The Large Glass No

THE LARGE

GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 јournal of contemporary art, culture and theory

ISSN 1409-5823 03

9 771409 582008 The Large Glass No. 29 / 30, 2020 (Journal of Contemporary Art, Culture and Theory)

Published twice a year. Price for a single copy 500 MKD, Annual subscription: 1000 MKD

Publisher: Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje Address: Samoilova 17, MK - 1000 Skopje Tel: (++) 389 2 110 123 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.msu.mk

Director: Mira Gakjina

Editor-in-Chief: Tihomir Topuzovski

Editorial Board: Zoran Petrovski, Stephen Duncombe, Jovanka Popova, Melentie Pandilovski, Zdenka Badovinac, Slavco Dimitrov, Yane Calovski, Lauren Andres, Artan Sadiku, Hristina Ivanoska, Ljiljana Nedelkovska, Mark Bassin and Maja Ciric.

Layout: PrivatePrint

Printed by: Cokolograﬁja, Skopje

Copyediting/proofreading: Nick Abraham

Copies: 1000

The postage fee for sending the magazines abroad is charged according to the current price list of Post of Macedonia and is paid when the subscription is purchased.

ISSN: 1409 - 5823

Financially supported by: THE LARGE

GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 Cover: Richard Mosse, Still from Incoming, 2014-17 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York CONTENT: 2 Tihomir Topuzovski: Introduction - The Migrant Flows at the Edge of Artistic-Political MIGRANT ARTS AS PRACTICES OF BEING POLITICAL 5 Thomas Nail: What are the Migrant Arts? 10 Stefan Jonsson: Aesthetic Knowledge of Social Transfor- mations: Migrant Agency and Political Emergence in the Artwork 18 Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary:The risk of being a-political: 92 can “border art” become a polity-call? Francis Alÿs: Don’t Cross the Bridge Before You Get to 26 the River 2008 Maggie O’Neill and John Perivolaris: Critical Theory in INTO THE DETENTION CENTRES AND PLACES OF Practice: Walking, Art and narrative as conjunctural SHRINKING VISIBILITIES analysis 97 32 Robert Atanasovski Richard Mosse: Incoming and Heat Maps 104 MAPPING BORDERS AND FLOWS Bishnupriya Ghosh: The Refugee Within: Becoming Dis- 49 posable in Modern India Nishat Awan: On navigating horizonless worlds: a count- 112 er-geography of border regimes MINIPOGON 55 116 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix (MAP Office): a mirror of the World The Island of the Misfits 62 125 Krista Lynes: How the World is not a Map: The Political Communism or extinction: Interview with Aesthetics of Mapping Migrant Journeys Franco “Bifo” Berardi by Tihomir Topuzovski 74 128 Zineb Sedira:The Death of a Journey and Framing the view The MoCA’s Exhibition: All that We Have in Common 82 136 Allan deSouza: Through the Black Country Contributors Tihomir Topuzovski Images of migrants being transferred between borders or places have become a key tool for understanding migratory phenomena. These include images of migrants being Introduction caught up in processes of intensive territorialization, which result in the bounding and organising of territories and the shaping of demarcation lines as a result of the current THE MIGRANT FLOWS AT THE waves of human movement and pressure on borders. The image of the migrant ‘allows EDGE OF ARTISTIC-POLITICAL us to understand the common social conditions and subject positions of a host of related mobile figures: for example, the floating population, the homeless, the stateless.1 The political and geographical significance is that ’border areas - zones, countries, and cities - are not marginal to the constitution of a public sphere but rather are at the center.’2 Further, the importance of this lies in various social fields in which ‘the organization of space, even formal materialisation and demarcation, imbuing borders and boundaries with significant regulatory power’3 depends on the visions of society projected by the state authorities regarding who belongs and who does not, in that sense, ‘the figure of the migrant is broader than specific groups of migrants defined by crossing national borders’4 where ‘flows are not only physical, metabolic, or statistical but also social’5 and cultural. This implies that ‘the construction of reality, quite simply, depends on borders, or ‘the meaning, content, form, and discourse in the physical, social, and political worlds require distinct delimitations, formulated by, through, over and under different kinds of borders and boundings’6 where ‘everything begins with them, and all paths lead back to them.’ Thus, according to Agamben, the question of borders becomes crucial, where ‘refugees (whose number has continued to grow in our century, to the point of including a significant part of humanity today) represent such a disquieting element in the order of the modern nation-state, this is above all because by breaking the continuity between man and citizen, nativity and nationality.7 Further, Mebembe draws attention to the dominant perception of foreigners and ‘hordes of migrants in whose faces our doors must be slammed shut; about the barbed wire that we must hastily erect lest we get swamped by a tide of savages; about the borders that must be reestablished as if they had never disappeared.’8 In this way, they are arrested and excluded from cities because ‘the truly dangerous classes are not so much the uncivilized ones thought to undermine society from below, but rather the migrants who move at the borders between classes’9 in a broad range of overlapping social contexts. A key proposition that guides this issue of the Large Glass is that human flows in specific geographical and historical circumstances involve a series of representations, images and visual evidence. Moreover, the importance of such representational practices can be better understood by first grasping the visibility of different migrant groups, and their potentialities for political agency and emancipation through new forms of knowledge. According to Berardi, these points can be understood in some sense as a kind of a rebellion against extinction and he goes on to state that ‘this is the beginning of a culture of transitoriness and of rage against’10 the present social conditions and political regimes. As the preceding discussion indicates, a broad range of substantive themes in a variety of interconnected contexts and perspectives are presented in this volume of the Large Glass. The set of examined points and works of art relate to a wide selection of themes, which are broadly associated with migrant agency and borders, detentions, spaces in in-between, inclusion and exclusion. I decided on a division of parts that emphasizes three distinct interconnected aspects closely linked through their common engagement regarding the theme of migration. The materials in part one attempt to illustrate how human flows and the new arrangement of borders can be embodied in artistic practices, creating ‘migrant art’. Migrant art, or bordering art is based on migrant experiences and can critically approach and describe how ‘borders are not just hard territorial lines - they are institutions and the ter- ritorialisation process results from bordering policies - they are, thus, about people; and, for most settled territories, they are predominantly about inclusion and exclusion, as they are woven into varied cultural, economic and political fabrics’.11 Artistic practices can critically respond to these processes, and to a certain extent, this results in representions of journeys that give migrants voices, which can be heard by others. Migrant artworks

2 are exhibited through various venues and channels that make a vital contribution to the formation of spaces of resistance and the mobilisation of public opinion. Part two aims to generate discussion of the migrant phenomena and to provide a ‘lens’ through the use of maps and data to assist in visualising and understanding human flows. On this basis, I have selected a series of texts and projects that generate insight and knowledge about flows of migrants in vast areas that are not directly observable. This can be clearly seen as a precise, but also symbolic, shorthand for complex situations of migration where ‘boundaries are automatically recognizable as the straight geometric lines running through’12 political spatialities and the human movements in betweenness of spaces, borders but also beyond the official control by state authorities. The findings 1. Nail, Thomas. The Figure of the Migrant demonstrate variations in mapping between different cases, and in addition, some art- (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015), 11. works illuminate the process of mapping of displaced populations in alternative, and 2. Balibar, E. For We, the People of Europe?: Reflections on Transnational Citizenship. much more figurative, ways. (Princeton University Press, 2004), 2. The final section highlights the spaces of detention where contributions are focused 3. Soja, E. “Borders Unbound.” In B/ordering on the conditions in camps, spaces which can be characterized as a landscape of exclu- space, edited by V. Houtum, O. Kram, and W. sion. Thus, these ‘new patterns of inclusion and exclusion implicate a modern form of Zierhofer, 33-47, p 34. ASHGATE, 2005 . territoriality, and the concomitant discursive and conceptual structures which support 4. Nail, “The figure,” 16. them’.13 In relation to this, Davies and Isakjee state that ‘from Lampedusa in Italy to Cal- 5. ibid., 26. ais in France, a constellation of camps has spread across’14 the world. Indeed, as not- 6. Ackleson, Jason. “Discourse of identity ed, the politics of exclusion define more than ever the power struggles of contemporary and territoriality on the US-Mexico border”. politics and this modern form of territoriality, the refugee camp is becoming or, indeed, In Geopolitics at the end of the twentieth century: The changing world political map, has become Europe’s response to the crisis continuing to unleash privation and mortality edited by N. Kliot and D. Newman,155-180, p. on the bodies of countless migrants…].15 The features of such a space characterise a 159. London: Routledge, 2000. landscape of exclusion, where the spatial structure, therefore, can ‘both strengthen and 7. Agamben, Giorgio. Homo Sacer: Sovereign weaken social boundaries, by either exposing a population and making it more conspicu- Power and Bare Life. Translated by Daniel 16 Heller- Roazen. Stanford, California: Stanford ous or, conversely, rendering the group less visible.’ This shrinking visibility is important University Press, 1998, 131. because it is ‘the way in which they appear among us that create within populations a 17 8. Mbembe, Achille. Necro-Politics. Translat- chronic, existential anxiety’ in understanding how borders migrants, refugees, and asy- ed by Steven Corcoran. Durham, NC: Duke lum seekers might be considered as being excluded from their surroundings, detained in University Press, 2019, 61. betweenness, where borders are the name used ‘to describe the organized violence’.18 9. Ranciere, Jacques. “Le bon temps ou la The present volume, therefore, offers insights into these three diverse aspects of ‘mi- barriere des plaisirs.” Revoltes Logiques, no. 7 (1978). Reprinted in English in Voices of the gration’ and ‘migrant art’ in relation to the present migration crisis. This contributes to the People: The Social Life of ‘La Sociale’ at the contemporary debate and visual articulations regarding the on-going displacement and End of the Second Empire, edited by Adrian exclusions that are happening today and where much remains to be done in terms of the Rifkin and Roger D.Thomas, 45–94, p.50. Lon- humanitarian response. don: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988. 10. Berardi, Franco “Bifo”. Game Over. 2019. https://www.e-flux.com/journal/100/268601/ game-over/ 11. Brunet-Jailly, E. “Special Section: Bor- ders, Borderlands and Theory: An Introduc- tion.” Geopolitics, 16, no.1 (2011):1-6. P.3. 12. Newman, David. “Borders and Bordering: Towards an Interdisciplinary Dialogue.” Eu- ropean Journal of Social Theory 9, no. 2 (May 2006): 171–86. 13. Ackleson, “Discourse of identity”, 158. 14. Davies, Thom, and Arshad Isakjee. “Ge- ography, migration and abandonment in the Calais refugee camp.” Political Geography 100, no. 49 (2015): 93-95. 15. Ibid. p. 93. 16. Sibley, David. “Outsiders in society and space.” Inventing places: Studies in cultural geography (1992): 107-122. 17. Mbembe, “Necro-Politics”, 102. 18. Ibid., 99.

3 MIGRANT ARTS AS PRACTICES OF BEING POLITICAL THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - How many times can a false idea How many times can One can think of how a single leak in The dialectic between borders and Thomas Nail: What are the Migrant Arts? 5 through and under, and rebuilt. For exam - rebuilt. and and under, through funnel border can ple, the U.S./Mexico trap of the desert, the middle people into under the U.S., drive them them inside even or through it, and can it, above it, countless inspire can Borders them. kill never and stories, but can works of art stop people from moving. movement cause like borders stopping before we see death and destruction many exceptions what is going on? How movement” have to the rule of “stopping time to find a new to emerge before it’s arts can help rule? I think the migrant on. The more bar us see what is going riers there are, the more differences and differences more the are, there riers under the con- aesthetic hybrids multiply straints. The migrant arts can help show us all the ways that one can move and how these ways can be experienced They may not always be lib- differently. erating or joyful, but at least they show us what migration is about in all its complexity and singularity whereas borders, do not. however, a pipe begins to multiply the more duct on. At first, the water tape one put’s seems to slow down, but then it begins to drip out several sides of the tape at once. only redirects the flows but does Taping think about not stop them. Alternatively, advertis- Internet between dialectic the ing and ad-blocking software. Each new ad wants to control your movement and direct you to its source, and each new version of ad-removal software intends to let you move as you wish. The more new kinds of ads there are, the more new kinds of ad-evading software there is. The attempt to control your browsing through ads does not reduce differences but multiplies evasion techniques and ad think about how techniques. Similarly, each new law or increased enforcement strategy increases the number of criminals and ways of avoiding detection. The mo- block to attempts same: the is point bility only diversify it, although often with terrible consequences. proliferating margins is what is fueling The the spread of the migrant arts today. more widespread and differentiated mo- - and Their 1 borders The explosion of the 2 . The more social bor orders The migrant arts are the result of a No generalizations about “the mi- However, the process of migration is migration of process the However, dialectic between political migrant arts today foregrounds a unique social and aesthetic experience of am- Creativity and hope mixed with biguity. profound sadness and loss. situations are far too complex for either. situations are far too complex for either. extreme the capture to suffice arts” grant and uneven diversity of the situation of Migrants migrants’ today or in history. have gone by many names throughout They have been called “no- history. mads,” “barbarians,” “vagabonds,” and the United Nations “proletarians.” Today, Whatever “migrants.” them calls simply their names and motives, migrants have also been great inventors of new artistic and social forms, though they have often suffered terribly. aesthetic ders there are, the more they tend to leak It is with new experiences of mobility. a common misconception that borders stop movement. Borders are not static barriers, and they cannot stop human they tend to prolif- movement. Rather, erate it, although in mostly destructive ways. Borders are continually shifting, being skirted around, eroded, burrowed exceptionally uneven and highly ambigu- exceptionally uneven marginalize ous. This because societies varying degrees migrants and exiles to along axes of race, class, and gender. The migrant arts have, thus, given birth - novel ex freedom, beauty, to great joy, pression alongside great sadness, trau- should ma, loss, and untimely death. We not romanticize or exile the migrant arts. Nor should we merely pity those forced to leave their homes or homelands. -

“Art is a migrant - it travels from “Art is a migrant - to the eye, the vision of the artist of the listener.” mind and heart ear, -Shailja Patel, Migritude fifteen were there ago, years Thirty alongside the spread of However,

