Crossing Horizons

Women Writers from the Arab World

What does it take to truly integrate? Policies alone do not build communities — people do. Crossing Horizons is an immersive exhibition that lets visitors experience the challenges of integration firsthand. Voices of influential women writers from the Arab world — women who have been fighting for social justice, women’s rights, and marginalized communities in their home countries for decades — make the struggle of integration tangible. Their expertise and intellectual potential are often destroyed in the country of arrival, and their identities are reduced to refugees who must integrate.

At the entrance of the exhibition you find the Integration Escape Room, an interactive installation where participants step into the shoes of these writers to experience the bureaucratic, cultural, and emotional obstacles that newcomers face during the integration process. This immersive experience invites visitors to take on the challenges of integration themselves, before entering the exhibition hall to discover the writers’ work, talents, and wisdom.

Crossing Horizons shifts the focus: instead of asking a newcomer “where are you from?” we ask “what drives you?” By fostering engagement between locals and newcomers, we invite the community to move beyond labels and recognise the talents, ambitions, and wisdom that enrich our shared society.

Join us for one of the many activities throughout the exhibition, including evenings of magical Middle Eastern music, symposia, artistic dinners and focus groups that promote dialogue and cultural exchange.