Page - 151 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 4/2018

Grenzraum in Bewegung Künstlerische Positionen und relationale Raumaneignungen Janine Schemmer Abstract The region Friuli Venezia-Giulia is located in the northeast of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia and was a venue of central conflicts in the 20th Century. Its border areas were strongly affected by emigration after the Second World War, which still characterizes the collective memory. Instead of looking at the experience of migration as a field of action, the article deals with those who remained or came back, as many vacant villages revived again in recent years. Taking the example of the area Valli del Natisone, bordering with Slovenia, I will look at how actors from the cultural and art sector discovered the villages for their projects, and deal with the remains of the conflicts and its consequences such as migration movements and depopulation. Using the example of the international festival Stazione Topolò, the article explores inhabitants’ practices and artistic approaches of spatial appropriation and imaginings of this remote area, and considers what kind of transformation the performativity of human action can bring about. The ethnographic approach is primarily based on interview material and participant observations. Keywords remote border area, landscape, mobility, art, Topolò, Valli del Natisone, Alps-Adriatic region DOI 10.25364/08.4:2018.1.10 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal, Vol. 4 2018, 151-166 Editor reviewed article Open Access: content is licensed under CC BY 3.0