Syndicate: Border Crossing Services

[Syndicate admin <syndicate@v2.nl>]

Subject: BOUNCE syndicate@eg-r.isp-eg.de:    Non-member submission from [Martin 
Krenn <mkrenn@mail.t0.or.at>]
From: Martin Krenn <mkrenn@mail.t0.or.at>


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 L?neburg (D)
26.4. - 21.7.2001
Exhibition in the Pavel-Haus, Laafeld, on the Styrian-Slovenian border, as of: 
21.9.2001


"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 L?neburg.

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 L?neburg. 
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 "F?r 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 L?neburg: 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 
L?neburg, 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 L?neburg 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 L?neburg 
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. 




Contact: 
Oliver Ressler oliver.ressler@chello.at 
Martin Krenn, m.krenn@t0.or.at 
Projecthomepage: www.t0.or.at/fluchthilfe 


The project was sponsored by the Kunstraum of the University of L?neburg and 
Verein ?kologie und Kunst, which supports the cooperation of art and science in

the framework of cultural landscape research. 

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