Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

“Childhood at War”: Exhibition by Sarajevo’s War Childhood Museum Comes to Reggio Emilia

The pop-up exhibition “Childhood at War”, organised by Sarajevo’s War Childhood Museum and dedicated to the experiences of children who have lived through armed conflicts, will open on Friday 6 November 2026 at 5 pm in the foyer of the Department of Education and Humanities (DESU) at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, located at 93 Viale Timavo, Reggio Emilia.

The initiative is part of the 2026 edition of the Balkanika Festival, entitled “We Just Wanted to Play”, promoted by ISCOS Emilia-Romagna ETS. The exhibition will be open from 6 to 27 November, with free admission.

What does it mean to experience childhood during a war? How are memories preserved when everyday life is shattered by violence? And what role can memory, culture and education play in building a vision of peace? These are the questions at the heart of the exhibition. Through photographs of personal belongings and first-hand accounts from people who experienced war as children, it brings individual stories of loss, fear and separation to life, while also highlighting solidarity, resilience and the ability to imagine a future.

The War Childhood Museum collects and preserves these memories to document the impact of conflict on children and ensure that their experiences are not lost in the anonymity of statistics.

The programme on Friday 6 November will begin with a conference entitled “Childhood at War: Memories, Stories and the Future”, taking place from 12 noon to 1.30 pm in Room 1.4 at DESU. The event will explore the relationship between experiences of armed conflict, the preservation of personal testimonies and peace education, and will feature Amina Krvavac, Director of the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo.

Other speakers will include Federica Tarabusi, anthropologist at the University of Bologna; Milovan Pisarri, historian at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade; Chiara Pellicciari, from the Reggio Emilia Civic Museums; and Rita Bertozzi, sociologist at UniMORE’s Department of Education and Humanities.

At 5 pm, the official opening of the exhibition will take place in the DESU foyer, with contributions from Andrea Cortesi, Director of ISCOS Emilia-Romagna ETS; Rita Bertozzi, from UniMORE’s Department of Education and Humanities; Amina Krvavac, Director of the War Childhood Museum; Andrea Iacomini, spokesperson for UNICEF Italy; Gianluca Grassi, from the Mondinsieme Foundation; and Cristian Fabbi, Director of the Reggio Children Foundation.

Thirty years after the end of the siege of Sarajevo, the Balkanika Festival once again explores the relationship between war, childhood and memory. Bringing the exhibition to Reggio Emilia also highlights the longstanding ties with Sarajevo Centar and invites visitors to reflect on testimonies from the past in the light of the conflicts that continue to affect children across many parts of the world today.

The exhibition will be hosted at UniMORE’s Department of Education and Humanities (DESU), 93 Viale Timavo, Reggio Emilia, from 6 to 27 November 2026, and will be open to visitors free of charge.

The initiative is promoted by ISCOS Emilia-Romagna ETS as part of the 2026 Balkanika Festival, with support from the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Pietro Manodori Foundation, in collaboration with Sarajevo’s War Childhood Museum and the organisations involved in the Festival.

Categorie: International - english, Notizie_eng