New exhibition about borders in Europe opens Friday

Shifting Boundaries is an exhibition of photos that explore a changing Europe. Twelve European photographers have been chosen to address the same topic – shifting boundaries.

The 12 interpret the topic in extremely different ways. Here, we see pictures of conflicts that are being fought along Europe’s borders today, with portraits of soldiers in Ukraine, pictures of the demarcation line running through Europe’s last divided capital city, on Cyprus, and razor-wire fences intended to keep refugees out of Hungary. The intersection where technology meets reality is also explored, while Marie Hald examines the psychological and physical restrictions experienced by girls with eating disorders.

“This is a thought-provoking exhibition about how Europe is changing,” says Liv Tørres, director of the Nobel Peace Center. “For many years, we have taken the European community for granted, but now we see that borders are springing up again and that increasing inequality and extremism are leading to new, invisible barriers between peoples.

The European Photo Exhibition Award (EPEA) is led and financed by the Norwegian foundation Fritt Ord, in conjunction with the Italian Fondatione Banca del Monte di Lucca, the Portuguese Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian and the German Körber-Stiftung. “The project is in itself an interesting and literally transborder collaboration between European non-profit foundations,” says Knut Olav Åmås, executive director of Fritt Ord.

Shifting Boundaries is the third EPEA. The last time the exhibition was staged, it was seen by 175,000 people in four cities. Oslo is the final stop for this year’s EPEA exhibition, which has already been shown in Paris, Lucca and Hamburg.

The 12 photographers taking part in the EPEA03 are Arianna Arcara (Italy), Pierfrancesco Celada (Italy), Marthe Aune Eriksen (Norway), Jakob Ganslmeier (Germany), Margarida Gouveia (Portugal), Marie Hald (Denmark), Dominic Hawgood (UK), Robin Hinsch (Germany), Ildikó Péter (Hungary), Eivind H. Natvig (Norway), Marie Sommer (France) and Christina Werner (Austria). Rune Eraker is the exhibition’s curator. (See the attachment for further details of the various projects.)

The exhibition’s opening coincides with the Oslo Kulturnatt event on Friday, 15 September. Rania Mustafa Ali and Anders Hammer, who produced the Norwegian documentary Escape from Syria: Rania’s Odyssey, will host the opening ceremony at 7 pm.

The Norwegian and German photographers who are represented in the exhibition will be available for the media ahead of the opening, from 3 pm to 5 pm. To arrange an interview, please contact: Director of Information Ingvill Bryn Rambøl, ibr@nobelpeacecenter.org / + 47 924 52 944.