Three Years Together: The Living Archive of Trenčín

The final exhibition of the Generations Together project is a culmination of three years of exploring Trenčín as part of Trenčín 2026 – European Capital of Culture. More than 300 people from Trenčín and afar have participated in the project from 2024 – 2026, where they have engaged, investigated and connected the city through inter-generational exchange and inter-disciplinary artforms.

The exhibition brings together a collection of creative outputs, artworks and reflection from the project’s participants and artists. The collection of works dives into how three generations (of socialism, revolution era and democracy) perceive the same city, and how they see it together. Asking questions of: What individual and collective memories exist in the fabric of the city? And which stories they create together?

In the exhibition one can experience the nexus of inter-generational and creative exploration. Local citizens and international artists, side-by-side, are presenting their works here. The exhibit includes film, photography, dance, bodywork, interactive performance, storytelling, drawing, audio and much more. 

Location: Pod FOR MAATom, Železničná 3, Trenčín
Opening: 4th September 2026 at 5 pm
Opening hours: each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 3.30 pm – 7 pm
The exhibition lasts until Saturday 26th September 2026

Curatorial talks: 

  • 13th September at 5 pm with Viktor Fuček
  • 20th September at 3 pm with Dominika Belanská and Storytelling Club Trenčín
  • 26th September at 3 pm with Rokko Juhász

Accompanying words by the curators:

The tale of the Stone Soup
A stranger came to the city and begged for food, but nobody wanted to give the stranger any. Instead, the stranger prepared a fire and placed a pot of water with a stone on it. The stranger started cooking and the villagers got curious. One asked what is being cooked? “A stone soup” said the stranger and added “but it needs onions”. The villager ran home and brought onions to the soup. And, so on, more villagers got involved bringing different vegetables. In the end they all shared the rich “stone” soup together.

The Metaphor: From Ancient Bedrock to Urban Fabric
Folklore is not a static relic; it is an active social framework. In Trenčín, the global tale of the Stone Soup ceases to be mere myth and becomes a sharp metaphor for urban evolution. The city’s identity is historically anchored in stone—from the ancient Roman inscriptions carved into its Carpathian castle rock to the socialist concrete and bridges over the Váh River, and the newly laid plazas of Odborový Dom Armády. While traditional museums could freeze this history in untouchable relics, this exhibition treats the city as an ongoing, collaborative excavation.

The Intervention: Social Practice as a Melting Pot
In 2024, the Generations Together project launched a contemporary social intervention. By collecting raw ingredients from local farmers’ markets to cook and share a literal stone soup, the project triggered a metaphor. This act of relational art transformed passive citizens into active contributors. Over 300 residents have since infused the project with their own “ingredients”: raw, lived experiences spanning three seismic political eras—Socialism, the Revolution, and modern Democracy/Capitalism.

The Intergenerational Dialogue: Co-Authoring the City
This exhibition operates as a contemporary melting pot where generations clash, connect, and co-author new urban narratives. It bridges the gap between individual memory and collective history through active field investigation. By layering new, personal testimonies over ancient institutional history, the project disrupts traditional curatorial formats. It directly confronts the critical questions of our changing times:

  • Whose memories shape the physical fabric of Trenčín?
  • How do different generations decode and perceive the exact same streets?
  • What collective future do we cook when we mix these contrasting eras?

This is not a historical retrospective. It is a live, intergenerational ecosystem. This is Trenčín 2026’s unique soup—and you are invited to taste it.

Mads Floor Andersen, Dominika Belanská, Viktor Fuček and Rokko Juhász

curators