Migrant Arts? Migrant What are the the are What Thomas Nail Thomas border walls around the world. Now, border walls around the world. Now, there are seventy walls and over one billion national and international migrants. International migrants alone may even double in the next forty years due to global warming. It is not surprising that we increasingly an of rise the seen also have powerful global climate-security mar sustain and from profit to designed ket these crises over the past two decades. The construction of walls and fences to block rising sea levels and incoming people has become one of the world’s fastest-growing industries, alongside Econ- deportation. and detention migrant project it to reach $742 billion by omists 2023. This increase in human migration and borders has been a defining feature of the 21st century so far. global borders and security markets is also an incredible proliferation of “the As I understand them, migrant arts.” the migrant arts include art made by migrants or about migration, or both. Migrants have produced works of art in stories, or phones, on canvas, on cell of objects carried on their assemblies journeys. They have documented their journeys in collaboration with others, and many of these artworks have traveled as “migrant artworks” through curatori- al networks, the Internet, and museum op- have thus, museums, Such circuits. erated as relay systems for circulating migrant art around the world. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 6 Thomas Nail:Whatarethe MigrantArts? dynamic. Theyask theworldtochange makes themigrantartssopowerful and else? Thisisyetanotherambiguity that conditions thatcreatedit,orsomething aim to abolish itself or perpetuate the academics study?Isthemigrant arts’ though, whatwouldcuratorsshare and If forcedmigrationendedtomorrow, bitions onmigration,exile,andthearts. keep upwithallconferencesandexhi- tural phenomenon.Itisnowdifficultto arts isaburgeoningacademicandcul- gularity oftheprocess. to hearwhatisgoingonandfeelthesin- should payattentiontothemigrantarts mean? Itmeansthatweall,ascan, support themigrantarts.Whatdoesthis is crucialforcitizensofallcountriesto mation oftheexisting(b)orders.Today, it that theyinciteandpromptatransfor about thenatureofmigrantartsis prompt thisquestion. be? Themigrantarts,bytheirexistence, punctuated bymomentsofstability. to awholenewparadigmofongoingflux tuated bymomentsofcrisisisgivingway which theoldparadigmofstabilitypunc- we havecrossedacriticalthresholdin Now, attheturnof21stcentury, breakdown ofanolderstaticworldview. proportions. Itispartofamoregeneral formative contradictionofmurderous without stoppingthem. but itonlyredirectsfuturemovements destroy waterandfoodleftformigrants, can patch the holes in their borders and fund visitingartistvisas.Governments New organizationsthenemergetohelp visas hardertogetandmoreexpensive. keep migrantartistsoutbymakingartist For example,governmentscantryto to these new orders, in afeedbackloop. ical borders.Morebordersthenrespond thetic ordersproliferateundernewpolit- are beautifulandpoignant.Novelaes- stories are just as heartbreaking as they stories therearetotell.Manyofthese bility is, the more new experiences and The currentinterestinthemigrant The firstoftwopointsIwanttomake What will the next moment of stability The globalbordercrisisisaper The ArtofTransformation - - the conditionsthatproducedart. social formthroughout humanhistory. in creatingandreproducingalmost every that migrantsandtheirlaborhave played themselves andtheworld. arts prompttheviewertotransform performance ofmigration,the migrant because theyarealsoentangledinthe remain variousandmultiple.However, the processesthatwentintoartwork even inasingleworkbyartist, political andaestheticworld.Ofcourse, plicitly indialoguewiththebroadergeo- of migrantexperiencebutcreateartex- arts are not necessarily representations condition theirlivedmobility. Themigrant grant arts,thus,haveastheirconstitutive cal andgeographicalconditions.Themi- it directly. sent thatexperienceordoesnotaddress work eveniftheartworkdoesnotrepre- work. Thejourneyisimmanenttotheart- material conditionsforcreatingtheart- migrant’s realmovementwaspartofthe art that cannot be bracketed out. The is ageographicalfeatureofthework at all.Still,thefactthattheyareinOslo about ortiedtotheirmigration“story” may do abstract art in Oslo that is not that madetheworkpossible. representations grants andsharedwiththeworldarenot the “we.”Works ofartproducedbymi- most fundamental of political categories: aesthetic aim is the transformation of the The migrant arts’ primary political and lation orfetishizationbut migrant artsshouldnotbeaboutassimi- thoughts regardingthemigrantarts. art andpolitics,Iwouldliketoofferafew to understandmigrationincontemporary of thistension?Asaphilosophertrying migrant arts.Howarewetomakesense and highlighting the prompts social and aesthetic change by ly dividedworld.Rather, theworkofart grant artworkshowsthevieweraglobal- and the viewer. It is not just that the mi- material transformationsoftheworld politicalambiguityattheheartof This ispartoftheprofoundaesthetic A politicalparallelhereisthe role Art canneverbelocateditshistori- For example, a Syrian migrant artist My first thoughtis that supporting the of process of movement of process something, but real transformation .

stitutive importance for an explicit recognition of their contemporary politics.Migrantsarecalling or atleastlessvisible. riences ofwhatwaspreviouslyinvisible, the previouslyinvisiblelaborandexpe- ists andmuseumsarerenderingvisible words, whatishappeningnowthatart- have beenthematizedassuch.Inother art andworlds,althoughtheymaynot have alwaysbeenconstitutiveaspectsof artists. However, migrants and migration exception totheruleofnationalartand grant artrecentlythatappearstobethe cally, viewers may have seen more mi- aesthetics ofthemigrantarts.Aestheti- “migrants.” reflect thecontributionofmigrantsas when artoreconomydonotexplicitly transform economies.Thisistrueeven experience, justasmigrantlaborers Migrant artiststransformsensationand ample, istheunwritten movementthat Migration andmigrantwriting, forex- are madeandreproducedbymigrants. makes thepoints,justasnation-states are primary, but in reality, movement figure ofthemigrantinsocial system. represent orvaluethemovingpolitical unrepresented. Similarly, statesdonot bile points,realmovementisultimately nothing but a series of spatially immo- along thelineAB,butsincethisis and aestheticconsequences. membership. This definition has political permanently lacksthisstabilityorsocial migrant astheonewhotemporarilyor social stabilityasprimaryanddefinesthe to another. Thisdefinitionpresupposes to countryB-fromonefixedsocialpoint as someonewhomovesfromcountryA transforming economies. the art world, just as migrant laborers are izens. just therightofmigrantsaspotentialcit- demanding rights groups such as ‘No One is Illegal’ are A similar shift is happening in con- In thisway, thereisaunique political In thisgeometricaldefinition,points This definition represents movement The UnitedNationsdefinesamigrant 3 Migrantartistsaretransforming Migrant ArtinMotion for migrants for as migrants as andnot . Activist THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - - crisis” to “crisis” s migrant “crisis” is a product s just get things back to normal sta- normal to back things get just s The real question is how we ever is how we The real question The problem with the prevailing in- ’ Today many of the same his- Unfortunately, these migrants re- Simultaneously, Thomas Nail: What are the Migrant Arts? 7 ginal phenomena. think as if societies came to act and of circulation that were not processes conditions their as migration on relied the earth of reproduction. In addition, migratory in nature, itself, was first also into metastable and only later did it settle and atmospheric patterns of geological did Why Holocene). the (e.g., circulation as a stable sur we ever think of the earth activity in the face, immune from human first place? terpretation of climate change and mi- that paradigm flawed the that is gration has defined the “crisis,” the notion of stasis, is also proposed as the solution, “Let’ bility again.” In short, I think we need a new paradigm that does not use the the generated that tools same solve it - i.e., capitalism, colonialism, and the nation-state. of the paradox at the heart of the capitalist, territorial nation-state form, just as the climate crisis is an expression of the anthropocentrism at the heart of these forms. Therefore, the solutions will not but only in crisis come from the forms from the birth of new forms-in-motion. These new forms begin instead with the theoretical importance of the figure of mobility that is dissolving the old forms. torical techniques of expulsion are still Many migrants in the US in effect today. and Europe, both documented and un- of sectors whole sustain documented, economic and social life that would collapse without them. Even when migrants are not directly producing art, they are and material the reproducing continually social conditions of the arts and artists. main largely depoliticized and denied status compared with the citizens their labor sustains. Just as Greeks and Ro- mans were capable of incredible military, - a pro but have played society outside reproductive role throughout ductive and constitu- movements are Migrant history. of transformative elements tive and even or mar rather than exceptional society, - - - - .

expansion by expul- by “expansion we” of political history political of “we” ” However, mobility is a is mobility However, “crisis.” The recent explosion of mi- 4 Civilization has always expanded by has always expanded Civilization Unfortunately, the dominant frame- Unfortunately, movement-oriented more a From This will be the century of the migrant the of century the be will This I want to stress, though, that it has they were criminalized using legal tech using criminalized they were niques and incarcerated in the first pris incarcerated in the first niques and modern the early the rise of that led to ons has In the modern era, capitalism state’s. exploited them. economically tion. I call this “expansion by expulsion.” we see all today, When we look around tech dispossession devastating these niques at work in various combinations niques at work in various expelling a portion of its migratory popula portion of its migratory expelling a from the perspective of the migrants who produced and continue to reproduce it. work for thinking about the migration en- is crisis climate related the and crisis tirely upside down because it starts from hu- that the earth and It assumes stasis. man society are separable and static, or at least stable structures. It believes that the future should continue to be stable as then well and that, if there is no stability, a is there or was there that assume we if only crisis should be stasis in the first place. perspective, we can see that the opposite is true. Humans were first migratory in nature, and only later settled into more metastable patterns of social-circulation. These patterns were made historically possible by the social expulsion and dispossession of migrants. Migrants are not gration and mobility today demands that the rethink all we because the return of these historical because the return social of methods that look carefully, sion” can reveal, if we migrant arts have the migrant and the of political aes- always been constitutive migrants are nei- thetics. In other words, ther marginal nor exceptional figures, but rather essential groups through which all sustained have societies existing hitherto and expanded their social and aesthetic forms. A list of great migrant artists, scientists, and philosophers would be so long that I will not even attempt to present one here. been a structural feature of all hitherto existing states and economies to expand and reproduce themselves by expelling migrants.

------. act The Art of the Dispossessed territorially, politically, legally, legally, politically, territorially, . Second, they prompt one to I am arguing here that migrant art here that migrant I am arguing that there are This does not mean Migrants, however, have always have however, Migrants, Instead of an opposition between the motion and economically deprived peoples. They have been occupied, enslaved, milita al fencing. In the ancient world, they lost their right to free movement and inclusion with the development of walls to keep out foreigners. In the European Middle Ages, ploited in the name of progress and civi lization. In the Neolithic world, they were dispossessed from the land by agricultur included as rized, criminalized, and economically ex tory. That is, they have been included but That is, they have been included but tory. formance of the archival process itself as itself process archival the of formance a material condition of such a division. This is what migrant writing can reveal makes writing possible. Just as the hand, as the hand, Just writing possible. makes unre- movement remain arm, and body is of- human migration corded in writing, written. invisible in what is ten rendered points fixed between exist just not does texts. national traditions and of legible historical condi- Migration is the material Migration is part tion of all social writing. of writing of the immanent performance mi- the Therefore, itself. art-making or limit of the arts grant arts are at the very challenging to ex- because they are so hibit or archive. that migrant no migrant arts but rather and culture are constitu- bodies, labor, other peo- tive elements of reproducing artistic social orders. Artists wrote ple’s of backs on canon literary Western the migrants, including slaves, displaced In- digenous peoples, and the colonized. In this context, the challenge of the migrant arts is twofold. First, they challenge one to see that artistic inscription (in any medium) is a constitutive and material or transform the definition of writing to include both oral and performative cultural productions. Speech and writing share a common migrant, performative, and mobile core. been “constitutively excluded” from his archive and the repertoire, we can look to the material, historical, and kinetic per THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 8 Thomas Nail:Whatarethe MigrantArts? the caravanan “invasion” and“anas- quences. President Donald Trump called the UnitedStateshaddisastrous conse- avan asaformofmilitary“invasion” of the recentSouthAmericanmigrant car cious effectofcriminalizingmigrants. oric andthisrhetoricoftenhastheperni- anti-immigrant representationsandrhet- The migrantartsareunderattackby rial, social,andaestheticcontributions. cious repudiationofmigrants’realmate- grants asdangerouscriminalsisamali- the UnitedKingdom, invasion” of “American civilization.” In worried abouta“Mexicanimmigrant Huntington andPatrickBuchananhave United States,peoplesuchasSamuel media tendstodescribemigrants.Inthe xenophobic portrayals.Considerhowthe migration comparedtomostmediaand velop abetterimageandlanguageof Europeans andAmericanstoday. cheap orfreemigrantlabor, soitiswith the condition of the political expulsion of political, andaestheticexpansiononlyon against neighbors.” waves havebecomeatool,weapon of anewhybrid war, in which migratory claimed, “andsomeevencallitakind of anewformpoliticalpressure,”Tusk slowly becoming witnessestothebirth be “stemmedandmanaged.”“We are rope,” producing“chaos”thatneedsto a “greattide”thathas“floodedintoEu- barbarians. Tusk saysthatrefugeesare aphors usedbyRomanstodepoliticize “dangerous waters”andmilitarymet- has describedrefugeeswiththesame of theEuropeanCouncil,DonaldTusk, will bethesame.”Evenpresident fourth century, and the consequences will be likethebarbarianinvasion of the rally in2015that“thismigratoryinflux ence tothebarbarianinvasionofRome. Europe’s gates”-adirecthistoricalrefer “fearful dispossessed”whoare“rattling ended bydescribingrefugeesasthe lished aneditorialonEurope’s crisisthat In particular, themediadepictionof This rhetorical description of immi- The migrantartscanalsohelpde- In France,MarineLePensaidata 5 The Guardian The Dangerous Waters pub- - - army of the poor.” used socialmediatodescribe“aragtag Press calleditan“armyofmigrants”and sault onourcountry.” TheAssociated writing aremorethan demonstrate mypointthatspeechand culture ofracism.Theseconsequences effects formigrantsbymaintaininga migration isnotneutralbutcanhavereal disavow them. Public commentary about ti-immigrant rhetoricalstrategiesthat merely symbolic,neitherarethean- of theglobal“we.” grant artsthatproposeatransformation phobic rhetoricisaresponsetothemi- post-colonial Western countries.Xeno- litical and aesthetic order at the heart of art thatexposestherealconstitutivepo- undermine migrants’abilitytomakethe US andEurope.Allthisrhetoricseeksto with amassivepopularresurgenceinthe itary invasionisanoldhistoricaltactic migrants asaviolent,criminal,andmil- criminals. The explicit media framing of that alsoaffectlegalpolicy, lawenforce but asculturalandaestheticstructures just asdividinglinesbetweencountries should bemore directlypartofpublic nophobic ornationalistic.Migrant voices vision, andwayofthinkingthatis notxe the migrantartstohelpshapealanguage, ization ofmigrants.Itisalsowhy we need we needtorefusetherhetoricalcriminal lives anddeathsofmigrants.This iswhy ment, electoralpolitics,thearts,and neither freenormerelyspeech. tical consequences.“Freespeech,”is terial actwithmaterialaffectsandprac- act ofspeakingorwritingisalsoama- public opinion migrant militiagroupsandhelpedturn hate groups,helpedmobilizeanti-im- grants, alongsidetheriseofonlineracist the border. with liveroundsiftheythrewstonesnear border patrolagentstoshootmigrants grant caravan.PresidentTrump eventold Jewish groupwassupportingthemi- Life SynagogueinPittsburgbecausea murdered elevenpeopleattheTree of and detained in cages, refugees arebeingdeportedfromtheUS Just asthemigrantartsarenot We shouldthinkaboutbordersnot This rhetoricalcriminalizationofmi- against 7 6

