THE ECOC VISION MUST CONTINUE

In Nova Gorica - Gorizia, the European Capital of Culture 2025, we commemorated the anniversary of the inauguration of the first cross-border European Capital of Culture during the Prešeren Festival, a Slovenian cultural celebration. We celebrated the holiday in Nova Gorica and Gorizia with three photo and video exhibitions from the GO! 2025 program, a round table discussion with artists, and a sound and light installation of pianist Alexander Gadjiev's concert, which will now be available under the Solkan Bridge. 

The concert by pianist Gadjiev, which was originally planned to take place under the Solkan Bridge, has now been realized in a different way. Due to logistical obstacles, the Meeting Point project in the European Capital of Culture year was carried out at Trg Evrope and Sveti Gora, and from now on, residents and visitors will be able to enjoy it through a sound and light installation in this beautiful natural environment. The installation was attended by Marko Rusjan, Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Samo Turel, Mayor of Nova Gorica, and Mija Lorbek, Director of GO! 2025, while many others watched its launch via live broadcast at the EPIC Café.

The eve of the cultural holiday was also marked by music at the Auditorium of Friulian Culture in Gorizia, where the work "Anima Aeterna" by Andrea Buttignone was premiered, a tribute to the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica - Gorizia 2025. Under the baton of maestro Rudi Fantin, the orchestra and local choirs performed together. The exclusive premiere, hosted by Italian and Slovenian presenters, was also filmed in its entirety for the documentary film "Anima Aeterna," which, according to the organizers, will bring this outstanding cultural work to a wider audience and strengthen the cultural bridge in the Goriška region.

The main event on Sunday was the traditional recital of Prešeren's poetry on Bevkov Square, which is always attended by a large number of Nova Gorica residents. Many visitors also took advantage of the sunny Sunday cultural holiday to take a guided tour through the urbanism and history of Nova Gorica with Dr. Blaž Kosovel. and a large number of people also decided to visit the exhibition City on the Border, led by Dr. Kaja Širok, which has already been visited by more than 3,000 visitors in just over two months.

An important part of the event was a round table discussion between the creators of the European Capital of Culture program from Nova Gorica and Gorizia, who sat down to evaluate last year's extraordinary work and share their vision for the future. Director Anja Medved, publicist and director of the Oglej Foundation Andrea Bellavite, philosopher and publicist Miha Kosovel, and publisher Simone Cuva agreed that they want normal conditions for their work, which should be cross-border, professional, and unifying. Above all, they expressed concern and interest in the future of the European Capital of Culture vision.  

Jernej Humar, photographer and graduate of the prestigious FAMU Academy in Prague, viewed the year of the capital through the lens of his camera, which saw it as a flow, a powerful rushing flow, through which he felt the energy of the crowd, which at times rose to become a community, and within all this, the subtlety of the artist, the silence of the individual. Photographer Jernej Humar was interested in how to capture the flow of this important narrative, the atmosphere of extraordinary events, and the moment of documentary. How to imprint the light record of an event on a medium and later on photographic paper. How to create a narrative with images. He presented his story through 50 photographs, which are on display at the Epic Gallery under the title GO! WITH THE FLOW.

Pierluigi Bumbaca also exhibited his photographs at the GO! Center in Gorica on the holiday, and in Nova Gorica, Prešeren Day was also marked by workshops for children at the Xcenter in Nova Gorica, where they created 3D portraits of France Prešeren. Photographer Rok Peric also presented his photographs taken at the Xcenter workshops, and there was also an interesting exhibition at the local gallery, where GO! infinity piX – a photography and VR exhibition in collaboration with students from the Academy of Arts at the University of Nova Gorica. The Xcenter also showed TV recordings of projects from the official program of the European Capital of Culture with statements from participants.

Prešeren Day ended in front of EPICenter with a performance by the MN Dance Company, a light projection by Lumoskop_lab: Static in Motion, and a musical performance by renowned saxophonist Jani Šepetavec and freelance sound designer and active DJ Gašper Zidanič. 

Photo: Ana Rojc