Third Space — Andrea Gorenc Lonzarič

About the project O projektu

I am a master’s student of cultural studies and anthropology. As part of my master’s thesis, I conduct research through an art-based research approach, which I gradually arrived at through autoethnographic thinking—as a need not only to analyze my own experiences, but also to feel them, revisit them, and express them in a different way.

The project is rooted in my life experiences, particularly in my migration experience, which has significantly shaped my understanding of identity. I was born into a mixed family, with roots in different countries of the former Yugoslavia. I spent my childhood in Serbia, where I lived until the age of fifteen, after which I moved to Slovenia.

Slovenia was not entirely unfamiliar to me. One of my ancestors, my grandfather, was Slovenian, and for this reason I also experienced this space as part of my home. Nevertheless, the sense of belonging was never unambiguous. Even as a child, I was often confronted with questions about who I was and where I belonged. At home, I was told that I was Yugoslav, and this identification lived in me for a long time as something self-evident, tied to memories, music, and a sense of a shared space that has since dissolved.

Even before moving, I lived in a kind of “in-between” state. I was one of the few who did not have a typical surname ending in -ić, and one of the few who also celebrated Catholic holidays. After arriving in Slovenia, this sense of in-betweenness deepened even further. I arrived at a time when immigrants from the countries of the former Yugoslavia were increasingly seen less as refugees and more as economic migrants. Along with this came prejudices that I had not expected, but soon began to feel.

I faced various challenges: in school, in society, in language, and in my own perception of myself. As a child, I was used to being successful and set high goals for myself. After the move, however, I suddenly found myself in the position of belonging to a marginalized group that was not always accepted. I experienced linguistic and bureaucratic barriers particularly strongly—barriers that were not only communicative, but also related to identity. Every two months, my entire family had to travel to Budapest to obtain a new visa that would allow us to stay in Slovenia. For every school trip to Italy, I needed an expensive and difficult-to-obtain visa for the Schengen area.

The Third Space project emerged as a way to reflect on and connect these experiences. Through the research, I return to memories from childhood, youth, and the period after migration, weaving them together with the present. I have named this space “Third Space” or “Tretji prostor”—an in-between space, between languages, cultures, and ways of understanding oneself. It is a space where identity is not fixed, but constantly in the process of becoming.

At the same time, it is also a space of integration, where different parts of my life gradually come together, including those that once seemed incompatible. This process is not complete; it remains open, sometimes unpredictable, yet essential for understanding one’s position in the world.

I chose this approach because it allows for a different mode of research—one that is more intuitive and open. In it, memories, feelings, and ideas emerge spontaneously, and the research begins the moment we start paying attention to them. Art enables me to move beyond purely academic language and to open space for emotional, bodily, and experiential dimensions—for that which often remains unspoken, yet is crucial for understanding.

This project is therefore both a research endeavor and a personal journey.

Sem študentka magistrskega študijskega programa Kulturni študiji in antropologija na Univerzi na Primorskem Fakulteti za humanistične študije. V svoji magistrski raziskavi, katere osrednji del je večmedijska postavitev Third Space, uporabljam metodologijo na umetnosti temelječega raziskovanja (Arts-Based Research), do katere me je postopoma pripeljalo avtoetnografsko razmišljanje kot potreba, da lastne izkušnje ne le analiziram, ampak jih tudi začutim, ponovno prehodim in tudi izrazim.

Projekt Third Space izhaja iz mojih življenjskih izkušenj, predvsem pa iz migracijske izkušnje, ki je pomembno zaznamovala moje razumevanje identitete. Rojena sem v mešani družini, s koreninami v različnih državah nekdanje Jugoslavije. Otroštvo sem preživela v Srbiji, kjer sem živela do svojega petnajstega leta, nato pa sem se preselila v Slovenijo.

Slovenija mi ni bila povsem tuja. Eden od mojih prednikov, moj dedek, je bil Slovenec in prav zato sem ta prostor doživljala tudi kot del svojega doma. Kljub temu pa občutek pripadnosti nikoli ni bil enoznačen. Že kot otrok sem bila pogosto soočena z vprašanjema, kdo sem in kam pripadam. Doma so mi govorili, da sem Jugoslovanka: ta identifikacija je v meni dolgo časa živela kot nekaj samoumevnega; povezana s spomini, glasbo in občutkom skupnega prostora, ki je medtem razpadel.