Robert Bowers then what refugees.Now as if as theysay. The they were - - - personal identities. transformation of national, cultural, and insufficient policywithoutthe aesthetic Solidarity, therefore,isanecessary but Sanctuary withoutartisonlyhumanism. the social“we”changesand widens. their voices and stories. Art is part of how if migrantsdonothaveaplacetoshare cial support,andservicesarenotenough idarity citiesthatprovideprotection,so- needed tomakeandexperienceart.Sol- to thearts,”thatincludeseverything the city,” mightwealsoimagine“aright many worldsfit. arts. “We” mustmakeaworldinwhich “we” whoreceiveandexperiencethese a collectivesocialtransformationofthe inseparable fromthepoliticalprojectof tionalist disavowal.Themigrantartsare receive themigrantartsagainsttheirna- justice andsolidarity. Itisnotenoughto commitment totheprojectofmigrant transformative powerofthemigrantarts. similate art.Both,intheirway, denythe to changethe“we”whotolerateandas- tolerance ofdifferencethatalsorefuses ceive theart.Thesecondishumanist the socialandaesthetic“we”whore- first is the nationalist refusal to change barriers toreceivingthemigrantarts.The for therighttohavemakeart. human rightsbutaresingulardemands are not about mere bodies endowed with not closedofftoothers.Themigrantarts new homeandaworld;onethatis the possibilityforeveryonetomakea and aesthetictransformation.Theyopen migrant artsasthepotentialforpolitical new world - tend to travel alongside the home, andthecommitmenttomakinga imagination, creativity, hopeforanew accompany exile and arrival - including the “we”itselfopensupandchanges to feel,see,andunderstandotherssothat tional “we,”themigrantartsinvitepeople uses arigidandcloseddefinitionofna doing this.Whileanti-immigrationrhetoric discussion. Art museums are onewayof Just asactivistsspeakofa“rightto The migrantartsaskforapolitical In thisway, thereareatleasttwo The mixedfeelingsandthoughtsthat A RighttotheArts . - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 Thomas Nail: What are the Migrant Arts? 9 - , 6 October The Telegraph 10/22/18 01:02 PM EDT. https://thehill. 10/22/18 01:02 PM EDT. 2015, telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ - eu/11915798/EU-chief-Migrant-influx-is-cam paign-of-hybrid-warfare-by-neighbours-to- force-concessions.html. for tweet calling 6 Joe Concha, “AP apologizes army of the poor’” migrant caravan ‘a ragtag The Hill rope/11887091/EU-chief-Close-the-doors-and- - windows-as-millions-more-migrants-are-com ing.html; is “EU chief: Migrant influx Matthew Holehouse, to hybrid warfare’ by neighbours ‘campaign of force concessions,” com/homenews/media/412553-ap-apologizes- for-tweet-calling-migrant-caravan-a-ragtag-ar my-of-the-poor 7 cjr.org/covering_trump/caravan-trump.php; democracynow.org/2018/11/2/headlines/ - trump_ramps_up_migrant_attacks_says_sol diers_can_shoot_migrants; - researchgate.net/profile/Yin_Paradies/publi - cation/320798265_Cyber_Racism_and_Com munity_Resilience_Strategies_for_Com- bating_Online_Race_Hate/links/5a17594b- - 4585155c26a781f3;Cyber-Racism-and-Commu - nity-Resilience-Strategies-for-Combating-On line-Race-Hate.pdf; washingtonpost.com/gd- - pr-consent/?destination=%2fworld%2fnation al-security%2fus-militia-groups-head-to-borde r-stirred-by-trumps-call-to-arms%2f2018 %2f11%2f03%2fff96826c-decf-11e8-b3f0- 62607289efee_story.html%3f&utm_term=. dc591f308471; aeon.co/ideas/we-are-entering-a-new-epoch- the-century-of-the-migrant; gcm.unu.edu/publications/articles/media-and- their-role-in-shaping-public-attitudes-towards- migrants.html

, - - Re CNN . This (Cambridge: , 24 September , everyone The Figure of the Migrant The Figure of the Migrant The Figure of the Migrant The Telegraph References: Said, “Reflections on Exile,” 1 Edward W. flections on Exile and Other Essays This will be the century of the migrant migrant the of century the be will This structural im- The prospects for any much to answer, cannot begin We Harvard University Press, 2000), 173–86. 2 See Thomas Nail, Updated 19 June 2014, cnn.com/2014/06/13/us/ immigration-undocumented-children-explainer; Kirk Semple, “Surge in Child Migrants Reaches New York Overwhelming Advocates,” New York, 17 June 2014, nytimes.com/2014/06/18/ Times, nyregion/immigration-child-migrant-surge-in- New-York-City.html; the Close “EU chief: Holehouse, Matthew migrants more millions as windows and doors coming,” are (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015). Migrant Flood 5 Simon Kent, “Le Pen: Europe’s Equals ‘Barbarian’ Invasions of 4th Century,” breitbart.com, 6 October 6 2015, breitbart.com/ london/2015/10/06/le-pen-europes-migrant- flood-equals-barbarian-invasions-4th-century; journey: How thousands of Moni Basu, “Daniel’s America,” in a crisis are creating children (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015). 3 See Thomas Nail, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015). 4 See Thomas Nail, 2015, telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/eu- is not just a question of adding or inte- grating “others” into the same social or political processes. It requires a transfor something whole, a as society of mation the migrant arts and politics can help everyone achieve.

not just because of the sheer magnitude of the sheer magnitude not just because the but because of the phenomenon, mi- and citizens between asymmetry reached a historical breaking grants has at this cannot move forward point. We until the massive violence point without than it presently is. “we” itself is different are hard to provements in this situation a global pan- imagine, especially amidst though, are not demic. The alternatives, However, without historical precedent. solutions, I before applying any specific start with one sig- think societies have to need to transform nificant move. People process the political decision-making by any pro- such that everyone affected posed changes, regardless of their status, can participate. less solve, the so-called “migration crisis” until “we” effectively transform “ourselves” to include THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 10 Stefan Jonsson:Aesthetic KnowledgeofSocial Transformations: Migrant AgencyandPolitical Emergencein theArtwork the Artwork Emergence in and Political Migrant Agency Transformations: of Social Knowledge Aesthetic Stefan Jonsson ‘model society’ that thesocialsciences such issuestoday. Theyfit poorly intothe political protestarethreeexamples of gration, Europe’s colonial legacies,and under thesignofinterdisciplinarity. Mi - and whenithappensusually occurs that have since gained in importance - once seenasirrelevantormarginalbut pursuit ofknowledgeissuesthatwere have beenabletoincorporateintotheir ty thatsociologyandpoliticalscience kind. Forexample,itisonlywithdifficul- especially iftheyareofaparadigmatic are usually contested and controversial, societal challenges.Yet, suchchanges to historicalpressuresandrespond arship changeswiththetimes.We adapt It isatruism,ofcourse,thatschol- found politicalimplications. migration withoutacknowledging itspro- First, thesocialsciencesoften analyse ploring threeexpressionsofthisimpasse. contradictions. Inmyownwork, I amex- terpret and explain systemic crises and because of their structural inability to in- social sciences seem to be at an impasse shared bymanyothers,thatmainstream My starting point will be myownsense, the role art can play in this relationship. tionship tosociohistoricalchange,and this problemofknowledgeanditsrela- seem tobeastepahead. tkhe criticalhumanitiesandtheartshere plain. Withregardtosuchnewissues, traditionally soughttoanalyseandex- In thisessay, Iwouldliketofocuson 1 Second,Eu- Politik ing turntoward migration studies, there is a correspond- thus, beenaclearturntoward democracy and citizenship, there has, spond tothesaidimpasse.Instudiesof shifts or ‘turns’, which apparently re- ongoing conceptualormethodological between and (or munity is amounts tosayingthatthepoliticalcom- identity throughsuchdemarcations,this to theworld,andifitattainsitspolitical in whichitdemarcatesitselfrelation ly, ifacommunityisdefinedbytheway lates intothedifferencebetween shows anincreasinginterestin temporary artisticandliterarypractise to Europeanhistoryandsociety. and anticolonialresistanceasintrinsic ognize historiesofimperialdominance ropean historyandsociologyrarelyrec- nifies inthedifferencebetween tinction whichtheEnglishlanguage sig- between twonotionsofpolitics, adis- of itssources,thatwecandistinguish from thetheoryofCarlSchmittthatisone a boundary. eignty isa society dependontheideathatsover they displayhowmostconceptionsof of migration.Thisisbecause,together, derstanding of the political implications combined, weapproachapreciseun- boundaries? Ifthesetwocontextsare sovereignty inrelationtobordersand vital effortstorethinkdemocracyand in politicaltheory, whereweobserve we relatethisfacttoaparallelcontext discourse ofEurope.Whathappensif for therealizationofdemocracy. tive protestsandresistancemovements often ignorethesignificanceofcollec- mainstream socialandpoliticaltheory doubtedly discuss these‘turns’inorder. debates ondemocracyandcitizenship migrant experience migrant Simultaneously, wecanobserve It followsfromthisargument,and Migration or migrant presence is un- the political the and constituted la politique la the bounded das Politische das majortopicinthepolitical The turntowardbordersin , which in German trans- agency entity. Putdifferent- bytheimpositionof and ). Letmebriefly , andinFrench . Finally, con- le politique le borders migration 3 2 politics Third, die die . In . - 4

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 -

6 . This happens in two . This happens value Second, paths to citizenship are in- What we see in both of these cases these of both in see we What Given these developments where - made condi are increasingly residency tional on their ways. First, paths to citizenship increas- paths to citizenship ways. First, to depend on somebody’s ingly seem of par with and support identification which the adherence to ticular values, a deserving candidate makes a person viola- a person’s for citizenship, whereas to these same tion of or non-adherence disqualify her values may immediately a citizen. In from all chances of becoming certain values or certain cases, holding may even be engaging in certain actions people and void a reason to de-naturalize happened to EU their citizenship (as has militant Islamism, citizens converting to of citizen- or the Islamic State). Conferral thus, increasingly ship upon a person is, values. This contingent on that person’s often takes the form of a contractual arrangement, whereby the conferral of citizenship upon somebody requires and values, civic in courses test-taking, an explicit agreement and signature on a contract that ensures that a person will subject themselves to the laws and values of the land. creasingly becoming commodified, that comes them to attached values the is, with a price. Citizenships are in today’s world bought and sold - sold by states who want rich investors, and bought by people with considerable wealth but with less desirable passports, and brokered by go-betweens such as the UK company Henley and partners (H & P), which calls and residence in leader global “the itself citizenship planning”. Companies such as H & P offer “high net-worth individuals Zimbabwe, or China, or Sudan from, say, Cyprus, Ukraine, of citizen a become to Malta, or Antigua, simply by buying prop- erty or depositing a certain sum of money treasury. with the state’s is that citizenship has become a particular form of value, a form of value com- parable to and sometimes identical to an invest- is citizenship is, that capital, ment enabling the acquisition of a higher return on future operations. access to citizenship is offered to people with capital - be it moral, cultural, or eco- It should 5 most aesthetic expressions most within In the contemporary world order of order world contemporary the In A first conclusion is, thus, clear. The is, thus, clear. A first conclusion theory cannot and cultural Social in general, so do border struggles. Like struggles, gender and struggles class border struggles concern exclusion and inclusion. Who counts as citizen? A worker? A woman? A migrant? citizenship and nation states, a person’s specific responses to global crises and crises to global responses specific and it represents a plural contradictions, sending influence on the transformative receiving societies. as well as the pres- and migrant fact that migration major emerged as Europe’s ence has forces us to issue means that migration con- This such. as political the address questions. clusion generates additional of the bounded From the perspective address the political efforts to polity, in existing sys- typically imply changes exclusion. It is, tems of inclusion and that tensions the that surprise no thus, snap in struggles I have outlined often are we? Who are over citizenship. Who become a citizen? the others? Who can the draw we should Where cannot? Who boundary between us? Should there be a boundary? The fact that growing numbers of Europeans take such questions to be of primordial urgency suggests that, in the guise of migration, the constitutive antagonisms of the political are invading the polis. resolve such questions, but they can ex- of emergence and plain their conditions clarify the ethical viability of different an- term a struggles’, ‘Border them. to swers coined by many and picked up by several contemporary thinkers, is an apt description of the predicament that moves to the centre once political theory recognizes migration as a major concern. be placed at the same level as its pre- gender and struggles class decessors: that the struggles. The term indicates define to likely that are struggles political the future are no longer primarily those that involve parliaments and parties but those that concern borders of exclusion and inclusion, which in turn determine criteria for qualifying as a citizen. Just as class and gender struggles have their and res- expressions aesthetic particular onate - - pol migration Stefan Jonsson: Aesthetic Knowledge of Social Transformations: Migrant Agency and Political Emergence in the Artwork 11 Stefan Jonsson: Aesthetic Knowledge of Social Transformations: . In this case, agen- : how state authorities, employ- : legal frameworks for entry, rights : legal frameworks for entry, Given this distinction, we realize that On the other hand, we can study migration as an instance of the political icies ‘Politics’ can be defined as the affairs as the affairs defined can be ‘Politics’ struc- of states and other and actions political’ while ‘the tures of governance constitution and delimitation refers to the ‘politics’ In this view, polity. of a state or maintenance of common, concerns the political already constituted public and we encounter poli- (For instance, order. the prime minister, tics in the shape of the newspa- and meetings party parliament, political’ ‘the contrast, By editorials.) per consolidation refers to the constitution, The an order. such of disintegration or for granted as political is normally taken and, there- the pre-existing, unshakeable of politics, but fore, invisible foundation critical phases of it comes into focus in moments when history: in revolutionary states are created or collapse, when constitutions are rewritten, and when political borders and populations are re- we encounter the politi- Today, shuffled. cal in the shape of migration. we need a corresponding distinction On studies. migration of field the within the one hand, we can study of residency and citizenship, paths of migrant groups toward education, employ- ment and social benefits, frameworks for migrant integration or mechanisms of discrimination. cy is no longer considered from the point of view of the state, the police, or other governmental or political institutions, but from the perspective of migration, a proper so- now re-conceptualized as cial force that, by transgressing borders to order in established been have that demarcate communities, contributes to the reconstitution of these communities. up make that migrants say to not is This a constituent political agency (conscious to of itself as a power in itself). However, the extent that migration today manifests ers and civil society seek to manage migration flows and individual migrants according to particular needs and inter this assumes the form of ests. Typically, studying migration and integration politics institution of society Wasis Diop, Scenography Credits: Screengrab by author

