Virtual Borders + + + travelling lightly + + + 2012/2013

Virtual Borders + + + travelling lightly + + + mit leichtem Gepäck + + +

A Project of Claudia Brieske and Leslie Huppert

Borders are generally seen as nonflexible barriers that restrain and give the illusion of keeping us out of harm’s way. Many borders involve human settlements and through this have the potential to be otherwise flexible. Their presence or non-presence is often based on cultural, social, political, religious backgrounds, and directions, which are always subject to change. This concealed reality is the reason why we refer to borders as virtual.

Virtual Borders is an ongoing project with different stations. The first station is in the Feste Dilsberg, an old castle-ruin from medieval times. It is located in the southwest of Germany, near the City of Heidelberg. For the first presentation in the Feste Dilsberg, we invited artists from different parts of the world to participate. We asked the artists to send videos, animations, and sounds that are connected to the theme of our concept. Whether it is metaphorical or literal, the concept is open to interpretation.

Examples: Borders between body and spirit/soul, real obstacles in landscapes like rivers, canyons and mountains, the border between life and death, borders between countries, between houses, fences, social borders/barriers, cultural borders, borders between races, gender based barriers, etc…

STATION I: The 1st presentation of the project took place at 25th of May 2012 at the Feste Dilsberg. The videos were shown projected onto different walls surrounding the castle and the commander’s house. Some of the videos were be shown inside an exhibition area in monitors.

STATION II: The 2nd presentation will be from 23th of August – 16th of September 2012 in the  Saarländische Galerie – Europäisches Kunstforum e.V.. Am Festungsgraben 1, 10117 Berlin. The videos will be shown in various monitors and projected onto the walls of the gallery installed on a scaffolding crossing three rooms of the gallery space.

STATION III: The 3rd presentation  will be realized in Oktober 2013 within the project GrensWerte / EUREGIO along the german - dutch border.