Že pred selitvijo sem na nek način živela “vmes”. Bila sem ena redkih, ki ni nosila tipičnega priimka na -ić, in ena redkih, ki je praznovala tudi katoliške praznike. Po prihodu v Slovenijo pa se je ta občutek vmesnosti še poglobil. Prišla sem v času, ko so bili priseljenci iz držav nekdanje Jugoslavije vse manj razumljeni kot begunci in vse bolj kot ekonomski migranti. S tem so prišli tudi predsodki, ki jih nisem pričakovala, a sem jih kmalu začutila.

Prikaži več

Andrea Gorenc Lonzarič

Installations Instalacije

01 — 07

Office for obtaining temporary intermediate identity Urad za pridobitev začasne vmesne identitete

The installation establishes a simulation of a bureaucratic space in which visitors, upon entering, assume the role of applicants for a temporary identity. Each individual receives a number and a form. In this way, the process of individualized identity is gradually reduced to an administrative procedure.

Two clerks operate within the space, mechanically and repetitively performing bureaucratic gestures: stamping, signing, checking. Interaction takes place without personal address. Participants are called exclusively by numbers. Filling out the forms reveals cracks in the apparent neutrality of bureaucracy: questions of identity, language, belonging, and the boundaries of the body evade clear categories and produce a sense of absurdity.

At the end of the process, each participant receives a series of stamps: “incomplete,” “temporary,” and “third space.” These markers do not confirm a stable identity, but rather emphasize its temporality, fragmentation, and elusiveness.

In the background, video material from a personal archive is shown: a passport with visas, temporary residence permits, and administrative traces of migration. The intertwining of the personal and the institutional reveals bureaucracy as a mechanism that not only records, but actively produces belonging or emphasizes its absence.

The installation raises questions about how systems of power define, limit, and temporarily suspend identity, and how the individual navigates a space between categories that is at once administratively regulated and existentially indeterminate.

Instalacija vzpostavlja simulacijo birokratskega prostora, v katerem obiskovalci ob vstopu prevzamejo vlogo prosilcev za začasno identiteto. Vsak posameznik prejme številko in obrazec. S tem se proces individualizirane identitete postopoma reducira na administrativni postopek.

V prostoru delujeta dve uradnici, ki mehansko in ponavljajoče izvajata birokratske geste: žigosanje, podpisovanje, preverjanje. Interakcija poteka brez osebnega nagovora. Udeleženci so klicani izključno po številkah. Izpolnjevanje obrazcev razkriva razpoke v navidezni nevtralnosti birokracije: vprašanja o identiteti, jeziku, pripadnosti in mejah telesa se izmikajo jasnim kategorijam in producirajo občutek absurdnosti.

Ob koncu postopka vsak udeleženec prejme serijo žigov: »nepopolno«, »začasno« in »third space«. Ti označevalci ne potrjujejo stabilne identitete, temveč poudarjajo njeno začasnost, fragmentarnost in neulovljivost.

V ozadju se predvaja video material osebnega arhiva: potni list z vizumi, dovoljenji za začasno bivanje in administrativnimi sledmi migracije. Preplet osebnega in institucionalnega razkriva birokracijo kot mehanizem, ki ne zgolj beleži, temveč aktivno proizvaja pripadnost ali poudarja njeno odsotnost.

Instalacija odpira vprašanja o tem, kako sistemi oblasti definirajo, omejujejo in začasno odlagajo identiteto; kako se posameznik znajde v prostoru med kategorijami, ki je hkrati administrativno reguliran in eksistencialno nedoločljiv.

Nuances of language Nianse jezika

The installation addresses language as one of the key mechanisms of inclusion, belonging, and at the same time exclusion. It stems from a personal experience of learning Slovenian, which initially appeared to be a manageable, almost linear process.

The video establishes an initial moment of naive expectation: the belief that language is a tool that can be mastered with enough effort and discipline. However, this understanding quickly unravels upon entering everyday environments, where meaning is not produced solely through words, but through their nuances, contexts, intonations, and the unspoken.

Language thus reveals itself as a complex social terrain, where belonging does not depend only on correct usage, but on the ability to perceive subtle differences that separate “understanding” from “being accepted.”

The installation raises the question of when a language becomes sufficiently “ours,” and whether this boundary is ever truly attainable. At the same time, it highlights the effort of constant adaptation and accelerated learning, which extends beyond the formal frameworks of language and reaches into the very formation of identity.

Instalacija obravnava jezik kot enega ključnih mehanizmov vključevanja, pripadnosti in izključevanja hkrati. Izhaja iz osebne izkušnje učenja slovenščine, ki se je sprva zdela obvladljiv, skoraj linearen proces.

