epocha žárovky).

Zorka Wollny (1980 in Krakow, Poland), lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Her works are situated at the boundary between music and visual arts. As a director and composer, she collaborates with musicians, actors and dancers, as well as members of local communities. Social justice and participation, political empowerment and agency as well as the interrelationships between humans and their (built) environment are recurring themes in her artistic practice. Wollny also works as an associate professor at Stettin Art Academy.

 

Martin Dytko (1989 in Ostrava, Czechia), he composes soundtrack music and cooperates with theatres across the Czech Republic, performs with the bands Sothein, Octopus field and Šamanovo zboží and hosts loose solo guitar concerts with focus on improvisational ambient jazz. When engaging in noise collages and documents, he seeks to create an intersection between the conception of noise and sound, and their follow-up inverted arrangement. He also gives guitar and musical theory lessons, writes poetry and released a debut collection of poems bearing the name „Epoch of the Lightbulb“ (Epocha žárovky).

Photos from the performative concert Sound Match by Zorka Wollny, October 2024 - Photos : Rafał Soliński

Borderland: Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey

 

The project The Travelling Monument by Georgi Bogdanov and Boris Missirkov focuses on a monument that does not exist yet.

 

Bulgaria has over a dozen memorials dedicated to border guards, mostly near the border with Greece and Turkey. However, there is not a single monument in memory of those who lose their lives trying to escape the Eastern Bloc through these borders. Many people, mostly young, attempt to flee to the West between 1944 and 1990 – and many of them are simply shot down by border patrols. The exact number of victims remains unknown. The rough estimate is that over 500 Bulgarian citizens and many others from other Socialist countries lose their lives there. This topic has been largely ignored over the past thirty years, apart from a number of short documentaries and a few articles, the faces and names of these victims remain anonymous. The Travelling Monument is dedicated to the people who lose their lives attempting to escape the Eastern Bloc through the Bulgarian borders.

 

The artists explore the possibility of devising an imaginary and traveling anti-monument, which is dislocated along the border, becoming a provocative intervention in various landscapes.

 

Comissioned by Lungomare as part of the B-Shapes project.

Boris Missirkov (b. Sofia, Bulgaria 1971) & Georgi Bogdanov (b. Varna, Bulgaria, 1971) live in Sofia, Bulgaria. In their artistic practice, Missirkov and Bogdanov are concerned with topics such as memory, freedom of speech and how to understand heritage, while their imagery draws on various visual styles and could be generally described as ‘creative documentary’.

Boris Missirkov (b. Sofia, Bulgaria 1971) & Georgi Bogdanov (b. Varna, Bulgaria, 1971) live in Sofia, Bulgaria. In their artistic practice, Missirkov and Bogdanov are concerned with topics such as memory, freedom of speech and how to understand heritage, while their imagery draws on various visual styles and could be generally described as ‘creative documentary’.

Photos from the artistic research by Georgi Bogdanov and Boris Missirkov, June 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece

Borderland: Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey

 

The Border Walks project by Ivan Moudov explores the border region of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, beginning with the foraging of wild mushrooms as the central activity, process, or outcome, drawing on various artistic and literary traditions.

Fungi and their vegetative apparatus enter into symbiosis with other organisms and create an underground network of invisible, interdependent and inextricable relationships. Delving into the mushroom deposits and the art of foraging, through hikes and interactions with local communities, the project searches for parallels between the natural environments and landscapes along the three borders, based on first-hand experience. Studying the structure of fungal ecosystems and the narratives of forests allows us to understand the potential for shared existence, amid human interventions that often lead to the destruction of nature.

 

The artist collaborates with writers during walks along the three-sided borders, offering a way to imagine future landscapes free of mental and physical boundaries, weaving together verbal and visual narratives.

 

Comissioned by Lungomare as part of the B-Shapes project.

Ivan Moudov (b. Sofia, Bulgaria 1975) lives in Sofia. Ivan Moudov’s artistic work has a strong metaphorical charge. Using photography, video, performance and installation, he questions the socio-political and economic conditions of art and its relationship to systems of power.

Ivan Moudov (b. Sofia, Bulgaria 1975) lives in Sofia. Ivan Moudov’s artistic work has a strong metaphorical charge. Using photography, video, performance and installation, he questions the socio-political and economic conditions of art and its relationship to systems of power.

Photos from the artistic research by Ivan Moudov, August 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece

Borderland: Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey

 

When observing Eastern and South-Eastern Europe from a distance, we may note that it has been historically – and in some cases still is – characterised by the diversity of languages and ethnic backgrounds among its population. However, this diversity, which might be viewed as a source of cultural wealth, contrasts with the border demarcations in place since the nineteenth century, whose implicit aim was to create defined spaces for homogeneous communities.

