ARTCYCLE
Artcycle is a cross-border project connecting contemporary art, sustainable mobility and the shared urban space of Nova Gorica and Gorizia. It encourages residents and visitors to explore the two cities by bicycle and on foot, promoting greener forms of transport and a more connected cross-border environment. Students from art schools in Nova Gorica and Gorizia, together with international artists, created murals and street artworks inspired by sustainable mobility and the shared territory. Selected artworks were digitised and transferred onto 25 GO2GO bicycles and communication materials, transforming bicycles into mobile artworks and ambassadors of green mobility. The project also established a cross-border art cycling and walking route, offering a creative way to discover public art and experience Nova Gorica and Gorizia as one connected urban space.
The aim of the project was to promote sustainable mobility amongst residents of the cross-border area of Nova Gorica and Gorizia, in line with the GO!GREEN strategy for the European Capital of Culture 2025. A series of eight artistic interventions in public spaces, such as street paintings and graffiti, were created, linked together along the ARTCYCLE ROUTE between Gorizia and Nova Gorica. Their themes relate to environmental issues, sustainability, mobility (particularly cycling) and the interconnectedness of the cross-border urban territory. The public art works were designed to encourage residents to cycle more and to walk for short distances.
An international call for artists was organized, focusing on contemporary visual art as a universal language that shifts the focus from polluting modes of transportation to sustainable mobility: bicycles, electric vehicles, walking and public transportation. Selected artists from around the world created public art, murals and graffiti at eight stations along the ARTCYCLE route between Nova Gorica and Gorizia. Artistic graphics were also applied to the bicycles of the cross-border rental system operating in the area, serving as another visible element of the project. In addition to the artistic bicycles, bicycle accessories featuring a coordinated artistic design were also created.
The project was also presented during European Mobility Week in September 2025 through various public initiatives: a presentation of the artworks with a guided bicycle tour along the stops of the new artistic route, a public event featuring concerts at the border, street games, workshops and urban entertainment (ARTCYCLE POP UP for various age groups), and a theoretical workshop on sustainable mobility, aimed specifically at young people.
LINK to the project's website: ARTCYCLE