After Berlin, Venice, Lisbon and Amsterdam, the Diplomatic Suitcase has arrived in Trnava in Slovakia. As part of the exhibition Contracts of Recognition, the Diplomatic Suitcase has been unpacked this time in Galéria Jána Koniarka in Trnava to represent the Confluence of European Water Bodies. The Diplomatic Suitcase is a multimedia installation telling the stories of the ecological conflicts, activist struggles, artistic research and legal steps of grass roots initiatives committed to represent the seas, rivers, lakes, lagoons and glaciers of Europe.
Contracts of Recognition depart from a set of intertwined questions: How can alliances be imagined beyond the human? What does it mean to represent more-than-human entities within legal, political, and artistic frameworks? And how does ownership—of land, bodies, or futures—shape the conditions under which recognition becomes possible? The exhibition is on view from 19 March to 31 May 2026.
Credits
Art direction and design by Leon Lapa Pereira (Embassy of the North Sea) & Jakob Kukula (Spree Berlin), co-produced by the Confluence of European Water Bodies
Graphic design: Eva van Bemmelen and Corine Datema
Commissioned by the Embassy of the North Sea, ILP Mar Menor, TBA21–Academy/Ocean Space. Thanks to Creative Industries Fund