 

In her work, Esra Ersen addresses the people affected by the processes of bordering between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, which remain a poignant reminder of past injustices for minorities. She exemplarily focuses on the population that, over the course of these bordering processes, was most significantly impacted by state-sponsored homogenisation and, as a result, forced migration. Using this border triangle as an example, she researches how individual, public, and spatial narratives influence the practices of memory, and which truths (or legends) are told on either side of the border.

For on the one hand, there are the real borders, geographically, politically, and publicly anchored, and then there are the imaginary borders – those that are not tied to a piece of land but that rather persist in transgenerational communities through mentality and memories.

 

Comissioned by Lungomare as part of the B-Shapes project.

Esra Ersen (b. Ankara, Turkey 1970) lives in Berlin, Germany. In her research-based practice, Esra Ersen addresses issues of history and historical perspectives, exploring their resonance in everyday culture, education and as cultural symbols over time. Her work explores national identity, bridging oral traditions, collective memory as well as micro- and macro-history.

Esra Ersen (b. Ankara, Turkey 1970) lives in Berlin, Germany. In her research-based practice, Esra Ersen addresses issues of history and historical perspectives, exploring their resonance in everyday culture, education and as cultural symbols over time. Her work explores national identity, bridging oral traditions, collective memory as well as micro- and macro-history.

Photos from the artistic research by Esra Ersen, March 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece

Borderland: Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey

 

The ZimmerFrei group creates a short film for B-Shapes, composed of soundscapes, voices, and sudden visions recorded on 16 mm film on the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

These narratives and film footage focus on the almost completely uninhabited landscape and dense forests, the Black Sea, and the Resovo River, which marks the southeasternmost point of Europe. The project also highlights the experiences of the people – the borderlanders – who share their stories of living and working at the border. Borderlands are spaces that oscillate between being a bridge and a barrier, and the people inhabiting these strips of land navigate these raised and lowered, restored and transgressed, surveyed and liberated boundaries.

 

ZimmerFrei explores places and stories from multiple perspectives, examining how perceptions of borders shift when observed from different vantage points and modes of movement. Their evolving film reels aim to condense experiences, aspirations and dreams, leaving lasting traces of encounters that give rise to silent glimpses, new questions and unresolved listening.

 

ZimmerFrei’s B-Shapes ‘Borderwalks’ are staged with Ivano Lollo (cameraman), Nikol Delcheva (interpreter) and the help of Shado and Fondazione Home Movies, two Italian non-profit organisations devoted to analogue photography and private archives on film. Thanks for their help during the field research go to Cveta Petkova, Nikol Delcheva.

 

Comissioned by Lungomare as part of the B-Shapes project.

ZimmerFrei, Anna di Manicor (b. Trento, Italy 1972) lives in Bologna, Italy. For over twenty years, ZimmerFrei’s practice has explored transforming urban and rural contexts within temporary communities. Focusing on the boundaries between public space and private territories, they have honed their original language to combine oral narratives with analogue and digital media, adopting ever-different audiovisual prototypes.

ZimmerFrei, Anna di Manicor (b. Trento, Italy 1972) lives in Bologna, Italy. For over twenty years, ZimmerFrei’s practice has explored transforming urban and rural contexts within temporary communities. Focusing on the boundaries between public space and private territories, they have honed their original language to combine oral narratives with analogue and digital media, adopting ever-different audiovisual prototypes.

Photos from the artistic research by ZimmerFrei, February 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the research phase, January 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Czechia-Poland

Photos from the Workshop by Zorka Wollny, May 2024 - Photos : Rafał Soliński 

Photos from the research phase by Esra Ersen, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the Workshop by Zorka Wollny, May 2024 - Photos : Rafał Soliński 

Photos from the research phase in February 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the research phase by Esra Ersen, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the Workshop by Zorka Wollny, May 2024 - Photos : Rafał Soliński 

Photos from the research phase by Esra Ersen, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the research phase in February 2024, site-visit in the Border Region Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey

Photos from the Workshop by Zorka Wollny, May 2024 - Photos : Rafał Soliński 

Photos from the Workshop by Zorka Wollny, May 2024 - Photos : Rafał Soliński 

Borderlands

Map
Map

Timeline

April 2023

Kick-off meeting of B-Shapes in Sønderborg, Denmark.

June 2023

Visit of the Bulgarian National History Museum partner with coordinator Martin Klatt.

January 2024

Study visit to the Czech-Polish borderland in Cieszyn (PL) and Český Těšín (CZ) with artist Zorka Wollny, researchers from B-Shapes and local stakeholders.