Video vzpostavi začetni moment naivnega pričakovanja: prepričanje, da je jezik orodje, ki ga je mogoče osvojiti z dovolj truda in discipline. Vendar se to razumevanje hitro razgradi ob vstopu v vsakdanje okolje, kjer pomen ne nastaja zgolj skozi besede, temveč preko njihovih nians, kontekstov, intonacij in neizrečenega.

Jezik se tako razkrije kot kompleksen družbeni teren, kjer pripadnost ni odvisna le od pravilne rabe, temveč od sposobnosti zaznavanja subtilnih razlik, ki ločujejo “razumeti” od “biti sprejet”.

Instalacija odpira vprašanje, kdaj jezik postane dovolj “naš” in ali je ta meja sploh dosegljiva. Hkrati izpostavlja napor nenehnega prilagajanja in pospešenega učenja, ki presega formalne okvire jezika in posega v samo oblikovanje identitete.

Identity Disintegration Razkroj identitete

The installation poetically stages the disintegration of identity as a painful yet inevitable process of transformation. At its core is the act of cutting a carpet—an object that carries heritage, memory, and belonging.

The process of dismantling reveals identity as something unstable, as a structure that constantly disintegrates and reassembles. The fragments that emerge take on different fates: some are discarded, others preserved and displayed, while still others eventually return to everyday life in a transformed form.

In this passage between loss and preservation, an emotional tension unfolds between attachment and the need for detachment. Cutting becomes both an act of renunciation and survival. Over time, the fragments integrate in a different order and along an unpredictable path.

Instalacija poetično uprizarja razkroj identitete kot boleč, a neizogiben proces preoblikovanja. V središču je dejanje rezanja preproge - predmeta, ki nosi dediščino, spomin in pripadnost.

Proces razstavljanja razkriva identiteto kot nekaj nestalnega; kot strukturo, ki neprestano razpada in se ponovno sestavlja. Fragmenti, ki nastajajo, nosijo različne usode: nekateri so zavrženi, drugi ohranjeni in izpostavljeni, tretji pa se sčasoma vrnejo v vsakdanje življenje v spremenjeni obliki.

V prehajanju med izgubo in ohranjanjem se razpira čustvena napetost med navezanostjo in nujo po odmiku. Rezanje postane hkrati dejanje odpovedi in preživetja. Skozi čas pa se fragmenti integrirajo v drugačnem zaporedju in po nepredvidljivi poti.

Third Space Tretji prostor (Third Space)

The installation presents a space in which everything accumulated לאורך a life path intertwines and integrates, co-creating the personality as it exists today. What comes to the foreground is what emerges after the disintegration and reassembly of identity.

We enter the space through a symbolic boundary, a ritual threshold that marks the transition into an undefined, in-between state. With it, the atmosphere also changes: it becomes softer and warmer.

At the center, a process of individuation takes shape—not as something fixed, but as something that emerges from fragments of the past, present, and relationships.

The central element is a sand mandala, into which symbolic objects and figures with personal meanings are placed. The mandala is not a closed whole; its outer circle remains open, unfinished, in a state of continuous becoming.

Visitors are invited to intervene and add their own imprint. In doing so, they become participants in a process that reveals how every encounter, every experience, and every relationship continuously co-creates who we are.

The third space is therefore not a space of stable identity, but a space of integration, where different parts coexist, intertwine, and remain in a constant, never fully completed process of becoming.

Instalacija predstavlja prostor, v katerem se prepleta in integrira vse, kar se nalaga skozi življenjsko pot ter soustvarja osebnost, kakršna obstaja danes. V ospredju je tisto, kar vznikne po razkroju in v ponovnem sestavljanju identitete.

V prostor vstopamo skozi simbolno mejo, ritualni prag, ki označuje prehod v nedoločeno, vmesno stanje. Z njim se spremeni tudi vzdušje: postane mehkejše in toplejše.

V središču se izrisuje proces individuacije, kot nekaj, kar ne obstaja v fiksni obliki, temveč nastaja iz fragmentov preteklosti, sedanjosti in odnosov.

Osrednji element predstavlja mandala iz mivke, v katero so umeščeni simbolni predmeti in figure z osebnimi pomeni. Mandala ni zaključena celota, njen zunanji krog ostaja odprt, nedokončan, v stanju nenehnega nastajanja.

Obiskovalci so povabljeni, da vanjo posežejo in dodajo svoj odtis. S tem postanejo soudeleženci procesa, ki razkriva, kako vsako srečanje, vsaka izkušnja in vsak odnos neprestano soustvarjajo to, kar smo.

Tretji prostor tako ni prostor stabilne identitete, temveč prostor integracije, kjer različni deli sobivajo, se prepletajo in ostajajo v stalnem, nikoli povsem zaključenem nastajanju.