12 Bintou Were, Theatre Chatelet 2007 Credits: Screengrab by author

13 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 14 Stefan Jonsson:Aesthetic KnowledgeofSocial Transformations: Migrant AgencyandPolitical Emergencein theArtwork are borders are seekers. rity servicesinthedeportationofasylum in the methods used by European secu- occupying soldiersagainstciviliansor ity, beitintheformofbehaviour borders giverisetocontemptandbrutal- people aboutwhomwecansaythat osition thattherearetodayanumberof neither insidenoroutside. back. You getcaughtbytheframe;you’re states? You’re notletin.You can’t turn tween thebordercontrolsofdifferent to thefence,orinno-man’s landbe- Balibar asksominously. Alifelivednailed imagine howyoucanbeaborder.’ or you can be stateless, but it’s difficult to alyst AndréGreen:‘You canbeacitizen, impartiality andindifference. with thedangerous‘privilege’ofethical ity of power that invests its guardians cians get their hands dirty. scene ofviolence,aplacewherepoliti- analysis oftheborderaspreeminent ing aspectofBalibar’s workisitsprecise much asitentailsmobility. Oneinterest- ization entailsnewformsofenclosureas of sovereigntyandglobalization.Global- that isattheheartofallserioustheories Balibar codifiedtheapparentparadox the wakeofEastEuropean essay ofthe1990s:‘WhatisaBorder?’In tion posed by Etienne Balibar in a seminal again, Iamherespeakingofthemigrant. quest forrealcivilrightsandalivelihood; at an ever greater disadvantage in their ple withoutthatkindofcapitalseemtobe opment, whichineffectmeansthatpeo- have alsowitnessedtheoppositedevel- nomic -itisperhapsnosurprisethatwe gated andforced tojustifytheirpresence which migrantsareconstantly interro- erates structuresofsubjectivity through affected byendless’borderchecks’ gen- ployers andevenneighbours.A lifeso at hospitals and clinics, by landlords, em- schools, publicinstitutionsandlibraries, stant, dailysurveillanceandcontrol–in one’s proposition byconsidering a life where We getanideaoftheimplicationthis What would it mean to be a border? Such reflectionswarranttheprop- Balibar quotestheFrenchpsychoan- In thiscontext,wemayrevisitaques- ‘migration status’leadstocon- 8 The border manifests a modal- in the sense just described. 7 Furthermore, Mauerfall 9

they they , the recentturnto we canunderstandtherationalebehind ity. permanent temporarinessandprecar migration studies, such as deportability, derlying manycontemporaryconceptsin transformed. Thisisthedeepcontextun- communities aretodayreconstitutedand we glimpse the ways in which political call ‘thepolitical’.Ontheirverybodies, action, andrepression. corresponding structureofaffect,belief, ized bytheproximitytoborderanda the situationinquestionbeingcharacter being insituation’,asSartreonceputit, s/he wouldbebetterdefinedas‘a marily bycategoriesof‘identity’. Rather, the migrantcannolongerbedefinedpri- simple tracesof‘losthomelands’.Insum, multiple identitieswecanunderstandas the processofintegration,whosedualor scribed as‘uprooted’,anewcomerin ness and belonging; nor cans/hebe de- and oftenidealizedmodelofsedentari- fined solelyasanegationofnormative identity. The migrantcanno longer be de- belonging andmobilityaffectsomebody’s question acceptedconceptionsofhow conceptualizing thepolityinwaysthat are bordersgeneratespossibilitiesfor ders. Yet, thesuggestionthatmigrants in thiscategoryofpeoplewhoarebor it makesnosensetoplaceallmigrants From a legal or empirical point of view, that help us rethink political philosophy releases atorrentofinteresting models ‘The Figure of the Migrant’ the of Figure ‘The borders are who people question: howtorelatethecategoryof in thesensedescribedbyBalibar. subjectivities arecomparabletoborders in andaccesstothepublicarena.Such me nowturntothistopic. political agencybecomesinevitable.Let of thepolitical,questionmigrants’ become borders,andhenceincarnations migration. Iftherearepeoplewhohave ry of 11 Such subjects embody what we Thisleadstoanexceedinglydifficult My illustrationhereisThomasNail’s Thisisalsothecontextinwhich people designated as migrants as designated people ‘agency’ inmigrationstudies agency 10 The ‘turn’toward tothecatego- intheoriesof . Thisbook ? - - -

who belongsanddonotbelongto litical systemsthatareusedtocontrol ders as materializations of socio-po- topic ofborders.He,too,regardsbor state-centred political theorists on the cumvent themachinationsofkinopower. tions, whichemployspedeticforcetocir appearing inseveralhistoricalincarna- the conceptreferstoagenericagency that Nail’s ‘migrant’isnoempiricalentity; live as theywant. It is worth noting here a lifewheretheyarefreetomoveand subjectivities forthepurposeofsecuring is acounterforceexercisedbyhuman trast, pedeticmotion(‘ped’means‘foot’) of containmentandexpulsion.Bycon- exploits movement through various forms cesses totheaccumulationofvalue.It slower biologicalandgeologicalpro- synchronizes human mobility as well as of theseasons,orpeople.Kinopower contains mobility, beittheflowofrivers, stood from the perspective of has hitherto ‘been predominantly under the migrant.AsNailputsit,migration from thepointofviewmobilityand resistance. contested topicofmigrantagency and selection. Bythisroute,hearrives atthe against suchprocessesofsorting and orize countervailing forces of resistance digm, however, isthat itallowsustothe- power is a force that regulates ‘kinopower’ and‘pedeticmotion’.Kino- framework built on theopposition of power structures.Hence,atheoretical that isprimaryinrelationtoterritorialized ‘flows’, asheputsit,aphenomenon force ofhistory’ migrant has always been the true motive failed to recognize: ‘that the figure of the historiography andsocialsciencehave situation makesevidentwhatprevious sider thisparadigm.Thecontemporary scholarship todayforcesustorecon- migration imposesitself on politicsand Nail arguesthattheweightwithwhich the polis the derstood fromtheperspectiveof migration has‘beenpredominantlyun- membership’. It follows, he claims,that figure withrespecttoplace-boundsocial perceived asasecondaryorderivative In onesense,Nailconcurswith Nail’s projectistoreconfigure . WhatdistinguishesNail’s para- 12 stasis flow states and and ’. - - - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

- 20 politi At its 22 19 , commissioned Bintou Wéré: A self-presentation self-presentation 21 aesthetic , with a libretto by Chadian For instance - this is my second re- Let me offer an example to illustrate Jacques Rancière’s theory is the Jacques Rancière’s representation they always appear as they always appear representation poet and novelist Koulsy Lamko. An Opera of the World cal subjects of subjects of Because of their multivocal character Because of their multivocal lived and voice to adherence their and expressions are experience, aesthetic thresh- this at themselves situate to able mechanisms deep disclose to as so old, that political of political emergence discourse anjd conventional political the science cannot reach. In this view, unravel is to criticism aesthetic of task the political dimensions of such subtle showing how polit- figurations, thereby, ical emergence presents itself primarily in aesthetic registers. By showing how migration ‘enters into art’, to use Anne expression, we perform Ring Petersen’s a critical task, demonstrating that art- political about something ‘know’ works processes that other forms of knowledge barely register. by the Documenta 14 in 2017. The Mali- The 2017. in 14 Documenta the by visual essay an-American filmmaker’s reception and production the describes opera Diop’s of Wasis mark - aesthetic works afford an insight into how people are turned into borders; mi- of speak to sense makes it why and gration in such terms. It makes sense, show works artistic and literary because how the migrant finds herself in a situation in which her existence is split by hard borders, just as the artistic mediation of migrant experience discloses how socio-political communities are made by political boundaries. recent film this point: Manthia Diawara’s obvious reference for this argument. It obvious reference for the power to be defines aesthetics as is which life, seen and heard in public articulation. a threshold to political through the simple fact of claiming voice simple fact of claiming through the in the polity. and presence cess that rarely receive attention in the in receive attention that rarely cess actors before collective social sciences: of objects and subjects as emerge Sahel Opera premiere in Bamako in 2007, the production included an ensemble of leading African performers who staged an West

- - - - - 18 . 17 . in studies in contem- in migration studies. migration the political and agency The ‘turn’ toward ‘migration’ in The ‘turn’ toward ‘migration’ contemporary aesthetics and arts contemporary aesthetics I will make two remarks in relation to My point here is similar to the one I the one to similar is point here My I have discussed the turn toward Social movements that appear out- Now, how are these related to the con- Now, current turn toward porary aesthetics? boundaries grant on an equal level, rather than as opposite poles in a binary or as top and ask for such a bottom in a hierarchy? To perspective is to ask for another world, where sovereignty does not translate into it is to ask put differently, exclusion. Or, for aesthetic imagination and judgment cerns the prominent place of migration in cerns the prominent place literature contemporary art and tional in the political constitution of politi in the political constitution tional This brings cal community and citizenship. which con my study, me to the final leg of This is sometimes followed by what I which emergence’, ‘political call would and the mobilization collective involves development of a public voice. Against this background, I would like to hypoth- esize that aesthetic presentations offer unique ways of registering and under standing political emergence. Aesthetics can expose features of the political pro- linked to freedom of movement.’ to freedom linked made above in regard to borders and in regard to borders made above guide Social theory is a poor belonging. for upon which claims to first principles break To can be founded. migrant agency needed is perspective a impasse, this as ‘normal’, that accounts for migration rather than excep to paraphrase Balibar, of democracy and citizenship and the turn toward this question. First, how do we acquire a acquire we do how First, question. this perspective that perceives migration as ‘normal’? How to place citizen and mi side established political orders typically have weak political leverage; the movement of migrants being a case in point. rec- is power sociopolitical their if Even as a social it is often perceived ognized, problem and subjected to state interventions, policy or the police. Sociological discourse has described such movements as cases of ‘social emergence’. - - On 15

14 13 Etienne Balibar 16 Stefan Jonsson: Aesthetic Knowledge of Social Transformations: Migrant Agency and Political Emergence in the Artwork 15 Stefan Jonsson: Aesthetic Knowledge of Social Transformations: The gist of the argument is that, ag- - ontol historical Nail’s For example, However, the ‘pedetic force’ exer the ‘pedetic However, captures this alternative concisely: ‘the indissolubly right to full citizenship is the other hand, migrant agency is also upheld with reference to civil rights. As Engin Isin argues, each human being has a right to citizenship, which also entails the right to mobility. gregated to a collective level, migrants’ and work security, search for safety, becomes a social movement, a pedetic pressure, with specific voice and agen- This pressure is often conceptualized cy. as ‘autonomous migration’ ogy of kinopower may serve as a foun- may serve as ogy of kinopower Negri’s Hardt and Toni dation for Michael migratory multitude’s the of affirmation For an empirical illustration, movement. political to Amir Heidari, a you can turn impris- for long periods was activist who was convicted oned in Sweden. Heidari Proudly claiming for ‘migrant smuggling’. asylum seekers that he has helped 37,000 as 200,000 if we to Sweden, and as many Great as Germany, add destinations such consistently re- Britain and Canada, he he has engaged jects the accusation that financial gain. In in illegal activities for a resistance move- he is part of his view, of ‘refugees ment. Heidari has spoken without weap- [as] a new military power ons’: ‘They neither rely on nor believe in the world order that has been created. Neither do they recognize where the bor ders have been drawn.’ cised by migrants and activist organizations that support them seems weak of when compared to the ‘kinopower’ states. On what grounds, then, should migrant agency be epistemologically conceptualized and politically defended? This issue divides political theory and migration studies as well as political debate in general. On the one hand, migrant agency is defended by appeals to what Hannah Arendt called ‘natural rights’: regardless of states, every person is endowed with a capacity for mobility This al- that should be exercised freely. ternative is today often coded in Deleu- zian language that posits the migrant as a figure of becoming and transformation: in the beginning, there was mobility. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 16 Stefan Jonsson:Aesthetic KnowledgeofSocial Transformations: Migrant AgencyandPolitical Emergencein theArtwork is remarkable: contemporary West Africa.Theresult migration inthepopularimaginationof messianism thatsurroundthetopicof socioeconomic destitutionandpolitical atic formhave,thus,ledhimtowardthe search forthesocialrootsofoper gins’ (myemphasis).Interestingly, Diop’s the popular origin of political change political of origin popular the narratives thatprobe theexperienceof a postcolonialtraditionofWest-African may, thus,beseenasa culminationof of migrationastheirbasis. using theprofoundpoliticalimplications imperial frames.Moreover, theydosoby strives to move beyond national and/or the renewalofademocraticagencythat contemporary protest and resistance for tions. Theycapturethesignificanceof inability to deal with migrant popula- imperialism isamajorcauseofEurope’s beginning. Theyshowthatthehistoryof threefold impassethatImentionedatthe social movements. selves intosecretmissionariesofcoming West-African migrantstransformthem- era performance,agroupofmiserable Through theartisticmediumofop- and bringsitbackto‘its preeminent formofEuropeanhighart gues thatDiop’s operaappropriates the interviews AlexanderKluge,whoar and sheexclaims:‘Look,thereisEurope!’ at themoonthattowersoverhorizon, projections. Atonepoint,Bintoupoints and delusivehopesbringforthstrange in EuropeorAfrica.Theirdesperate over whetherthechidwillbebetteroff of theunbornchild,andtheyquarrel of travellers,whoallclaimtobefather abused bymostofthemeningroup into Europe.Bintouhasbeensexually in lifethantobravecrossingtheborder North, astheyseenootherwayforward and landlessclassoftheSahelonatrek who joinsotherrecruitsfromthejobless of Bintou Wéré. A pregnant teenage girl, The opera’s plotcentresonthedestiny Might it be the migrant?’ Diawara asks. song, musicandstorytelling. of modernandtraditionalWest-African epic ofmigrationthrougharepertoire In this way, too, the opera breaks the In hisfilmabouttheoperaDiawara ‘Who istheherointoday’s world? migration turns out to be be to out turns migration plebeian Bintou Wéré Bintou ori- - - .

