<nettime> project information "Border Crossing Services"

["Oliver Ressler" <oliver.ressler@chello.at>]

(via "geert lovink" <geert@xs4all.nl>)

Border Crossing Services

by Martin Krenn & Oliver Ressler

Direct mailing in Styria at the EU outer-border (A)
Exhibition in the Kunstraum of the University of Lüneburg (D)
26.4. - 21.7.2001
Exhibition in the Pavel-Haus, Laafeld, on the Styrian-Slovenian border,
as of: 21.9.2001

http://www.t0.or.at/fluchthilfe

"In fortress Europe you still have holes where we can enter, and people
are still entering." (Jean Jacques Effson Effa, The Voice)

The European Union member states' restrictive immigration regulations mean
that there is almost no chance to legally migrate to the EU and reside in
a member state. For those who want to enter, making use of border crossing
services is often the only possibility for penetrating "Fortress Europe."

The goal of the project "Border Crossing Services" ("Dienstleistung:
Fluchthilfe") is to redefine and highlight the positive aspects of terms
such as "smuggler" or "trafficker" which have been given a negative
connotation through the dominant medial discourse. In contrast to the
widespread model for representation, the actual act of "smuggling" is not
presented as a criminal exploitation of asylum seekers. Instead, we
highlight the service character of this business made necessary by
European policies of exclusion. Associated themes such as borders,
migration and escape were worked on in cooperation with anti-racist
groups, migrant organizations and students at the University of Lüneburg.

The project "Border Crossing Services" was realized in a variety of media
such as a direct mailing and a video which, together with additional
fields of information, form an exhibition in the Kunstraum Lüneburg. The
project is based on a process-oriented approach. Throughout the course of
the project, results from the different areas of research mutually
influenced the other aspects of the project.

Direct-mailing "Neues Grenzblatt" Participating groups: Platform "Für eine
Welt ohne Rassismus" (For a World without Racism), Forschungsgesellschaft:
Flucht und Migration (Research Group: Flight and Migration), TATblatt,
Zebra, Maiz, The Voice, Kanak Attak, TschuschenPower

In cooperation with anti-racist groups and migrant organizations, the
informational brochure "Neues Grenzblatt" was produced and distributed in
April 2001 along the outer-borders in Styria (A) to 12,000 households as a
direct-mailing. The layout had a "folksy" design to allow easier entry
into a confrontation with the themes. The popular design featuring
pictures of the region and headlines such as "Border Crossing - Quality
Services" is meant to arouse the curiosity of the region's inhabitants.
The readers are confronted with anti-racist positions and perspectives
which are marginalized in conservative media. In the text contributions
from the participating groups, all have employed a language which could
theoretically also appeal to readers less familiar with such material. The
informational brochure was also distributed at diverse events (some held
in public spaces) and in cooperation with leftist groups. The brochures
are also freely available at the exhibition.

Video "Border Crossing Services" A video (DV, color, 51 min), forms a
central element of the exhibition, and will also be shown at thematically
related events and alternative video festivals. It confronts the hegemonic
model for representation of "border crossing services" and migration.
Based on conversations carried out in Germany and Austria with immigrants
and persons involved in the political left, the basic theme was separated
into four sections for analysis and critique: "Who is allowed to
migrate?," "Celebrating and excluding," "About border crossing services"
and "Against racism." A representative of the activist group "Taxistas"
describes how taxi drivers in Germany are criminalized as "smugglers" for
transporting illegalized people. The section "Celebrating and excluding"
is a "short report" about the latest war machinery for border security,
eagerly presented by soldiers at a festival of the federal armed forces at
the Heldenplatz in Vienna on the Austrian national holiday. In the section
"About border crossing services," a conversation with a leading border
patrol officer in Frankfurt an der Oder shows contradictory arguments
which are used to try to legitimize racist mechanisms for exclusion. The
digital video premiered in March 2001 at the Diagonale, the Austrian film
festival, in the framework of the events series "Politik bilden!" ("Form
Politics!").

Exhibition "Border Crossing Services"
Project group Lüneburg: Tina Dust, Uta Gielke, Maja Grafe, Nina
Heinlein, Patricia Holder, Mara Horstmann, Sarah Kaeberich, Nina Koch,
Susanne Neubronner, Astrid Robbers, Stig Oeveraas, Sabine Zaeske

Starting from a block seminar which we carried out at the University of
Lüneburg, participating students formed a self-organized project group. In
order to counteract the hierarchical relations which can possibly develop
in the cooperative work between artists and students, we decided to
present together the works which we co-produced, the independently
produced contributions of the project groups and our own exhibition
contributions in a commonly created exhibition framework. All of the
exhibition contributions were discussed in working meetings held at
various stages of development. Thus, critique could subsequently be
integrated into the later stages of the production process.

During a visit to Frankfurt an der Oder, research was carried out at the
border. Elements of this research flowed into a video produced by the
students which deals with further facets of the theme of migration and
border crossing services. Conversations between members of the project
group with students in Frankfurt an der Oder, with representatives of the
migrant group "Kanak Attak" in Hamburg and with representatives of
"Netzwerk gegen Rechts" in Lüneburg form a pool of research which allows
insight into the local situations and reflects the students' approach to
the theme. The resulting video, edited by the project group was shown
along with the video "Border Crossing Services" as a video projection in
the exhibition.

In a wall installation, texts, direct-mailings and flyers refer to the
work of the groups who wrote articles for the "Neues Grenzblatt" and to
other contacted groups. Based on a seminar on racism led by Ulf Wuggenig
at the University of Lüneburg held during this time, the project group
chose quotes from the literature discussed and discussed them with us.
This is shown in an exhibit of text passages from the literature, which
together with anti-racist magazines form a theoretical framework for the
individual elements of the exhibition.

Projecthomepage: http://www.t0.or.at/fluchthilfe

The project was sponsored by the Kunstraum of the University of Lüneburg
and Verein Ökologie und Kunst, which supports the cooperation of art and
science in the framework of cultural landscape research.






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