Stakeholder meeting, CZ-PL, January 2024

February–May 2023

Research period for the artistic works by Esra Ersen, Boris Missirkov & Georgi Bogdanov, Anna De Manincor (ZimmerFrei) and Ivan Moudov.

March 2024

B-Shapes Annual Consortium Meeting in Budapest, Hungary.

June – November 2024

Production & project implementation by Esra Ersen, Boris Missirkov & Georgi Bogdanov, Anna De Manincor (ZimmerFrei) and Ivan Moudov.

October 2024

Poland/Czechia, Episode 1 – Polska : Česko | Sound Match by Zorka Wollny in Český Těšín/Cieszyn as part of the city’s border festival Člověk na hranici || Człowiek na granicy.

April 2025

Exhibition Opening at the National History Museum in Sofia, Bulgaria with interventions by Boris Missirkov & Georgi Bogdanov, Esra Ersen, Ivan Moudov and ZimmerFrei.

Project Team

 

Czechia / Poland
Curators
Angelika Burtscher
Marion Oberhofer

 

Artist
Zorka Wollny

 

Bulgaria / Turkey / Greece
Curators

Katia Anguelova

Angelika Burtscher

Marion Oberhofer

 

Artist

Esra Ersen

Georgi Bogdanov & Boris Missirkov 

Ivan Moudov

ZimmerFrei (Anna de Manincor)

Curators

 

Katia Anguelova is an independent curator who has developed several collaborative cultural projects with art institutions, museums and cultural centres. She creates spaces for dialogue – be it physical, virtual, geographical, textual or imaginary – and while focusing on transversal projects, she attempts to bring together things, people and concepts, to blend different natures in order to discover the world that surrounds us.

At present, she is co-director of Kunstverein Milano (since 2010): an international network for art production, with sister organizations in Amsterdam, Aughrim, Toronto and New York. She is also publisher of artists’ books with Kunstverein Publishing Milano. In 2019, she directed the Bulgarian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale. She has also worked for Artline, Milano – an open art collection and public art commission of Milan City Council, with an open-air collection of public art (2015–2024) – and was a visiting teacher at HEAD, Geneva, as part of the ‘Construction’ course option (2022–2024).

 

Angelika Burtscher is co-founder and co-director of Lungomare, a platform for cultural production and design, together with Daniele Lupo. She works at the intersection of artistic production and design with a focus on public urban space. With a transdisciplinary approach, she has completed multiple collaborations and exhibition and publication projects as well as site-specific artistic productions. In 2023, she co-published the reader AS IF – 16 Dialogues on Sheep, Black Holes and Movement (Spector Books). In 2022, together with Daniele Lupo, she initiated the multi-year artistic research project FLUX – River Interventions and Explorations to establish a new relationship between urban space, nature and landscape. Burtscher teaches in the Visual Design Department at the Art University Linz and on the Master on Eco-Social Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts in Bolzano.

 

Marion Oberhofer is a member of the Lungomare Cooperative and works as a curator at the intersection of art and science, focusing on artistic research and critical knowledge production. As part of the curatorial team at the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology, she is currently working on two new permanent exhibitions: one on climate change (2024) and another on science and technology studies (2026). Additionally, she is working as an independent art mediator and editor with a strong interest in the politics of memory and emancipatory practices.

General Coordination, Production and Communication

 

Lungomare is an art and design cooperative that curates and produces at the intersection between the public, virtual, printed, urban and exhibition spaces. Lungomare is also a discursive platform fuelled by multiple and transdisciplinary constellations, nurtured by a network of people and institutional collaborations. It activates long-term processes which start out mainly from a specific geographic and social context, placing it within a larger narrative. Lungomare strives to question alternative forms of artistic, cultural and activist practices, addressing socio-political issues through a hands-on approach. 

 

The Lungomare Cooperative carries out commissions and initiates artistic projects. In collaboration with artists, institutions and clients, Lungomare develops strategies and concepts that focus on finding the appropriate form for the content to be conveyed. Lungomare’s work encompasses communication, exhibition design, spatial concepts and curatorial projects. The Cooperative creates meeting places and experiential spaces in the urban context, and invites artists to develop thematic and site-specific projects.

 

 

About B-Shapes 

 

Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies (B-SHAPES) is a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action project analyzing and assessing how borders still are a key factor in how we understand societies. All the partners of the project will examine the role of borders under three lenses: Euroscepticism in border regions, minorities in border regions, and border landscapes as heritage. The special border region focus promises new insights on how borders shape perceptions of societies, but also how the story of borders can be narrated differently than from a purely national perspective.

 

B-SHAPES is a part of the European Union’s research program Horizon Europe and is coordinated by the Centre of Border Region Studies at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU).  → visit

 

Partners

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