Sahel Opera Sahel Sahel migrants, resurrect thememoryof of mourners,incarnatinggenerations of process that standsatthecenter of into agency, asiteofbecoming.Itisthis and objectivehistoricalconstraints, tation transformspoliticalnegativity, process wherebytheaestheticpresen- core of such analyses is the miraculous process constitutiveofourfuture.Atthe the agencythatitexercises,asapolitical nial legacies from which it derives and recognize migration,includingthecolo- and community. Inthiscontext,wecan zenship, borders,sovereignty, statehood aesthetic worksofnotionssuchasciti- terrogations byartisticpracticesand This isthecontextofseveralrecentin- have beguntoexplorethishypothesis. sciences, helpedbyartandliterature, the pasttwo-threedecades,human does nottranslateintoexclusion.Over society, where,asIsaid,sovereignty constitutes a‘hypothesis’ofcoming to thepropositionthatmigrationtoday forms ofpoliticalemergenceamounts toward theNorth. unrest aswellmigratorymovements al projectsofdevelopmentelicitsocial living inasocietywhichfailednation- tou Wéré tou era’s concluding suddenly transubstantiatedin the op- formed intoaborder. Yet, sheisthen grant brutallyaffixedtotheborder. embodied byBintou’s corpse,adeadmi- politics, andaesthetics,allthreenow cussion fuseinthisscene:migration, izes Europe.Thethreenodesofmydis- towards thedistantmoonthatsymbol- killed midwayinherupwardmovement continent, BintouWéré ishaltedand Melilla, theEU’s outpostontheAfrican der tocrosstheelectrifiedfencesinto fare, andnowmountingtheshakylad- sold offher infanttocoverthetrafficker’s agency emergesfromnegativity. Having victims becomethefuture. of becoming.Theartworkshowshowthe circumstances ofthesituationintoasite presentation can transform the objective practise, exemplifyinghowanaesthetic To saythat migrationentailsnew The youngwomaniseventrans - The finaltableauof asapieceofartandartistic isanexactrenderingofhow lamentatio Bintou Wéré: A A Wéré: Bintou , asthechoir Bin - tance and protest. In this way, too, sion ofacollective Pan-African resis- era’s aestheticfigurationisanexpres- persistent agency. In this way, the op- Bintou Wéré andtestifytoherundying, Wéré Wéré test inourtime. portance ofmigrationandcollectivepro- actions fortherevelationoftrueim- of ‘Europe’: Autonomy of Migration, Tactics of of Tactics Migration, of Autonomy ‘Europe’: of The Idea and Image of the Masses from Revolu from Masses the of Image and Idea The Occidentalism Multiplication of Labor of Multiplication the Right to Move to Right the Jew 10 Jean-PaulSartre,Sartre politique 4 Carl Schmitt, 3 SeeStefanJonsson, Bordering 7 EtienneBalibar, 9 Balibar, Jonsson, Eurafrica: 2 Onthispoint,seePeoHansenandStefan Duke UP, 2017). dra andBrettNeilson, 5 Foroverviewofthisterm,seeSandroMezza- authors ofthecollectivevolume fort, ‘Laquestiondeladémocratie’.In 1983), 71-88;AlainBadiou, 11 Carl-Ulrik Schierup, et al., tage, 1995). tradictions in Social Rights and Migration Pol Migration Con and Rights Deepening Social icy in Citizenship: tradictions European of itics others, PeoHansenandSandyHager, 1 Thisimpassehasbeenpointedoutby, among References: ity, and Global Governance: Challenges and Op and Challenges Labour for Governance: portunities Global and ity, 8 ReeceJones, trans. C.Jonesetal.(London:Verso, 2002),138 ical cago Press,2007);ChantalMouffe, (1927), trans.G.Schwab(Chicago:Univ. ofChi- Fascism to tion Colonialism and Integration ropean Events’, standing andMisunderstandingMonstrous Press, 2013);and‘TheArtofProtest:Under bra, Bloomsbury Academic, 2014); Gurminder Bham- du politique: Travaux du Centre de Recherches Recherches de Centre du Travaux politique: du of Contest the and Exclusion Social Societies: 6 ManuelaBoatca, ty Press,2013),1–26. Julia Willén,eds. bury Academic,2014);andStefanJonsson Philosophiques sur le Politique le sur Philosophiques Memories Colonial shows theimportanceofaesthetic (NewYork: BerghahnBooks,2012),andthe (London Routledge, 2005), 8–16; Claude Le- , (1948)trans. G. J.Becker(NewYork: Vin- Connected Sociologies Connected Theory and Event and Theory (Paris:Seuil,1985). Politics and the Other Scene Other the and Politics , ed.NicholasdeGenova(Durham: (London:Routledge,2015). (NewYork: ColumbiaUniversity Violent Borders: Refugees and and Refugees Borders: Violent The Concept of the Political Political the of Concept The Austere Histories in European European in Histories Austere (London:Verso, 2017). Politics and the Other Scene, Scene, Other the and Politics (London: Routledge,2016). Global Inequalities Beyond Beyond Inequalities Global The Untold History of Eu of History Untold The (Oxford: OxfordUniversity Border as Method; or, the the or, Method; as Border (Durham:DukeUniversi- Crowds and Democracy: Democracy: and Crowds , forthcoming. (London:Blooms- Peut-on penser la la penser Peut-on Migration, Precar Migration, Anti-Semite and and Anti-Semite (Paris:Galilée, The Borders Borders The On the Polit the On (London: Le Retrait Retrait Le , 85. The Pol The Bintou Bintou ------THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 . - - - - - A ’. 13: e-flux Interna 33: 3–4 (2003): . Cambridge: , trans. Gabriel Spaces of Gov Social Emergence: Migration into Art: 18: 3(2000), 579–92; D. Diacritics The Borders of ‘Europe Stefan Jonsson: Aesthetic Knowledge of Social Transformations: Migrant Agency and Political Emergence in the Artwork 17 Stefan Jonsson: Aesthetic Knowledge of Social Transformations: The Politics of Aesthetics: Citizens Without Frontiers Occupy: Three Inquiries in The Figure of the Migrant (Manchester: Manchester , no. 6, 2005, 12–17. (London: Rowman and Littlefield, Rowman (London: (Amsterdam: Netherlands Prins (London: Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan, Palgrave (London: , ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, W. J. , ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, W. European Journal of Social Theory Arena Els van der Plas, et al, Bintou Wéré – (New York: Columbia University Press, (New York: (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota no. 17 (June–August). Available at: no. 17 (June–August). Available A Brief History of the Masses: Three Rev Globalised World 2015); de Genova, ed., 36–44. 18 Keith R. Sawyer R (2005) Arab Uprisings Social Issues 2007), 223–235; V. Tsianos and S. Karakayali S., Karakayali and S. Tsianos V. 223–235; 2007), Emergence of Migration and the ‘Transnational An Ethnographic the European Border Regime: Analysis’, The Distribution of the Sensible Transcultural Identities and Art-Making in a University Press, 2017); see also Stefan Jons- son, Claus Fonds, 2017). Rockhill (London: Continuum Press, 2004), pp. 7–45. 21 Anne Ring Petersen, journal, Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizo olutions phrenia ernmentality: Autonomous Migration and the Deleuzian Encounters: Studies in Contemporary tional Migration Review Press, 2015) 12 Thomas Nail, 3–7. University Press, 2015), (Stanford: Stanford Interview with Karolina 13 Amir Heidari, Per Wirtén, ‘Är han Sveriges Ramqvist K and fiende?’, Cambridge UP (Sawyer 2002; 2005) 19 For a more thorough elaboration, on aesthetic knowledge of politics, see Jonsson, ‘The ‘Political Harcourt, Bernard cf. Protest’; of Art Disobedience’, in Press, 1987). 16 Engin Isin, (2012) 2008). 22 For a documentation of the opera, see Koulsy Lamko, http://www.e-flux.com/journal/17/ (accessed 4 http://www.e-flux.com/journal/17/ March 2017); Martina Tazzioli, T. Mitchell, and Michael Taussig (Chicago: The Mitchell, and Michael Taussig T. University of Chicago Press, 2013). 20 Jacques Rancière, son, J-P ‘Major Obstacles to Control of Irregular of to Control Obstacles ‘Major J-P son, to Policy, Migrations: Prerequisites 14 On ’autonomous migration’ and surrounding migration’ and surrounding 14 On ’autonomous Gar and J.-P. Y Moulier-Boutang Y. see debates, Disobedience African Opera 15 See Gilles Deleuze G and Félix Guattari 3 (2010): 373–387.Bojadzijev M and Karakayali S Karakayali M and 3 (2010): 373–387.Bojadzijev of Capital- (2010) ‘Recuperating the Sideshows ism: The Autonomy of Migration Today’. London: Bloomsbury. An ’Unimagined’ ‘Europe, Balibar, Etienne 17 Frontier of Democracy’. Papadopoulos and V. Tsianos V., ‘The Autonomy ‘The V., Tsianos V. and Papadopoulos of Undocumented of Migration: The Animals and Malins (eds) Mobility’. In Hickey-Moody Societies as Complex Systems THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 18 Anne-Laure AmilhatSzary: Theriskofbeing a-political:can “border art”become apolity-call? first monuments andmilestonesinthelandscapewereprobably lectic. Onthefield,surveyorswhosketchednewborder No conceptorexperienceofborderispossibleoutthisdia- the ideaofalinearlimitbetweenterritoriesandpopulations. political artthatclaimstocombat“rebordering”. as counter-manifestations tothehypervisibilityofborders,i.e. ment seemstohaveprovokedanincreaseinwhatmayappear tacularization ofcontrol,thesecurityturninbordermanage- that typeofpoliticalspaceininfiniteways.Enhancingthespec- international limitandworksthatrelatetotheimaginationof site-specific productions that are created in the vicinity of an sulate apoliticalspace.Hardtodefine,itencompassesboth tions thefigurativecapacityofanartisticartefacttoencap- that operateatthe borderplay, inverycomplex ways,onthe However, the multipledimensionsofthecontrolmanagement ments, haveledmanytothinkthat bordersweredisappearing. borders, notablyinWestern EuropeundertheSchengenagree- der work,whichexplainswhythe defunctionalisationofcertain by wayoflaw. Visibility is,thus,anessentialdimension ofbor framed bysocialpractices,theyarenormalizedandlegitimized artifacts havebeenproducedtoconstructtheideaofdivision: enacting itthroughaspatializedandembodiedpresence. an acceptanceoftheabstractconventionandpossibility imaginary line such as a GPS to check that one does indeed set foot on the sible toreachaborderwithoutmaporanyorientationtool self-evident inthelandscape:manycases,itappearsimpos- bordering process.Indeed,most of thetime, borders arenot This propelsrepresentationasanessentialcomponentofthe tive imagination,andaplacewhichmaterializestheselinks. relations, a jurisdictional system that normalizes the collec- if wedefinethemasapermanentinteractionbetweenpower a-political: can The riskofbeing Anne-Laure AmilhatSzary art” Border art Border In fact, From theearlyhistoricalstepsofbordermaking,material border artists border border art art border isastrangeandmultiplecategory, whichques- 1 … Conversely, mapswereneededto“invent” . Going there and finding the border implies becomeapolity-call? may beasoldbordersthemselves, - accountability bybeinghiddenfrommediaexposure. a greatnumberofviolentprocessesthatescapedemocratic visibility andinvisibilityofoperations;theseoperationsinclude very political dimension of the term “representation”, under only our representations of them.It but mayalso challenge the how andwhen tions, indemocracies.It,thus,becomesessentialtodiscover stood asadelegationofpowerthatisbestowedthroughelec national territorygovernedbyastate, ders cannolongerbesimplydefinedastheexternallimitsofa framing ofanusvs.themalternative.Inconditionswherebor traditionally groundsit,holdingcitizenshipwithinthebounded to renewourpoliticalimaginary, beyondtherationalbinaritythat new andinclusivepolity February 19,1852,Source: JohnRussellBartlettcollection Title: InitialPoint,View ofthesurveyor’s initialpointsouthofSanDiego, What Iproposehereisto explore thepotentialof “border border art border . doesachievethiscapacitytocallfora border art border questionsnot 2 border art border - - -

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 border works, their rela- French newspaper. French newspaper. (Amilhat Szary 2012). (Amilhat Szary 8 border art that I have been able to trace. The first proposed been able to trace. that I have 7 On one hand, the gathering of common people in a “flash Cited in: Martini Michele, 2010, Banksy in Cisgiordania: graffiti sul limite. Cited in: Martini Michele, 2010, Banksy in Cisgiordania: http://www.ec-aiss.it/pdf_contributi/martini_29_03_10.pdf Whatever the political status of A closer examination reveals that art works produced in produced works art that reveals examination closer A has evolved from being site-specific to situation-specific or, has evolved from being site-specific to situation-specific You paint the wall, you make it look beautiful. paint the wall, you make it look beautiful. Old man: You Banksy: Thanks. want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall, don’t Old man: We go home.” interpretation of this planetary multiplication was that artists multiplication of this planetary interpretation of borders growing visibility to find answers to the were trying of counter-images by the production tionship to one specific border seems to connect them together, them together, tionship to one specific border seems to connect This phenom- in a process of what I define as “intervisuality”. exposure artist’s enon can trigger an immediate outburst of the between the to global critic, for better or worse, as the contrast reveals: Twitter two very similar performances discussed on is criticized death Kurdi’s mob” to denounce the young Aylan as “very bad taste” by a leftist mainstream On the other hand, the same gesture by the world-famous Ai is praised for its powerfulness. Over the years, Weiwei better-said, defined by a multidimensional spatiality depending defined by a multidimensional better-said, on the relationship between different borders in the common imaginary with which we embrace them. explicit connection to the most mediatized borders in the world explicit connection to be strength. They could, on the contrary, may not have such a to the further dissemination of the very seen to be contributing or Banksy’s like JR’s to denounce. Works artifacts that they wish very well received by the people living in have not always been borders, and, for whom, this kind the vicinity of these closed by Indeed, “resistance”. qualified as cannot be intervention of of barrier trespassing, they help re- offering idealized visions of binarity and division. In so doing, they produce our imaginary than they first seem. could be much less political art - Then artist/filmmaker African by South conceived (2009-2010), - and communi farm worker, and Zimbabwean writer, jiwe Nkosi, (Gui- many examples the one of is Weza Meza spokesperson ty nard 2018)

ac- border art “border art” Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary: The risk of being a-political: can “border art” become a polity-call? 19 wished to donate to a fast track for fame? a fast track Art of the global border, border, the global Art of . However, one could argue that . However, This was the time when the inSite them, the works belonging to this 5 6 , particularly in its first decades. With border art Very few people know of this anecdote and re- few people know Very border art 3 is a controversial category, claimed by few, yet by few, claimed category, is a controversial meant confronting the concept of the borderland, out meant confronting the concept of the borderland, 4

