Mediterranea 20
Young Artists Biennale
Borderless
our collective limits…
curated by Tia Čiček and Misal Adnan Yıldız
MAY 30 – June 30 2025
Mediterranea 20 – Young Artists Biennale, promoted by BJCEM – Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, and organized by GO! 2025 – European Capital of Culture and ŠKUC Association, presented the works of over 90 artists, hosted as part of the official program of GO! 2025 Nova Gorica – Gorizia – European Capital of Culture. This year’s edition embraces the theme Our Collective Limits…, inviting visitors to reflect on the visible and invisible borders that shape our societies, our identities, and our future. Unlike traditional notions of a “borderless” future, Mediterranea 20 proposes a deeper interrogation of how boundaries—geographical, psychological, political, and ecological—are formed, sustained, and dismantled. The Biennale becomes a space of encounter: a place to gather, to challenge, to listen, and to imagine alternative ways of being together.
„We live in a world that hurts.
It hurts to witness injustice and to feel it in our own lives and the lives of others. And yet, simply naming what is wrong can feel hollow. It risks turning us into passive observers – those who point, grieve, and withdraw. Too often, art does the same: it reflects from a distance, moralizes, warns, yet remains untouched.
As cultural workers, we know this position too well. Overstretched, under-resourced, and wielding tools that were never really meant for healing, we keep coming back to topics we think are relevant and that we don’t want people to forget. We keep picking up tools that might heal, if only a little. Perhaps representing ideas isn’t enough anymore. We need to embody them. We need to restructure the elements of our labour to fit the world we want to live in. For tomorrow.
And still – we continue.“
On May 30 2025, the Biennale officially opened in Nova Gorica and Gorizia. The Opening Program of Mediterranea 20 – Young Artists Biennale has officially concluded on June 2, following a powerful week of performances, public interventions, workshops, and talks. As the first edition of the Biennale to take place across the Slovenian–Italian border, Mediterranea 20 brought together more than 90 young artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in a vibrant celebration of creative resistance, identity, belonging, and cross-border dialogue. Events have taken place in key cultural and public spaces including Xcenter, Epic District, Bevkov trg, Palazzo Lantieri, AD Formandum, Kulturni dom Gorica, Circolo ARCI Gong, the School of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica, as well as in unique settings such as the Vipava landscape and the Kostanjevica tunnel. The Biennale has featured collective actions, site-specific installations, and participatory experiences that reflect the diversity and urgency of contemporary youth-driven artistic practices across the Euro-Mediterranean region. The inauguration involved local authorities, Go25 team, representatives of BJCEM network, the curators and more than 90 selected artists.
MEDITERRANEA 20 is curated by Tia Čiček (Slovenia) and Misal Adnan Yıldız (International).
After the Opening Days, the artworks will be on display until June 30, 2025 at the following locations:
- Nova Gorica:
EPICenter, Nova Gorica: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00
Tir Gallery (Mostovna), Solkan: Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 18:00
School of Arts, University of Nova Gorica: Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00
Xcenter, Nova Gorica: Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 19:00
- Public space installations:
Kostanjevica Tunnel, Nova Gorica
Underpass at the Nova Gorica Railway Station
- Gorizia:
Palazzo Lantieri, Gorizia: Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 18:00
Kulturni dom Gorica: Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 18:00
- Vipava:
Lanthieri Mansion, Vipava: Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00
Mediterranea 20 Catalogue
Mediterranea 20 Opening Days Video
Selected Artists
Opening Program
Mediterranea 20 Young Artists Biennale | Borderless | our collective limits…
BJCEM Network:
ARCI Lombardia (Italy), ARCI Nazionale (Italy), ARCI Regionale Emilia Romagna (Italy), ARCI Torino (Italy), Ayuntamiento de Madrid (Spain), Ayuntamiento de Malaga (Spain), Ayuntamiento de Murcia (Spain), CANTOS, Foundation for Arts (Egypt), Città di Torino, Clube Portugues de Artes e Ideias (Portugal), Comune di Bologna (Italy), Comune di Campobasso (Italy), Comune di Ferrara (Italy), Comune di Milano (Italy), Comune di Padova (Italy), Comune di Parma (Italy), Deputy Ministry of Culture, Department of Contemporary Culture Visual Arts (Cyprus), FLUKS – Center for young art (Norway), GAI – Giovani Artisti Italiani (Italy), International Peace Center, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Culture and Arts Directorate of the Culture and Arts Department (Turkey), Ministry of Culture and Media (Montenegro), Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation (Albania), Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs, Department for Culture and Youth Artistic Creativity – Youth Directorate, General Secretariat for Demography and Housing Policy (Greece), Municipality of Thessaloniki, (Greece), Municipality of Tirana (Albania), Regione Puglia (Italy), Roma Capitale (Italy), Sabancı University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Turkey), Istituti Culturali – Dipartimento Pubblica Istruzione e Cultura (San Marino), ŠKUC Association, Ljubljana (Slovenia), Teatro di Sardegna, (Italy), The Cultural Cooperative Association for Youth In Theatre and Cinema – SHAMS, Beirut (Lebanon), Timespan (UK), UK New Artists (UK), Unfinished Foundation (Malta), University of the Republic of San Marino (San Marino).
BJCEM External Partners
Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport, Wien, Austria
BJCEM is supported by Città di Torino
Mediterranea 20 – Opening Days Gallery
Photos by: Luka Mavri, Jernej Humar and Damijan Simčič
