Trieste/Koper - BorderLand Heritage (2017)

This SummerLab will reflect on how the construction and reconstruction of national borders affect the identity of frontier-cities, with a particular focus on the mechanisms of preservation vs. obliteration of urban heritage. We will host students in two cities across the Italo-Slovene border: Trieste and Koper. Set twenty kilometres apart, these two cities are different in size and nationality but share a rich history that testifies for the intense movements of people across the contemporary border.

Koper was administered by the Venetian republic, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, the Free Territory of Trieste, Yugoslavia and Slovenia. Trieste became the main port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th century, it was reclaimed by Italy and Yugoslavia to be declared a Free Territory after the Second World War, to become Italian in 1954. Movements of people across the actual Italo-Slovene border have resulted in the mix of population, language pollinations, and architectural cross-fertilisations.

Yet, the construction of the national border dividing Italy from Yugoslavia and then Slovenia has caused the destruction of much of the cities’ shared urban heritage. In Trieste, the Slovene community gathered in the National Centre (Narodni Dom), a cultural centre built by Max Fabiani at the beginning of the 20th century, which was burnt down by Italian fascists in 1920. Rebuilt after the Second World War, it now hosts the premises of a prestigious school for interpreters and translators. Since the becoming of Trieste Italian, traces of the Slovene communities in the city have been systematically obscured as part of a clear nationalist project despite the historical multi-ethnic character of the city and the importance of many communities living there since the Austro-Hungarian empire. In Yugoslavia, Koper was rebuilt following modernist principles especially under the guidance of Edo Mihevc. His idea of renovation of the historical core of Koper followed the functionalistic dogma of Corbusier’s Paris. The new skyscrapers, built in the heart of the city, were to represent the new working class population of the socialistic city. The Italian minority was pushed out of the city, leaving vacant and abandoned places.

Participants visited both cities to explore and survey the visible and invisible traces of their shared heritage, mapping instances of their shared history in the urban space. Their task was to excavate and critically uncover the ways in which urban heritage had been re-appropriated, re-fashioned, and silenced. Participants were asked to think conceptually about how urban practitioners could engage with cities to recuperate uncomfortable and conflict-ridden pasts as a means to tell different and more inclusive stories. They considered how to intervene in the curatorial practice of selecting, preserving, or destroying urban heritage as a political act that created space for accommodating what exceeded national rhetoric and discourses.

The material produced during the Lab was presented in the city of Koper, where key stakeholders from both Koper and Trieste were invited to attend and discuss the participants’ final projects. Additionally, selected works from the participants were published on the online platform Architectuul and given the opportunity to join the Scout Programme, which provided a fellowship to join the Architectuul editorial team in Berlin in 2018.

The projects were developed in partnership with the University of Primorska – The Faculty of Humanities (FHS), the University of Ljubljana – The Faculty of Architecture, and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Ethnic and Religious Diversity, where Giulia Carabelli was a research fellow. Participants stayed in Koper city centre at special rates agreed with the organisers – close to the seaside and natural resources. The city of Koper was well connected and within a short distance of the airports of Trieste, Venice, and Ljubljana, where budget airlines operated frequently from across Europe.