AMNESIE - Reminds us not to forget

Amnesie for an entire community, two cities, two nations, with a shared vision of rediscovering, reinterpreting and celebrating cultural heritage. Zerial Art Project presents the exhibition Amnesie, curated by Elisabetta Zerial, as part of GO!2025 – Borderless Nova Gorica Gorizia European Capital of Culture, under the patronage of the Municipality of Gorizia, in collaboration with Banca BCC Venezia Giulia, PromoTurismoFVG and the Associazione Sociale Culturale Dâ Arie.

Amnesie is developed as a widespread project that brings together eleven contemporary artists in four emblematic places of the cross- border territory: Casa Krainer, Palazzo Lantieri, Kinemax and Vila Vipolže.

Nova Gorica and Gorizia, once divided by a political and ideological border, today become the symbol of a Europe without barriers, crossed by shared memories and collective traumas. 

Eleven site-specific solo exhibitions — by Stefano Cagol, Nina Carini, Federico Clapis, Massimo Gardone, Andreas Senoner, Desideria Burgio, Andrea Guastavino, Marco Bolognesi, Giordano Floreancig, Camilla Marinoni and Marina Moreno — explore amnesia as a fluid condition of contemporary existence: loss, removal, oblivion, but also a fertile space for a possible regeneration of memory. Amnesia, in fact, is not just a subtraction: it is a void which can become possibilities.

In Nova Gorica and Gorizia, cities once divided and now united, art becomes a bridge between past and future, between multiple identities and a common feeling. The architectures of memory The places that host Amnesie are not simple containers, but true architectures of memory:

Casa Krainer, Palazzo Lantieri, Kinemax and Vila Vipolže tell stories of cohabitation and separation, of traces left by time and historical stratifications. Their structures — medieval, Renaissance or in the Gorizia Liberty style — dialogue with the works, amplifying the suspension, the void and the reconstruction that amnesia brings with it: every room, every stone, every fresco becomes a trace of the past, ready to make itself present through contemporary art.

Casa Krainer Also known as Casa Sticsa, it is a symbolic building in the historic center of Gorizia, documented as early as 1769 but with medieval origins, as evidenced by the ancient stone well in the internal courtyard. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the architect Gerolamo Luzzatto renovated the facade in refined Gorizia Liberty style on behalf of Edoardo Sticsa, blending modernity and Central European memory. 

The name “Krainer” comes from the historic family hardware store that operated on the ground floor until 1912, a point of reference for the city community. Today, under the management of the company ViaRastello43 S.r.l, Casa Krainer is a dynamic cultural center that hosts events, exhibitions and initiatives dedicated to regional crafts and culture. The selection of five artists for Casa Krainer works as a microcosm of the theme Amnesie, because each one – from a different perspective – investigates the relationship between memory and oblivion, intertwining languages, materials and expressive modes that dialogue with the historical space of the building. Stefano Cagol invites us to reflect on collective responsibility: he pushes us to recognize that environmental and geopolitical memory is never neutral, but the result of our choices. 

Eleven contemporary artists — Stefano Cagol, Nina Carini, Federico Clapis, Massimo Gardone, Andreas Senoner, Desideria Burgio, Andrea Guastavino, Marco Bolognesi, Giordano Floreancig, Camilla Marinoni and Marina Moreno — inhabit four symbolic places of collective memory: Vila Vipolže in Brda, Casa Krainer, Palazzo Lantieri and Kinemax in Gorizia. Spaces full of history, marked by cultural and architectural stratifications — medieval, Renaissance, Liberty style — that become living frames for a dialogue between art, history and identity. The works — painting, sculpture, installations, graphics, photography, video art, cinema, NFT digital languages, sound art and performance — trace a sensitive geography of amnesia as a condition of our time. Each artist creates a site-specific project, conceived in dialogue with the architecture that hosts it, transforming each location into an active memory device.

In addition to the exhibitions, the program also includes collateral events dedicated to in-depth study, with talks, screenings, workshops and performative actions designed to involve the community and offer new perspectives on the present.