The striking characteristic in the deployment of The first artists to claim the designation of The first artists to claim This condensed summary suggests that the USA/ Mexico This condensed summary suggests that the Border art which appeals to many. In August 2008, the cities of Konstanz 2008, the cities of In August to many. which appeals is- Switzerland and Germany, at the border of and Kreuzlingen artistic that the “first press release claiming sued a common erected between them, in lieu of a fence border” had just been of the small twin city had been previously which the inhabitants media The online a very official manner. invited to tear down in the sculptures that Johannes Dörfling- SwissInfo.ch publicized sculptor born in the region, a successful er, his community. tually did it in two languages: they initiated a collective in 1984 in collective a initiated they languages: two in it did tually better de Arte Fronterizo”, Taller called “Border Art Workshop/ The seven founding known by its double acronym BAW/TAF. even if some members are worth citing (in alphabetical order), them to forget later became more famous than others, leading David Avalos, some of their initial principles: Isaac Artenstein, - Gómez-Peña, Vic Sara Jo Berman, Jude Eberhardt, Guillermo together « Chicanos, Bringing tor Ochoa and Michael Schnorr. own Mexicanos and Anglos», according to Gómez-Peña’s words, category have undergone profound changes. is the way that is has disseminated, as if spurred by the secu- it first reached segments of the of international limits: ritization US/ Mexico that were far from being distinguished for their cul- work in Nogales) and then Yonke’s tural production (cf. Taller diffused over the planet as walls were being erected. On the the “Border Farm Project” South African/Zimbabwean border, calling it means, for many, discrediting a more broadly told story discrediting a more broadly told story calling it means, for many, a category of art on the divide between about the birth of such the US and Mexico. inaugurated between Tijuana and San bi-national art fairs were inaugurated between Tijuana of art produc- Diego (1992-2006), marking both the circulation the border tions and artists in an initiative that totally straddled the world. and increasingly attracted artists from around con- region in particular, delineation, and the San Diego/Tijuana stitute the cradle of of the Chicanx identity which had existed in previous regional of the Chicanx identity which had existed in in Aztlan”, and “Border Incorpo- collectives such as “Taltecas Gómez-Peña rated”. One of the best known members, Guillermo denouncing the fact that in the early 1990’s, left the BAW/TAF it was bringing “instead of turning the margins into the center, the center to the margins.” the recent transformations of international boundaries into technological growing the and control of devices networked dimension that “pixellizes” its origins are wider, generically related to conceptual art and its origins are wider, fascination for the fig- A certain to land art, more specifically. ure of the line and the multiple ways to challenge it are indeed very central to Susan Harbage, Sewn Border (2014) Courtesy of the artist Susan Harbage, Sewn Border (2014) Courtesy of the artist THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 22 Anne-Laure AmilhatSzary: Theriskofbeing a-political:can “border art”become apolity-call? which could appear both a strength and a weakness. This ises not takesides:itdoesn’t seemtofitintopartisan-likepolitics, Credits: FrançoisLafrance Stanstead’s inhabitants(Québec,Canada),onJuily28th,2012. Title: FinalactofAltheaThauberger’s performancewiththecommunityof In thiscontext,“oppositionality” cleavages suchaswhatnowlooksliketheold“left-right”divide. generalization ofaconcernforsecuritythattranscendsprevious pecially thecaseoverlast20yearsthathavewitnessed their politicalengagement. gles ofothersuchcommunitiesaround theworldandenhance by FrançoisLafrancecanresonate withtheeffortsandstrug- lations inthelocality. Conversely, thepicturestakenthatnight eral qualitydidnotallowforareal re-assessmentofpowerre- streets andgardens.Howeverpowerful themoment,itsephem- over thenewly materialized borders thatnowcutthroughtheir vides bothcountries,asymbolfortheirrenewedempowerment for beingsituatedpreciselyovertheinternationallinethatdi- Opera HouselocatedintheHaskelllibrary, abuildingfamous formance. Shemanagedtoinvitethemontothestageof of DerbylineinVermont, USAtoparticipateinacollective per Stanstead, asmalltownofQuébec,Canada,neighbouringthat the artistAltheaThaubergerbroughttogetherpeopleof community. thus, reducingthepoliticalcombativenessofconcerned contributes tosoothingthewoundsandpossiblyhealingthem, also participatestoacatharticaldevelopment.Insodoing,it theater fortheexpressionofthatanger, theartist’s intervention to theongoing“rebordering”processes.However, byofferinga cern forthegeopoliticalsituationandtheirpossibleopposition specificities. Itdoesallowtheparticipantstoexpresstheircon- ing oftheborderoritsmilitarizationbearstwoalmostopposite communities whoselivesarebrutallytransformedbythefenc- that is being deployedatthe border. Implementing work with Surprisingly (to some), art at the border, paradoxically, does What alsoappears problematicisthedifficulty inbringing In aprojectcuratedbyGenevièveChevalierin2011-2012, This ambiguity is particularly true of the participatory art 9 becomesatruechallenge. art andpoliticsatborders The complexinterplayof

- -

“migrants” byenablingthemtoparticipatein protagonists of borderviolence. The willto restore agencyto many interventionsareframed,especiallythosewhichbringin the time,arttakesplaceononesideonly. commonality throughparticipatoryworkif,ashappensmuchof In bordercontexts,itmay, thus,notbestrongenoughtorestore ten travelledwithoutthem-whichwasstilldoableatthetime. authorization to participate in events on the Israeli side and of- and, eventhen,Palestinianartistsdidnotalwayshaveregular in 2006wasoneofthelasttoinvolveartistsfrombothsides Mapping Journey Project Journey Mapping migrants’ gaze…andours,too. films, themapbecomeshauntinglypowerfulandimprisons However, becauseofitspresenceinalltheinterviewees’ the latterovercoloredflattintsofpoliticalplanisphere. superimpose ablackthicklineonmap,theyseemtoprioritize hands drawingtheirroutesonamap.Asthegesturesoftracing the narrativesofmigrants’journeyswhilefilmingtheir intervention. As about denouncingasituationmay miss theinitialpointofan enhancing politicalardor. Thisisbecausebeing tooconsensual representations andsettingtheframeforeffectivedissensus. possible foranartisttokeeponopeninggapswithincommon losing its political power. In such circumstances, it remains elements theborderhides. border (Mountz;ibid.)bysuggestingorrevealingwhatvisible works aretheoneswhichtackledialecticsofvisibilityat I wouldsuggestherethatthe-politicallysuccessfulborder art of misreadingor mistrust,orsimplyforlackoftime... itshould, olence ofthecontemporarymigratory regimesorjustbecause litical bordersthatareunattainable tothem,becauseofthevi- the formofhis/herprojectuponthem.Incase of the in thesettingofaestheticprocess,while the artistimposes who participateinsuchprojectsaregivenaleadingvoicewith- creative sessions. Secondly way ofqualifyingthehumanbeingswhoareinvitedtothese after theyaredonewiththebordercrossing,essentializingthis conditions bestowsthequalityof“migrants”uponthemlong doing artwithpeoplewhohavecrossedbordersinextreme ects alwaysneedstobethoroughlyaddressed.Firstly, because global boycottagainstIsrael.The Palestinian dividewhereartisticcooperationissubjecttothe come totallyimpossible,asistodaythecaseoverIsraeli/ a minority. Inmoreconflictivecontexts,participationcanbe- developed from the Canadiansideof the border, theyremained ed Statesnationals were welcome,but,sincetheprojectwas people frombothsidesintosuchinitiatives.Inthiscase,Unit- , not only in its participatory form, for reducing rather than The issueofparticipationisalsocomplexbecausehow By opening up healing spaces, one can denounce If border art art border border art border does notnecessarilyallowpeople tocrosspo- multiplicity withinborderimaginaries (2008-2011),BouchraKhalilirecords isspreadingovertheplanet,itrisks , because it is very rare that exiles Worlding Liminal Spaces Liminal border art border border art border projectheld : restoring border border proj- The The 10

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

- - - - 20 border art border art, Conclusions border art/ arte Under the Land where other bound- 19 project,

, based on a small object created by - 2010, a video on the Slovenian- Ital- both in as much as it denounces and in order to claim agency for the subalterns, the subalterns, agency for to claim in order the language in which they want their copy 17 - or even worse, migration art, can easily be- easily can art, migration worse, even or -

is an anarchist love poem, a declaration of uni- is an anarchist love poem, a declaration of Their reasoning about the urban could in some Their reasoning about border art, Performing Borders 18 chose was officially born in two languages is a vital testimo- was officially born in two languages is a vital Passaport project installation - 2015, in rubber tree wood, about African installation - 2015, in rubber tree wood, about Passport More generally, it brings multiplicity back, in terms of time More generally, This question is at the core of a fabulous project simply This question is at the core of a fabulous Border art as much as it offers a tool to overcome inequalities in migratory as much as it offers a tool to overcome inequalities Cassar worked control and to reframe a universal citizenship. Rafael Rivera, to edit his text in a passport with a designer, One can order it like leaflet, the cover of is reproduced below. online and printed. As such, it has been translated into many languages, been translated into many such, it has printed. As including rare ones, and disseminated in written and oral forms The last page states that this object (performances, theater…). move- regulate to meant not is it people: all to safe-conduct a is ment between territories but to enable encounters: it promotes “the vision of a world where the fear of barriers and frontiers has long been overcome”. ian border) or materials (Michele Magema’s ian border) or materials (Michele Magema’s come hegemonic: if it only addresses the visibility of the bor would, thus, mean re-injecting multiplicity into aesthetic en- aesthetic into multiplicity re-injecting mean thus, would, address political divides of all kinds. In deavors that claim to intersectional approaches in this opens up a way, by Alessandra Cianetti and Xavier the such as those explored Sousa in the published this pro- Originally from Malta, Cassar first wrote and 360,000 peo- test poem in his own language, spoken by around ple. “ aries, rather than the international, are documented beyond aries, rather than the international, are documented their metaphorical dimension. as Anja Melved’s (the importance of memory in a works such Smuggler’s Confessionalscape border mapping and extractivism). The fact that fact The extractivism). and mapping border poetry inside. Antoine Cassar: a multilingual passport with ny to the primacity of a multiplicity of languages to address the ny to the primacity of a multiplicity of languages aesthetic dimension of the border. called whom she presented as having a voice in globalization, but one voice in globalization, presented as having a whom she to be in those who pretended heard, even by that was never subal- of recuperation the “reject to process this In empathy. geographers, two Ong, Aihwa Roy and Ananya subjects”, tern the allow that would method a “worlding” proposed have counter urban globality” to be fixed standard of “singular or instead the “ many forms of “the glob- balanced and capture al” in play”. fronterizo by Gayatri Spivak by Gayatri versal citizenship, the vision of a world where the fear of bar versal citizenship, the vision of a world where It speaks to this riers and frontiers has long been overcome”. ambiguity of ways be replicable to the artistic realm, where one could wish could one where realm, artistic the to replicable be ways exercises”, i.e. “those lateralizing micro- to promote “worlding power by opening up new channels or processes that remap Worlding universes” (ibid.). reconfigure new social ------” Ar per

12 antiAt ) allow- Even if Even 15 11 border art , 2009-2013) , , 2010 and , 2014) where 2014) , border art , 2016 As the Coyote Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary: The risk of being a-political: can “border art” become a polity-call? 23 one another without

13 is essential for artistic ) or infiltrates these same 14 Sewn border The Texas Border artivism Sewing wounded land The virtual watchers 2011-2014 was conceived. 16 : some works answer : some collective border art which strengths lie in its capacity to work on the interplay which strengths lie in its capacity to work on

