Without borders? Some critical reflections on European and global border conditions – workshop and exhibition
Conceptualized by h.arta and Kontekst
Workshop: 31 October – 6 November at Kontekst Gallery Belgrade, Centar za kulturu “Stari Grad”, 6a, Kapetan Mišina
and
Exhibition: 7 – 15 November at Magacin, 4, Kraljevića Marka Street
In collaboration with: Lidija Antonović, Mirjana Dragosavljević, Tamara Đorđević, Bojana Matejić, Vladimir Miladinović, Aneta Stojnić, Nataša Tepavčević and Dejan Vasić
Concept
The project, “Without borders? Some critical reflections on European and global border conditions”, is conceptualized as a collaborative work between Kontekst Belgrade (Vida Knežević, Ivana Marjanović and Marko Miletić) and the h.arta group from Timisoara (Maria Crista, Anca Gyemant and Rodica Tache). It has been organized as part of KulturKontakt’s broader international “Without Borders” project which was initiated to mark the 20th jubilee of KulturKontakt Austria Artists-in-Residence-Programme and organized in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum. The h.arta group has been invited as one of the former participants in the residency program.
Bearing in mind the title of KulturKontakt’s overall project “Without borders”, the project we are developing for Belgrade will critically reflect on the issue of borders after the fall of the Berlin Wall and on the borderless new Europe. After 1989 and with the introduction of “Schengenland”1 as well as with the transition from communism and socialism to capitalism in Eastern Europe and the overall transformation of Western Europe due to the transformation of capitalism from Fordism to Postfordism or with the neoliberal push of a free market economy and deregulation, the historic (Westphalian) concept of sovereignty has weakened. Borders are disintegrating thus creating a new organization of space in Europe and the world (special economic zones where special – state of exception – legislation is in force, Fortress Europe etc). Thus, within the European Union border checkpoints have disappeared, visa applications have been abolished and special border regimes are being introduced for those countries which are about to join the European Union (for example: the White Schengen list, special trade agreements for countries which are not part of the EU including tax reductions for import-export, detention camps for “illegal” immigrants, Frontex etc). In this brutal regime everything which is seen to be an obstacle to the efficient circulation of capital has to be removed to ensure that the flow of goods that brings profit is not interrupted. Hence, the world has become “a world without borders” only for the power of capital and not for the people living in it (or at least not for all people).
While in order to ensure the endless circulation of capital, borders are on one hand disappearing, on the other hand they are constantly being reproduced on other levels (poverty, racism, patriarchy etc). As pointed out by philosopher Rada Iveković, borders are subject to constant reinterpretation, reincarnation and redrawing. The rich diversity of complex societies is evened out into a flat surface, whereby borders are introduced deep into the social canvas (“us” & “them”)… Creating some borders often enables others to be removed, but the principle of borders remains. 2
In her text dealing with the disappearance of borders after 1989 and the euphoria which accompanied the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall theoretician Marina Gržinić pointed out the need to establish a border – to draw a line of division that would re-articulate this new world that seems to be without borders and where the only thing that seems impossible is impossibility as such – which means to present, to take a clear political stance, to ask for a political act3.
Bearing in mind this complex and critical situation, the workshop and exhibition, “Without borders? Some critical reflections on European and global border conditions”, will deal with the different paradoxes accompanying the processes of disappearing borders such as the promotion of democracy, human rights and freedom of movement on one hand, and the intensification of racism, exclusion, exploitation, violence and the power of death within this new (united) Europe under neo-liberal capitalism on the other. Furthermore, the workshop will explore what it means to act politically nowadays.
Methodology
The workshop and exhibition have been developed as a platform for collaborative work between h.arta, Kontekst and the workshop participants. h.arta and Kontekst developed the concept together, and then through an open invitation participants for the workshop – students and young artists, art historians and theoreticians – were invited to join the project without any selection process. The research for the workshop starts before the workshop realization.
The seven day workshop will consist of theory reading groups, discussions, film/video screenings, exchanging research, text writing, photography production, production of art works in the form of posters, exhibition conceptualization and organization. The exhibition will be prepared collectively by h.arta, Kontekst and the workshop participants and it will consist of posters as well as a research material archive including selected films/videos. The aim of the research material archive is to contextualize the poster production.
1. Walters, W., & Haahr, J. H., “Governing Europe: Discourse, Governmentality and European Integration”, London: Routledge, 2005
2. Rada Iveković, “Translating Borders; Limits of nationalism, transnationalism, translationalism”, 2008, http://translate.eipcp.net/transversal/0608/ivekovic/en
3. Marina Gržinić, POLITICAL ACT IN CONTEMPORARY ART: DRAWING BORDERS, Reartikulacija, Issue 5
http://www.reartikulacija.org/RE5/ENG/reartikulacija5_ENG_grz.html
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Bez granica? Nekoliko kritičkih refleksija o evropskom i globalnom stanju granica – radionica i izložba
Koncept: h.arta i Kontekst
Radionica: 31. oktobar – 6. novembar u galeriji Kontekst u Beogradu, Centar za kulturu „Stari grad“, Kapetan-Mišina 6a
i
Izložba: 7. novembar – 15. novembar u Magacinu, u Ulici Kraljevića Marka br. 4.
U saradnji sa: Lidijom Antonović, Mirjanom Dragosavljević, Tamarom Đorđević, Bojanom Matejić, Vladimirom Miladinovićem, Bobom Mirjanom Stojadinović, Anetom Stojnić, Natašom Tepavčević i Dejanom Vasićem.
