Changing Winds: An Account Of The Bora Museum In Trieste (Italy) As A Space Of Rootedness In Climate Change

Abstract

The Bora Museum in Trieste was founded in 2004 to celebrate the bora, the typical wind of Trieste, which for thousands of years has had an enormous impact on the city and the region in social, urban, economic, cultural and artistic terms. The museum has always been a space ‘in progress’, collecting testimonies of the wind and its changes. Since mid-2023, thanks to a major national grant, the museum has been working on opening a new exhibition space, the Borarium, designed as a centre for reflection on climate change. This contribution (presented here in the form of reflective papers or personal accounts) first aims to discuss the bottom-up and co-creation projects of the Bora Museum together with the citizens of Trieste, in particular Memories of bora, a series of videos dedicated to citizens’ memories of this characteristic wind, and Changing winds: climate emergency and us, dedicated to the climate changes perceptible in the wind. It then describes the ongoing interactive experiences, the Borarium Interactive project to digitise the museum’s analogue heritage, and initiatives to co-create content with visitors to support local processes of green transition and raise awareness of environmental choices. This work exemplifies a museum’s commitment to rooted work, as evidenced by its partnerships and collaborations with local communities on environmental issues, as well as its shared practices with its fellow citizens.

Keywords: Museum, wind, climate change, co-creation projects, Bora, Trieste