SPRING, YOUTH, BICYCLE AND COUNTRY ROAD

by EVA SUŠNIK

On Tuesday, May 14, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., a motorcade of cyclists rolled out of the Cossar – Leonardo da Vinci Vocational Institute. There were 10 students of class 2 of SCS in the company of two professors and 2 companions who embarked on a full-day cycling trip as part of the Arci-in-bici project.

Cossar-da Vinci is a professional high school with multiple programs. Years ago, the Gorizia police gave abandoned bicycles to technical students that were found around the city. The students were learning and repairing and training the few bikes that are now owned by the school on the right bikes. It was these bikes that the students borrowed from the Photography course and explored the conurbation with them under the guidance of professors and an architect. Armed with cameras, they crossed the state line in search of boundless motives. The theme of this year’s edition of Arci-in-Bici (the first time the project took place in 2022 and covered mainly urban space) was nature. The students, most of them for the first time, got to know the Solkan fields, saw the famous Villa de Nordis, found out that the Isonzo River originates as the Soča and walked along the footbridge across. At the kayak center, they put down their bikes and walked along a shady path right next to the water under the road bridge to the finish line under the old railway bridge.

The themes of the photography were: wild nature – curated nature, sports photography, architectural photography. The students were able to learn in practice that the elements that make a good photo know no boundaries – clouds wind across the sky, the reflections of the river are interesting on both sides, the lines of the vines do not pay attention to the borders, nor do the wind, shadows and interesting views.

As Professor Rhea says: “For students, Arci and Bici is a practical experience outside the school context, using the knowledge gained in the classroom: from planning, implementation to the preparation of a photographic exhibition. We focused on two photographic genres of landscape and architecture, both of which intertwined mainly in Villa de Nordis and Solkan Bridge, where the students tried to capture their identities by combining genres.

This kind of cross-border cooperation means discovering the opportunities that conurbations offer both from a social and professional point of view, and for most pupils it is the first contact with certain aspects of the historical and cultural complexity of their territory. Finally, I’d like to point out that the bike, and thankfully we don’t have quite a few of them, is an ideal means of immersing yourself in such a journey.”

To quote Alain de Botton loosely, the real thrill of a trip is actually its planning, the emerging expectations. When we travel, we travel. The second thrill is then the distant remembrance and idealization of the time that is behind us.

Similarly, we planned the route in detail, prepared for various scenarios, possible heavy traffic, bad weather, checked the paths and expected that this day would be practically Europe Day in miniature, when borders between us would fall, language and cultural barriers would collapse, and so on. On the day of the trip, the sun was shining, we had a great time, ate all the snacks, saw all the points along the way and were excited. Returning home, now that almost a month has passed since the trip, we can only think about what beautiful things we have actually experienced.

Young students from Gorizia rarely cross the border with Slovenia on their own, partly out of fear of the unknown, partly out of fear of language barriers, but when they cross it, they usually head to familiar places, perhaps to a skatepark, for a drink in the city centre or to a shopping centre on the outskirts.

A bicycle is a symbol of freedom in itself, you can travel slower with it than with a car, and yet you can get much further than on foot. If, on the other hand, you set out on a bicycle to discover new spaces that you do not know, but which you actually have at your doorstep, in the case of the conurbation of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, you discover new dimensions of your city and, in a way, yourself. Some students knew the Soča only from Pevme Park onwards, and on that day, the river “lengthened” for them and they were able to draw many new corners on their map. We’ve seen where it grows The Solkan regut and la rosa di Gorizia, the history of the Countess of Lyduska of the Villa de Nordis confirmed to us the richness of the historical layers of our area, the kayakers who trained on the river showed sportsmanship and fighting spirit.

The students combined the discovery of new physical spaces with the acquisition of new photographic knowledge, and the photographs will be presented at an exhibition in the autumn at the Customs Office on Erjavčeva Street. They will take care of the selection of photographs, layout, preparation of the exhibition and the opening event themselves.

We hope that the students will get on their bikes several times and continue to explore their conurbation themselves, so that it, like clouds, will be as boundless as possible.

The Arches and Battles Project, its second edition takes place in 2025

Organizers: Eva Sušnik and Luca Chinaglia

Students from the school: Cossar – Leonardo da Vici Vocational Institute

In the subject of photography, with professors: Alessio Reja, Annamaria Monaco, Maria Carmela Abate

Exhibition: Customs House, October 2025