THE BORDER PROJECT

Changing notions of borders in western Europe
(1993-1994)

A look at borders for their changing political significance and symbolic value. How borders leave their trace in the landscape, how we experience borders, and what borders mean (depending on who you are).

The work consists of four series of photographs:

Decommissioned Border Crossings: 5 albums of photographs of abandoned border crossings stretching along the frontier of France with Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.
18 10.5 x13 inch prints in each album. Album format: 20.5 x 24.5 inch.

Portrait of Refugees: Assylum-seekers from the former Yugoslavia photographed at a refugee camp in Sweden.
11 prints: 14 x 14 inch.

Railway Station: Passengers waiting. Being in transit; a state of mind.
9 prints: 14 x 14 inch.

Airport: The airport as internal frontier.
7 prints: 17 x21 inch.

The project catalog includes essays by Jean-Francois Chevrier
(Art historian and independent curator, Paris), Laura Trippi (Curator, New Museum, New York City) , and Reinhold Mißelback (Curator , Ludwig Museum, Koln, Germany)

Project Resume:

Exhibitions:

Galerie F-15, Alby, Norway: "James Welling and Mikael Levin" 1996

Goethe House and French Cultural Services, New York: "The Border Project" 1994

Publication:

Borders. Exhibition catalog, essays by Jean-Francois Chevrier, Reinhold Mißelbeck,
and Laura Trippi. Goethe House/French Cultural Servies, New York. 1994.

Collections:

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Statens Konstrad, Stockholm

Funding:

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Geothe House, New York

Reviews/ book publications:

Andre, Mila. "Bordering Europe's Recent Past" Daily News, 6/3/94
Åman-Gabrielsson, Catharina. Handla. "Borderline" Nerenias & Santerus Förlag, Stockholm 1997