At the border, the meaning of aesthetics is reshuffled alto the At the border, One of the ways to attain this goal is to work on the gaps One of the ways to attain this goal is to work This demands reflection on the unicity of the “ Another recourse is working online to explore yet another Another recourse is working online to explore Flies each woman patiently stitches maps in public as a way to par each woman patiently overarching political divides. ticipate in bridging the se). This questioning of cultural appropriation was reframed was appropriation cultural of questioning This se). category, as framed by its initiators, in light of the distortion as framed by its initiators, in category, Fighting back against the it has undergone since the 1980’s. globalization of narratives on practises that tackle political spaces and issues that concern subaltern subjects (and this may be even more important to art productions that deal with migration than with las of borders izona: Move and Get Shot, igin and destination experienced by people on the move”. igin and destination experienced by people gether: it cannot be about being moved by art, as we generally gether: it cannot be about link that an artistic creation initiates with define the relational this is precisely the place where movement Since the spectator. having access is hindered, placing art in such spaces implies a condition that to, and in turn giving access to, such places, and she is active. Paola Zaccaria calls it an “action-condition” border thinking or makes it very clear that, to be critical about to the “one who is acting, we must radically open ourselves about or crossing” and delve into “the territories of uncertainty however, propel its audience into “border thinking”. into “border audience propel its however, we, border theorists, argue that the impact of the incessant incessant the of impact the that argue theorists, border we, felt in “rebordering” is now “debordering” and contemporary appar even those living life of all human beings, the everyday the “border condition” the physical delineation, ently far from well propel us this may further discussed. Avoiding needs to be of works that can be deprived pitfall of romanticizing all into the very The image of mending the border is their political power. present in explicitly referencing each other, such as the two performanc- the such as other, referencing each explicitly (Israel, Littmann by Ariane es between argentic and digital images as well as between still between argentic and digital images as well thereby offers a and animated visuals: this complex itinerary of border building very strong experience into the multilayering and maintenance, through surveillance. vigilantes’ Facebook page ( and breaches rather than on the line itself. From this perspec- and breaches rather than on the line itself. and I have tive, multi-media installations are quite effective work entitled commented on Adrien Missika’s ing us to witness and hijack their conversations. These net art net These conversations. their hijack and to witness us ing pieces locate themselves at the interplay between technology, of the docu- pinpoint the importance art and research: they of aesthetic enterprises that mentation and conceptual framing a nexus from which the tackle the contemporary border, and Susan Harbage Page (USA - (USA Page Harbage Susan and possible dimension to overturn of the ordering of society in- possible dimension to overturn of the ordering does when she duced by bordering. This is what Joana Moll at the US/Mexico makes subversive use of vigilantes’ webcams border from her home in Spain ( THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 24 Anne-Laure AmilhatSzary: Theriskofbeing a-political:can “border art”become apolity-call? ever, as“agonistic” work withapoliticalpowerinordertochangetheworld.How- many borderartistswouldliketoachievebyinvestingtheir of renewedpoliticalimagination. goes beyonddissensusandsetsthepathforacommonalization to renewanemancipatoryborderthinkingand“arting”that hand. Itmeansexploringthehardshipsofbordercondition cy on the one hand, and exploring counter-fictions on the other nization. Counteringthatprojectneedstounfolditscontingen- times andhadundergoneaglobaldisseminationthroughcolo- rather itisahistoricalone,thatdatesbacktoEuropeanmodern zones of exclusive sovereignty is not a universal construct, is generally asserted, the useoflinesaspolitical tools to build ties thatbinaryterritorialdivisionsengender. Contrarytowhat manner. It is essential to understand and address the inequali- dehumanizes people at the border, and does so in an unequal cessful indebunkingtheinvisibilityofcontrolapparatusthat sue isevenmorerelevant. Within thecontextofcontemporaryCOVID19crisis,thisis- interventions attheborderasworksonwhatproximitymeans. tools that“pourdistancewithinproximity”, object, oralandscape.Moreover, asweunderstandborders with distance,beingtoofarorclosetoaperson,an the obsceneareveryclosetooneanother, bothgenresplay tem itclaimstoescape.Onemustrecallthatthesublimeand of it hasprobablymissesitsinitialaim.Furthermore,theexhibiting der andtheplaceswhereinternationalorderisdisplayed, the bordermeans questioningaccesstopolitical agencyand profoundly reframes what citizenship signifies. Intervening at cieties that international divides represent entails work which all whowanttothink,care,create andactattheforefrontofso- transforming the profound inequity of the border condition. For therefore, threatens to re-establish Project, Malta,2010-present.Credits:A.Casar Title: CoverpagefromthepassportimaginedbyAntoineCassar, ThePassaport border art border In callingforarenewalofpolity, Cassarachieveswhat Effective borderartis,thus,acreativeprocessthatissuc- obeystheclassicalrulesofartmarketand, 22 asthesemaybe,theynotsucceed in border art border 21 wecouldenvision intheexactsys- ity. power forall,promotinganinclusivenessthatopensupthepol- Border art Border couldwellbethatpolity-call! Studies No-Border AtlasesofMobility’. 12 Zaccaria,Paola.2017.‘ABreachintheWall: Artivist https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431006063333. 4th print.Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniv. Press. itics ofArtDisplay’. 8 AmilhatSzary, Anne-Laure.2012.‘BorderArtandthePol- Routledge. Zebracki and Joni M. Palmer, 161–79. London & New York: Art Encounters:Art,SpaceandIdentity, editedbyMartin The Border Farm Project in Maroi, South Africa’. In Public 7 Guinard,Pauline.2018.‘TheArtof(Re)CrossingtheBorder: gate. 6 Bigo,Didier, andElspethGuild,eds.2005. Research [Online] Research Portable Border’. Performance andLaPochaNostra’s MapaCorpo:Artofthe Ila N.2010.‘CocoFuscoandGuillermoGómez-Peña’s Cage 9 Fusco,Coco.1998.‘FantasiesofOppositionality’.In 213–28. 10 Rancière,Jacques.2010. by GrantH.Kester, 60–75.Durham,NC:DukeUniversityPress. on Islands’. of Migration.ShapingPublicsthroughBorderEnforcement 2 Mountz,Alison.2015.‘In/Visibility andtheSecuritization 17 Spivak,GayatriChakravorty. 2003[1999]. 16 https://www.antiatlas.net/antiatlas-of-borders/ 15 http://www.virtualwatchers.de/ janavirgin.com/AZ/index_about.html 14 http://www.janavirgin.com/texas.html and http://www. Manchester: ManchesterUniversityPress. Knowledge’. rizing fromtheBorders:ShiftingtoGeo-andBody-Politicsof 11 Mignolo,Walter D.,andMadinaV. Tlostanova.2006.‘Theo- for aPost-PoliticsofImages?’In 13 AmilhatSzary, Anne-Laure.2020.‘Borders:TheTopos of/ ders (LionelDaudet/JohnHarlin,2011-12)’. Mountaineering? PerspectiveonTwo Tours ofAlpineBor 1 AmilhatSzary, Anne-Laure.2013.‘Towards Experimental having theneededspacetodetailitall. upon longaccumulatedmaterialtowhichIreferherewithout paper isanexcerptfromongoingbookprojectthatbuilds N.B.: Iaskthereadertoforgivemeforselfcitations,butthis References: colonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present Vanishing the of History a Toward Reason: colonial ratives Afterimage thetics from Essays Oppositionnality. and tivism Europe within and into Movement Free tiers: logy toBorderArt’. 5 Gómez-Peña,Guillermo.1991.‘DeathontheBorder:AEu- org/10.1080/09528828908576229. Peña andEmilyHicks’.ThirdText 3(7):53–76.https://doi. er deArteFronterizo:InterviewwithGuillermoGómez‐ 4 Fusco,Coco.1989.‘TheBorderArtWorkshop/ Tall- ti%C3%A8re-artistique--du-monde/5386812 3 https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/la-premi%C3%A8re--fron- 184–200. https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-2895747. for the New Arts New the for , editedbyJohanSchimanskiandJopiNyman,151–67. . NewYork, London:Continuum. 26(1):37–53:p.39 Cultural Politics: Cultural European Journal of Social Theory Social of Journal European Hemisphere , no.2(spring1991):p.8CitedbySheren, 101(2013–2).http://rga.revues.org/2131. High Performance: A Quarterly Magazine Magazine Quarterly A Performance: High Journal of Borderlands Studies Studies Borderlands of Journal Dissensus. On Politics and Aes and Politics On Dissensus.

An International Journal International An 3:58–79. Border Images, Border Nar Border Images, Border Journal of Mediterranean Mediterranean of Journal

A Critique of Post of Critique A Journal of Alpine Alpine of Journal Controlling Fron Controlling . London: Ash- 9(2):205–21. Art, Ac Art, , edited 11(2): 27 (2): ------. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - ; Malden, Studies in Ur Worlding Cities: Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary: The risk of being a-political: can “border art” become a polity-call? 25 29.10.2004. https://www. EspacesTemps.Net https://performingborders.live/project_about/ https://performingborders.live/project_about/ 1 (2. Summer 2007). http://www.artandresearch. 1 Art & Research: A Journal of Ideas, Contexts and

org.uk/v1n2/mouffe.html 18 Roy, Ananya, and Aihwa Ong, eds. 2011. eds. 2011. Ong, Aihwa and Ananya, Roy, 18 espacestemps.net/articles/la-frontiere-un-objet-spatial-en- mutation/. Personal translation ‘Artistic Activism and Agonistic 22 Mouffe, Chantal. 2007. Spaces’. Methods Sussex West Change. Chichester, ban and Social p.13 MA: Wiley-Blackwell: 19 https://performingborders.live/project_about/ 20 http://www.passaportproject.org/the-project Arbaret-Schulz, Jean-Luc 21 Groupe-Frontière, Christiane Christophe Catherine Selimanovski, Bernard Reitel, Permay, Un Objet Spa- 2004. ‘La Frontière, Sohn, and Patricia Zander. tial En Mutation.’ Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 26 Maggie O’NeillandJohn Perivolaris:Critical TheoryinPractice: Walking, Artandnarrative asconjunctural analysis affects that ideas can gain real force and crystallize in desires’. mation ofsubjectivity’.Second, ‘it isbytheirarticulationwith to engagethepassionsand‘affect’‘tobringaboutatransfor positional identities’,criticalartistsmustbeawareoftheneed the existinghegemony’. giving voicetothosewhoaresilencedwithintheframeworkof ‘making visiblewhatthedominantconsensustendstoobscure, current politicalordercanbearticulated-indiversespaces, example, throughcriticalartpractice,wherealternativestothe tional consensus’canbeattained,butspaces,produced,for monically structured,notaterrainwhereHabermasian‘ra- reconciliation’. Publicspaceisdefinedasstriatedandhege- points ofviewareconfrontedwithoutanypossibility of afinal cation aremadeavailable’. nant consensusissubvertedandwherenewmodesofidentifi- conjunctural analysis Art andnarrativeas Practice: Walking, Critical Theoryin Maggie O’NeillandJohnPerivolaris democracy andcounterhegemonic struggle. but engageaffect,‘mobilising thepassions’ inordertodeepen nitive level,atthelevelofconcepts, andrationalunderstanding, Hence, the impact of critical art should not simply be at the cog- dissent’ of newneeds,desiresandconsent)‘withtheaimfostering stitutions, suchasthecultureindustry(involvedincreation a processofarticulationandrearticulation),engagingwithin- hegemony, contributingtocounterhegemonicpolitics(through Her answerhighlightstheimportanceofcriticalartinunsettling quickly recuperatedandneutralizedbythedominantpowers’? play acriticalroleinsocietieswhereeverygestureis cusses thefollowingquestion‘howcanartisticpracticesstill Mouffe makestwopoints:first,tofacilitate/construct‘op- ‘Agonisticspaces’are‘publicspaceswhereconflicting In arecenteditionof As anundergraduate (onaneducationdegreemajoring in 2 throughmultiple‘agonisticspaces,wherethedomi- 3

The Large Glass, Glass, Large The Chantal Mouffe 1 dis- - 4

in thehyphen the communityassociation tofacilitatetheirexperiences into Midlands UK in the late 1990s and four artists, we worked with tice. Working with acommunityofBosnianrefugeesintheEast practice andprocess. defined thisas‘ethno-mimesis’ acounterhegemonicspace, artmaking and storytelling unfolds inthe space between.Ihave in collaborationwithartists,makers,theintertextualityof making tomethodasinvisualethnography, butrather, working ical theoryinpractice.Thisisnottoreduceartpracticeor possibilities andcounterhegemonicpoliticsaspraxis-acrit and artmakingopeneda‘potentialspace’fortransformative ing forms ing to theconceptofethno-mimesis,drawinguponAdorno’s communities toaddresssexualandsocialinequalities. work withartspractice,workingartistsandmarginalised through combiningethnographic,lifehistoryandbiographical critical theory, livedexperienceandartspractice,especially ‘mimesis’ heavilyinfluencedbyBenjamin hegemony’ ascounterhegemonicpracticesthatwerealso of those who are silenced ‘within the framework of the existing and facilitating(notgivingvoiceto)thevoicesexperiences society, makingvisiblewhatthedominantconsensusobscured, change causing gesture, a vehicle for the critical analysis of ages. Art,wasforme,acriticaltheoryinpractice,offering stories andstorytellingtheroleofimages/dialecticalim- mechanical reproduction,specificallyinrelationtotheroleof and societyBenjamin’s workontheroleofartinanera transformative roleofartarticulatedinAdorno’s workonart creative artsbeforeaPhDinSociology),Iwasgrabbedbythe The firstexamplebelowillustrates thisprocessandprac- Combing ethnographicresearchwithartspracticeledme . Mysubsequentworkdevelopedattheintersectionof 7 8 betweenethnographic,biographicalresearch 6 . Iarguedthatworking 5 useof feel - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 -

20 How does Art do this? For Adorno, 19 Moreover ‘works of art affront prevailing needs 18 The image was created first as an installation, then digitally then installation, an as first created was image The and actuality, The image and text tells of the possibility, imagi- Does this example works as a counter hegemonic Aesthetic Theory is that ‘if A central message of Adorno’s A legitimate subjective response to art is a sense of ‘con of sense a is art to response subjective legitimate A cern’. Concern is triggered by great works. Concern is not some repressed emotion in the recipient that is brought to the surface by art but a momentary discomfiture, more precisely during which he gives himself over to the work. He a tremor, loses his footing, as it were, discovering the truth embodied in the aesthetic image has real tangible possibilities. Fig.1 Good neighbour, 1999, (Fahira Hasedzic/Karen Fraser) 1999, (Fahira Hasedzic/Karen Fig.1 Good neighbour, photographed. The narrative in English and Bosnian tells how photographed. The narrative in English and decide to protect the neighbours hold a meeting and Fahira’s neighbour gives three non-orthodox families in the block. Her flat when soldiers her a key and she hides in her neighbours from the Red are looking for Muslims. Having obtained supplies A soldier is in her Cross, Fahira bakes bread for her neighbour. Fahira replies ‘you neighbours flat and he asks ‘who are you?’ Muslim’. know who I am , I would not be here if I were than experienced by many during the of a greater humanity, through gifts to her of protection, care and thanks offered war, and sanctions - neighbour - the good things denied during war A crucial fruit - it is a hopeful image. bread, chocolate, lights, ‘protected’ by her point here is that in her experience of being acknowledged, and Muslim identity was neighbours, Fahira’s form, this image she was able to hold on to this. As a feeling involved, in represents this experience, as well as the emotions text. the space between image, biography and the with intractable nary? Does it pierce us and bring us in touch avoiding recupera- reality in ways we cannot forget, as well as tion, neutralisation, and hence remain unappropriated? artworks have any social influence at all it is not by haranguing, but by changing consciousnesses in ways that are so very difficult pin down’. by throwing light on the familiar, thus, meeting the objective by throwing light on the familiar, need for a change in consciousness might ultimately lead to a change in reality’.