Identity Combinatorics Unit Enota za kombinatoriko identitete

The installation draws on the memory of paper dolls, whose identities changed by swapping outfits. This simple childhood game becomes a starting point for reflecting on how identity is formed, reshaped, and combined.

Visitors are invited to assemble their own figure using various elements. This act of combining goes beyond the idea of a single, fixed belonging and opens up space for mixing, layering, and transitioning between identities.

The resulting figures can be taken away by visitors, as a personal reflection or as a temporary, self-constructed identity.

Instalacija izhaja iz spomina na papirnate punčke, katerih identiteta se je spreminjala z menjavo oblačil. Ta Preprosta otroška igra postane izhodišče za razmislek o tem, kako se identiteta oblikuje, preoblikuje in kombinira.

Obiskovalci so povabljeni, da sami sestavijo podobo figure z uporabo različnih elementov. Kombiniranje presega idejo enotne pripadnosti in odpira prostor za mešanje, plastenje in prehajanje med identitetami.

Nastale figure lahko obiskovalci odnesejo s seboj, kot osebno refleksijo in izraz svoje začasno sestavljene identitete.

Process Proces

The installation Proces offers an insight into the making of the project. It is composed of white paper strips hanging from the ceiling to the floor. At the lower end, they are slightly weighted to maintain their verticality, while remaining sensitive to movement in the space. The strips are arranged in a dense yet passable structure through which the visitor can walk.

At the top of the strips, the label “Proces” appears, but without a fixed order. The numbers (1, 2, 3, 4 …) are written over one another in different colors, overlapping and erasing any clear sequence. Instead of a linear structure, a layering emerges that makes it impossible to determine a beginning or an end.

The strips contain fragments of the research: written thoughts, excerpts from a diary, photographs, glimpses of conversations, and traces of the process of making. These are materials usually hidden in the background of the process, but here they become its visible form.

The installation does not present development as a sequence of steps, but as an open, intuitive movement—as a space in between.

Instalacija Proces odpira vpogled v nastajanje projekta. Sestavljena je iz belih papirnih trakov, ki visijo s stropa proti tlom. Na spodnjem delu so rahlo obteženi, da ohranjajo svojo vertikalnost, hkrati pa ostajajo občutljivi na gibanje v prostoru. Trakovi so postavljeni v zgoščeno, a prehodno strukturo, skozi katero se obiskovalec lahko sprehaja.

Na vrhu trakov se pojavlja označba Proces, vendar brez enoznačnega reda. Številke (1, 2, 3, 4 …) so zapisane ena čez drugo, v različnih barvah, prekrivajo se in brišejo jasno zaporedje. Namesto linearne strukture nastaja plastenje, ki onemogoča določitev začetka ali konca.

Na trakovih so prisotni fragmenti raziskovanja: zapisi misli, izseki iz dnevnika, fotografije, utrinki pogovorov in sledovi nastajanja. Gre za materiale, ki so običajno skriti v ozadju procesa, tukaj pa postanejo njegova vidna forma.

Instalacija ne predstavlja razvoja kot zaporedja korakov, temveč kot odprto, intuitivno gibanje — kot prostor vmes.

Flavors of the Third Space Okusi tretjega prostora

The installation Tastes of the Third Space establishes a space of cultural synthesis between Slovenian and Serbian contexts, intertwined through food, family heritage, and sensory experience.

A unified menu is offered, composed of traditional dishes from both cultural environments, along with two beverages originating from these contexts. Here, food does not function as a separate element, but as an intertwining of family traditions (mother and father), which come together into a whole within the third space.

The installation also includes an audiovisual component: during the serving, a collage of music videos is played on an old television, which with each viewing evokes an emotional and nostalgic memory of the artist’s childhood.

Instalacija Okusi tretjega prostora vzpostavlja prostor kulturne sinteze med slovenskim in srbskim okoljem, ki se prepletata skozi hrano, družinsko dediščino in senzorično izkušnjo.

Ponujen je enoten meni, sestavljen iz tradicionalnih jedi obeh kulturnih okolij ter dveh pijač, ki izhajajo iz teh prostorov. Hrana tukaj ne deluje kot ločen element, temveč kot preplet družinskih tradicij (mama in oče), ki se v tretjem prostoru združujeta v celoto.

Instalacija vključuje tudi avdiovizualni del: ob pogostitvi se predvaja kolaž videospotov na starem televizorju, ki ob vsakem poslušanju odpira emocionalni in nostalgični spomin na otroštvo avtorice.