by InTrieste
On Friday, June 6 at 7 p.m., Italian writer and renowned linguistic theorist Diego Marani will take the stage at Magazzino 26 in Trieste’s Porto Vecchio – Porto Vivo district to discuss a question as old as nations and as urgent as the evening news: How has our perception of borders changed today?
The conversation, hosted in the Sala Carlo Sbisà, marks the second in a series of satellite events accompanying the multimedia exhibition “OPEN. Borders of Light for a World of Peace”, presented by the City of Trieste’s Department of Culture and Tourism and curated by art critic and historian Marianna Accerboni. Admission is free.
The theme resonates deeply with the exhibition’s broader message—a plea for peace, shared space, and coexistence in a Europe navigating both historical scars and new identities. Featuring the visual and musical work of seven artists from Italy’s northeastern frontier—Paolo Cervi Kervischer, Claudio Mario Feruglio, Jasna Merkù, Zoran Mušič, Luigi Spacal, Carlo Vidoni, and Toni Zanussi—OPEN unfolds as a borderless artistic dialogue, echoing the spirit of GO! 2025, the cross-border cultural capital program jointly hosted by Gorizia (Italy) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia).
Marani, who is also known for his work in European cultural diplomacy and for inventing the mock-Romance language Europanto, will delve into the evolving meaning of borders in a world increasingly defined by fluid identities and blurred geopolitical lines.
“We are used to thinking of the border as a line, a barrier that marks the end of one thing and the beginning of another,” Marani said in a preview of the talk. “But in Latin, the word for border is limes, which originally referred to the path running along the edges of fields. It didn’t divide—it accompanied. The border is not a rupture, but a place in its own right. In English, we speak of ‘borderlands’—a term that gives the border dimension and space.”
The exhibition, and Marani’s contribution to it, arrive at a moment when Trieste itself—long a cultural and linguistic crossroads—is reasserting its place in the European imagination. By redefining the border not as a limit but as a shared experience, OPEN invites viewers to envision a future shaped not by division, but by connection.
The event is open to the public and is expected to draw a wide audience from both sides of the former Iron Curtain.
