Transbordering Laboratory 

Transbordering Laboratory is a research on and between European cities that are divided by borders. We aim to address the idea of forming new realities in such cities and areas. Hard borders became an issue again with the rise of nationalism and the pandemic, especially for citizens in the border territories. Many of the border cities started to forge a common life since the 1990s and reinvented themselves as unified towns. Our aim is to gradually form a network of these towns in order to share experiences and creativity. We believe that connecting artists and activists in a practical laboratory would help to develop a Europe with common transborder regions.

From the perspective of national capitals, we are seen as peripheries, while from our own perspective we should be developed as the very centers because here – at the meeting point between states, nations and people – the real Europe is taking place and reinventing itself.

Every double city, that was divided by border, is a unique laboratory of coexistence. Our aim is to establish a transnational network of transborder laboratories. As part of the research we are performing study visits to different divided towns to meet activists, scholars, artists and others, have presentations and discussions, make interviews and artistic documentations. The aim is to create a sustainable network of these towns and its engaged people.

The first conference will be held in October 2022 in Frankfurt (Oder)/Słubice, a double town at the German-Polish border, also known as Słubfurt.

See you at the border!

Miha Kosovel, Michael Kurzwelly, Tanel Rander