Koncept
Projekat „Bez granica? Nekoliko kritičkih refleksija o evropskom i globalnom stanju granica“ osmišljen je kao saradnja između Konteksta iz Beograda (Vida Knežević, Ivana Marjanović i Marko Miletić) i grupe h.arta iz Temišvara (Maria Crista, Anca Gyemant i Rodica Tache). Organizovan je kao deo KulturKontaktovog šireg međunarodnog projekta „Bez granica“, pokrenutog povodom dvadesetogodišnjeg jubileja ove organizacije, u saradnji s Austrijskim kulturnim forumom. Grupa h.arta je pozvana kao umetnička grupa koja je bila jedna od učesnica pomenutog programa. .
Imajući u vidu naslov KulturKontaktovog šireg projekta „Bez granica“ kao polazište, projekat koji razvijamo u Beogradu kritički će se osvrnuti na pitanje granica nakon pada Berlinskog zida i na pitanje nove Evrope bez granica. Posle 1989. godine i s uvođenjem „Šengen zemlje“,1 tranzicijom iz komunizma i socijalizma u kapitalizam u Istočnoj Evropi, sveopštom transformacijom Zapadne Evrope – transformacijom kapitalizma od Fordizma do Postfordizma , odnosno s neoliberalnim nametanjem tržišne ekonomije i deregulacije, oslabljen je istorijski (vestfalijski) koncept suvereniteta većine zapadnih i istočnih evropskih zemalja. Granice su dezintegrisane stvarajući novu organizaciju prostora u Evropi i svetu (posebne ekonomske zone u kojima vlada posebna tj. vanredna legislativa, tvrđava Evropa, itd). Tako su unutar Evropske unije nestali granični prelazi , zahtevi za vize su ukinuti. Posebni granični režimi se uvode za zemlje koje su na putu pridruženja Evropskoj uniji (kao što su na primer: Bela šengenska lista, posebni sporazumi o trgovini sa zemljama koje nisu deo EU-a, gde se porezi na uvoz i izvoz smanjuju , kampovi gde se zadržavaju “ilegalni” imigranti koji pokušavaju da imigriraju u EU, Fronteks itd.). U tom brutalnom režimu, sve što se vidi kao prepreka efikasnom kretanju kapitala mora biti uklonjeno, tako da ništa ne ometa protok robe koja donosi profit. Svet je tako postao „svet bez granica“ isključivo za moć kapitala, ali ne i za ljude koji u njemu žive (ili bar ne za sve ljude).
Dok granice s jedne strane nestaju, kako bi se obezbedilo neprekidno cirkulisanje kapitala, s druge strane se one neprekidno reprodukuju na drugim nivoima (siromaštvo, rasizam, patrijarhat itd.). Kao što je istakla filozofkinja Rada Iveković, granice su predmet neprestane reinterpretacije, reinkarnacije i redefinisanja. Bogatstvo raznolikosti kompleksnih društava svodi se na ravnu površinu, pri čemu se granice utkivaju duboko u društveno tkivo („mi“ i „oni“)… Kreiranje pojedinih granica često omogućava da neke druge budu uklonjene, ali princip granica ostaje.2
Teoretičarka Marina Gržinić istakla je u tekstu koji se bavi nestajanjem granica nakon 1989. godine i euforijom povodom dvadesete godišnjice pada Berlinskog zida da je neophodno uspostaviti granicu – povući liniju podele koja će reartikulisati ovaj novi svet koji izgleda kao da je bez granica i gde jedina stvar koja izgleda nemoguća jeste zapravo nemogućnost kao takva – što znači predstaviti, zauzeti jasan politički stav, zahtevati politički čin.3
Imajući na umu ovu kompleksnu i kritičnu situaciju, radionica i izložba „Bez granica? Nekoliko kritičkih refleksija o evropskom i globalnom stanju granica“ će se baviti različitim paradoksima procesa nestajanja granica, kao što su promocija demokratije, ljudskih prava i slobode kretanja, s jedne, i jačanje rasizma, isključivanje, eksploatacija, nasilje i moć smrti unutar nove (ujedinjene) Evrope pod neoliberalnim kapitalizmom, s druge strane. Pored ovoga, radionica će razmatrati šta danas znači politički delovati.
Metodologija
Radionica i izložba su konceptualizovane kao kolaborativni rad između h.arte, Konteksta i učesnika i učesnica radionice. Kontekst i h.arta su zajedno razvili koncept i uputili otvoreni poziv za radionicu – studentima/kinjama i mladim umetnicima/cama, istoričarima/kama i teoretičarima/kama umetnosti – da se kao učesnici/ce priključe projektu. Istraživanje za radionicu počinje pre radionice.
Sedmodnevna radionica koju će voditi grupe h.arta i Kontekst sastojaće se od čitanja tekstova,, diskusije, prikazivanja filmova/videa, razmene rezultata istraživanja, pisanja tekstova, izrade fotografija, izrade umetničkih radova u formi plakata, konceptualizacije i organizacije izložbe. Izložbu će zajednički pripremiti h.arta, Kontekst i učesnici i učesnice radionice, i sastojaće se od plakata, kao i od arhive istraživačkog materijala, uključujući tu i odabrane filmove/video radove. Svrha arhive istraživačkog materijala jeste da kontekstualizuje izradu plakata.
1. Walters, W., & Haahr, J. H., “Governing Europe: Discourse, Governmentality and European Integration”, London: Routledge, 2005
2. Rada Iveković, “Translating Borders; Limits of nationalism, transnationalism, translationalism”, 2008, http://translate.eipcp.net/transversal/0608/ivekovic/en
3. Marina Gržinić, POLITICAL ACT IN CONTEMPORARY ART: DRAWING BORDERS, Reartikulacija, Issue 5, http://www.reartikulacija.org/RE5/ENG/reartikulacija5_ENG_grz.html