9 ------

17 . 11 examine the 10 is created for dialogue, 14 Maggie O’Neill and John Perivolaris: Critical Theory in Practice: Walking, Art and narrative as conjunctural analysis 27 Maggie O’Neill and John Perivolaris: Critical Theory in Practice: Walking, - work on the importance of stories and story 12 13 ) but, in my own analysis, one that can open a radical 16 and challenge what Adorno called ‘identity thinking’ in Art as a ‘feeling form’ is created in the act of sensuous Art as a ‘feeling form’ In the example below, the relationship between art making In the example below, Benjamin’s 15 images and narratives to emerge that approach the world in a images and narratives to emerge that approach and counter hegemonic facilitating understanding different way, alienating charac narratives that ‘depict something of reality’s telling is of importance here, for him, storytelling plays a central telling is of importance here, for him, storytelling in contrast to the role of in- role in the household of humanity, in which it was formation, which ‘does not survive the moment experience new’. Narrative storytelling is a sensory/sensuous and concen- and a story ‘does not expend itself. It preserves it even after a trates its strength and is capable of releasing long time’. Biographical interviews (life story interviews) were followed interviews) were interviews (life story Biographical directed) supported (not arts workshops where, with creative in art- their stories members represented by artists, community oth- by mediated usually are refugees of narratives The form. activists human rights academics/researchers, ers, journalists, hidden, often is what visible made we project, this in whereas, speaking for themselves in and through the voices of refugees narratives emerged in the art forms, that artforms. Biographical a means of sharing experience in elicited recognition, voice, feeling forms. creativity and playfulness of the artist/ knowing, between the in point given a at of production the techniques and producer cultural and political forces. The stories time, marked by social, are how we share and make sense of we tell about ourselves lead sto- of human understanding. We our social worlds, as part Janet Wolff Benjamin and also ried lives. Walter onistic’ gued that this combination of art/mimesis and biography or oral history opens a potential space, dialogic space reflective space terms ‘ag that is also a counter hegemonic space (in Mouffe’s ry sensuous immediacy of visual articulation or representation (a thinking in images) elicits a hyphenated space that is dialogic, visual and psychic, or which elicits ‘affect’. I have previously ar ter’, raphy/biography, a ‘potential space’ raphy/biography, voice, through the process and practice of ethno-mimesis. and practice process through the voice, way in which art represents the sedimented ‘stuff’ of society, ‘stuff’ of society, way in which art represents the sedimented of art. The tension in that ‘society’ emerges or unfolds in works soci- and art between relationship the on writing, Adorno’s in expresses the between mimesis and constructive reality, ety, as not to be understood is Mimesis of art and society. dialectic sensuousness and through mimicry or imitation but rather play, a critical per the ‘mimetic moment of cognition we can develop spective that includes empathy as ‘sensuous knowing’. spective that includes empathy as ‘sensuous and storytelling is powerfully expressed in Fahira Hasedzic’s Fahira Hasedzic’s and storytelling is powerfully expressed in below). In the arts installation - a dialectical image (See Fig. 1 art and ethnog workshops, the hyphenated spaces between relation to the label of the ‘refugee;’ in this case in relation to image, memory themes of transnational belonging. In Fahira’s and action find articulation in images and - the combination of the sensory sensuous experience of storytelling with the senso democratic space offering a radical democratic imaginary THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 28 Maggie O’NeillandJohn Perivolaris:Critical TheoryinPractice: Walking, Artandnarrative asconjunctural analysis verhulme Trust, on medium orartform.Inaresearchfellowship,fundedbytheLe- ical storytelling,usingwalkingandphotographyastheartistic a walkingartsprojectcombiningpracticewithbiograph- ethnography. to developconjuncturalanalysisinthespacebetweenartand border spacesandplaces,toadvanceunderstandingbutalso ing. Theideawastousewalkingasanartspracticeexplore route oftheirchoiceonthethemeborders,riskandbelong- ists, researchers, people, and residents to walk with me along a London andwherehehadspentsomuchofhisyouth.ForJohn, in Chios,wherehisparentshadlivedbeforetheirmigrationto successful, Johncontactedmetosayhewouldpreferwalk after IreceivednotificationthattheLeverhulmebidhadbeen with mefortheLeverhulmefellowshipandheagreed.Shortly or ethnographiceye. ally tangibleaboutpeopleandplaces,withananthropological combine makingwonderfulimages,thatcapturesomethingre- ber ofyearsnowandIgreatlyadmirehiswork;hemanagesto thinking, radicaldemocraticimaginaries. facilitating, andkeepingopen,spaceforradicaldemocratic ters counterhegemonicarticulationsandre-articulationsby with oursocialworldsthatdemandcriticalreflection,andfos- mony, makescriticalinterventions, enables us togetintouch artists isinterpretive,ithelpstocounteridentitythinking,hege- and shuddersinartforms.Formetheworkofsociologists Fig.2. JohnPerivolaris, Chios2016,(©MaggieO’Neill) In thenextexample,wesharesomeimagescreatedfrom John andIhaveworkedtogetherperiodicallyoveranum- This ishowthemediationofartandsocietyunfolds,speaks, I invitedhimtotakeawalkonborders,riskandbelonging Walking Borders:art,biographyconjuncturalanalysis Walking with Photographer John Perivolaris in Chios Chios in Perivolaris John Photographer with Walking Walking Borders, Walking Iinvitedparticipants,art- the relationshipwithTurkey andtherefugeecrisis. this wasanimportanttimeforGreece,particularlyconcerning the importanceofthinkinginimages,asaphotographer. and Grandfather, the traces of history carried in memories and looking theseatowardsÇesme,JohnspokeabouthisFather central tolifestoryresearch. also arisenintwoofmypreviouswalksBelfastandwhichis importance of‘workingthroughthepast’asathemethathad conversation led me to thinking about Adorno’s work on the tion betweenJohn,hisfatherandgreat-grandfather. Our and onthefirstdayofourwalk,therewasalsoaconversa- walked inChios. history andinJohn’s biographicalrememberings,andsowe The themeofborders,riskandbelongingwaswritlargeinthis forced migrationandacomplicatedrelationshipwithTurkey. and theGreekcitizens’historicalculturalexperiencesof starkly inGreece,layeredontoausterity, austeritypolitics media andonourtelevisionscreens,wasexperiencedvery out intheMediterranean,andrepresentedmainstream refugee communities. I gainedforourcollaborativeworkwithartsorganisationsand age makerssub-grouponanAHRCknowledgetransfergrant and artistsinexiletheEastMidlands,Johnhadledanim- decade longresearchtrajectoryworkingwithCharnwoodArts the transformativepotentialofimages and imagemaking. In a tion, exile,displacement,belongingaswellbiographyand with ourworkandpreviouscollaborationsonforcedmigra- dad musthavebeen aroundten,Iimagine.Mygreat-grand - They usedtohavelongconversations onthesewalks.My even closerthantheonebetween himselfandhisfather. father hadaverycloserelationship withhisgrandfather, faces Turkey andis situatedunderneathourcurrentflat.My ther, mygreat-grandfather, alongthetown’s seafront. This little boy he usedtostroll in theevenings with his grandfa- I inheritedfrommyfather. Hetoldmethatwhen hewasa ages Ihaveisonedidn’t personallywitness.It’s animage strong imagesofChiosandonethemostpersistentim- images together. Ihavealwayscarriedwith mesomevery in images.Ifyouthinkimagesoftendon’t jointhe John: An image comes to mind. Unsurprising, since I think Walking alongtheseafrontfromfamilyapartmentover ing beenborninCanada,andgrownupEngland. I belong to the generations of the post-WW2 diaspora, hav- Ottoman andimmediatelypost-Ottomanworld.Meanwhile, my grandfatherisverymuchofanotherworld,whichthe born in1928,shortlyaftertheexchangeofpopulations,but father, andme,spanningthreegenerations.Myfatherwas tinuing conversation between my great-grandfather, my John: Embeddedinthesewalkswearetakingisthecon- Our walkinChiostookusthroughtime,placeandmemories The humanitarianandrefugee‘crisis’thatwasbeingplayed We agreedtoshareawalkinChios.Theconnected 22

21 - Fig.2. John Perivolaris, Chios 2016, (©Maggie O’Neill) THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 30 Maggie O’NeillandJohn Perivolaris:Critical TheoryinPractice: Walking, Artandnarrative asconjunctural analysis co-walkers inthe ture -aradical,democraticimaginary. complexity in the present, towards possibilities for a better fu- ‘conjuncturally’ and,throughourdialogueandanalysisofthe tory inthepresent.Walking asartpracticeenabledustothink in relationtoEurope’s borders,therefugee‘crisis’ and thehis- settling, troublingandunpackingahistorical/politicalmoment sitting bythemonumentlookingintodistance. in our walk, made so by the presence ofa young boy, a refugee, revealed severalperiodsofhistory. Itwasanintensemoment the monumenttowardsrefugeecampwhereonesightline would have set up camp, and John motioned to me to look past where hisGrandfathersgenerationofrefugeesfromTurkey people andplaces.AsStuartHall our culturalidentitiesareformedin relation tothesehistories, ographies arecreatedovertimeandconnecttoplacesthat and Diaspora Diaspora and the nameswegive tothedifferentwaysweare positioned secure our sense of ourselves into eternity, identities are which iswaitingtobefound,and which,whenfound,will Far from being grounded in a mere ‘recovery’ of the past, ject tothecontinuous‘play’ofhistory, cultureandpower. eternally fixedinsomeessentialised past,theyaresub- Later thatdaywewalkedtoSoudarefugeecamp,located and longing. father looking back across the water with a sense of loss I havealwaysbeenhauntedbytheimageofmygreat-grand- What becameclearthroughwalkingwithJohnandother Our walkledto‘conjuncturalanalysis’thatengagedinun- nians, Turks, Jews,andothersaspartoftheOttomanworld didn’t know, after having lived in Asia Minor alongside Arme selves Greek citizens, they had to adapt to a country they their previouslivesinAsiaMinor. Suddenlyfindingthem A typicalexperiencesharedbythosewhowereexiledfrom everything andcametoChios,wherehe’dneverlivedbefore. in 1922.HewasarichmerchantSmyrnawholostalmost had come to Chios as part of theexchange of populations ing… I have thisimageinmymindof an oldgentlemanwho father’s eyes,silenttears.Thatimageoftearsgotmethink On acoupleofoccasions,myfathersawtearsinhisgrand our. Adecent,fair-minded sort,byallaccounts. father wasgenerallylikedandrespectedasamanofhon- he hadawarmrelationshipwithmyfather. Mygreat-grand- person, usuallyincontrolofhisemotions.Atthesametime, at anyoneshowingtoomuchemotion.Hewasameasured tleman, restrainedinhismanners.Hewouldhavefrowned the Turkish town opposite. He was an Edwardian-era gen- for words. He’d justgaze out acrossthe water to Çesme, the pavement. My great-grandfather would suddenly be lost lent andtheywouldsitonthelow wall thatruns alongside walk wheremygreat-grandfatherwouldgocompletelysi- would talk.However, therewasalwaysonepointalongthe father waselderlyatthattime.Duringthesewalks,they cultural identitiesarenot: Walking Borders Walking 23 projectisthatlifestories,bi- arguedin Cultural Identity Identity Cultural . - - - - ment andonthemove. migrants. Ourwalkselicitedconjuncturalanalysis,inthemo- governance ofandhostileenvironmentforasylumseekers lenge thedominantpower/knowledgeaxisembeddedin time andphenomenologicaltime.And,itallowedustochal- pace, connectiontotheenvironment,inandthroughtime,real ing John’s biographytohistory, politicsandculturewithrhythm, space forapoliticsofarticulationandrearticulationconnect- of walking,photographyandbiographicalresearchopened present, throughwalkingwithJohninChios,thecombination a politicsofrecognition,ascounterhegemonic. the refugee,migrantandhelpprocessesofsocialjusticevia examples above,countermisrecognitionoftheasylumseeker, ‘subjective-reflexive feeling’ hybrid spacewherevisual/textual‘making’happensthrough research/biography andart,wemayoccupyathirdspace by, andpositionourselveswithin,thenarrativesofpast. hira Hasedzicforpermissiontoprinttheirimages. Acknowledgement: WiththankstoJohnPerivolarisandFa- which tospeaktheworld?’ when hewrites:`Istheedgeofworldaplacefrom the Cameroonianphilosopher, AchilleMbembeconcludes er, they follow the curve of the question mark with which that borders cannot be drawn as rigid straight lines. Rath- limits. By thisstageinmylife,Ihavecometotherealisation pora. Bordersofferlimitsbutalsoinviteustoexceedthose cultures, isalsotheresultofbeingachildGreekdias- But maybeopennesstootherpeople,histories, in fragments, has something to do with such uprootedness. dency towriteinfragmentsand,asaphotographer, todeal biography, and identity? I have come to think that my ten- when diasporainvolvesinterruption,ashatteringofhistory, possible topresentacontinuousnarrativeoutofdiaspora, ed States and Australia and, in my case, England. How is it to severalcountriesandcontinents,primarilytheUnit- diaspora afterWorld War Two. ThelatterscatteredGreeks ter theendofOttomanEmpire,andsecondgreat offspring oftwodiasporas:theexchangepopulationsaf- used to living among ruins, even those, like me, who are John: Fromwhereisitpossibletobegin?AllGreeksare In documentingandanalyzingtheparticularhistoryof By exploringthehyphenatedspacebetweenlifestory 4Ibid. 3 Mouffe,“CriticalArtPractices,”118. 2 Mouffe,“CriticalArtPractices,”117. proach”, in 1 ChantalMouffe,“CriticalArtPractices: AnAgonisticAp- References: The Large Glass Large The 25 (Witkin1974)thatcan,asinthe 24

No27/28:117-119(2019) THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 ------12:1 Illumi (trans- Adorno, Identity, , 9(2), Art. 59, The Social Pro (London: Rout- (London: Rout- Public Culture (London: Heineman (edited by G. Adorno by G. Adorno (edited edited by Jonathan Ruth- Forum Qualitative Sozialfor Crossings: Journal of Migra Studying Diversity, Migration ” 345. ,” 344. ,” 346-347. Crossings: Journal of Migration & Aesthetic theory Playing and reality edited by Maggie O’Neill, 175. London: 175. O’Neill, Maggie by edited . (Bloomington: Indiana University Press . (Bloomington: Indiana University One-way street and other writings Women, native, other: Writing, post colo The Imaginary Domain (London: Macmillan, 1981) , 8:2, pp. 215–232, doi: 10.1386/cjmc.8.2.215_7 The intelligence of feeling Aesthetic theoryAesthetic theory,Aesthetic theory Maggie O’Neill and John Perivolaris: Critical Theory in Practice: Walking, Art and narrative as conjunctural analysis 31 Maggie O’Neill and John Perivolaris: Critical Theory in Practice: Walking, (pp.83-107) (London: Fontana Press, 1992). (pp.83-107) (London: , 8:2 (2017): 215–232, doi: 10.1386/cjmc.8.2.215_7 . London: UCL Press ledge,1982). 15 H. Heynon, “Mimesis, Dwelling and Architecture: Adorno’s relevance for a feminist theory of architecture”. In and Urban Multiculture:convivial tools for research and prac 1974). Culture (2008). http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0802590. 89. 12 Benjamin, “The storyteller,” 90. 13 Benjamin, “The storyteller,” Winnicott, 14 D.W. and R. Tiedemann, translated by C. Lendhart. London: Rout- translated by C. Lendhart. and R. Tiedemann, ledge,1984). Benjamin, 6 Walter Community, Culture and Difference culture and feminism tion & Culture schung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research tice duction of Art nations nialism and feminism 10 Benjamin, “One-way street”; Janet Wolff, 10 Benjamin, “One-way street”; Janet Wolff, 5 Theodor W. Adorno, W. 5 Theodor 22 In a journal article in 2017 John reflects upon his practice his upon reflects John 2017 in article journal a In 22 the ‘humanistic value’ and contribution of as a photographer, photography and his work with refugees and migrants. – this is it nick: Perivolaris, J. (2017),‘George Delemis, photography distant look’, and the migrant’s 7 Trinh T Min-Ha, 7 Trinh 23 Stuart Hall. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”. In ledge,1995). 18 Adorno, “ 11 M. O’Neill, “Transnational Refugees: The Transformative Refugees: The Transformative 11 M. O’Neill, “Transnational Role of Art?” [53 paragraphs]. erford, 225. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990. Boundaries, 24 Achille Mbembe “At the Edge of the World: and Sovereignty in Africa”, Territoriality, 20 Adorno, “ 19 Adorno, “ the 21 John Perivolaris, “George Delemis, photography and distant look”, migrant’s Sage, 1999 16 Mouffe, “Critical Art Practices,” 17 D. Cornell, lated by E. Jephcott and K. Shorter). (London: Verso,1985); Verso,1985); (London: Shorter). K. and Jephcott E. by lated Benjamin, In Walter Benjamin, The storyteller. Walter (Winter 2000): 259-84. 25 R. Witkin, 1989); Trinh T. Min-Ha, When the moon waxes red. (London: Min-Ha, T. 1989); Trinh Routledge, 1991). concept of the hyphen as third space T.Min-Ha’s 8 See Trin (1989, 1991). Giaquinto (one of the artists years later Fahira, Bea 9 Twenty city community arts organisa- and the former director of the a visu- wrote We together. to walk up met and Maggie tion) and a chapter for Berg and Nowicka (2019) on art al essay, This is it Nick : O’Neill, walking as a convivial methodology. Migration, memory (2019) F. M. Giaquinto, B. and Hasedzic, as convivial methodologies in and place:arts and walking In Mette Louise Berg essay. participatory research-a visual (Eds) Nowicka Magdalena and Richard Mosse Incoming and Heat Maps

Richard Mosse, Still from Incoming, 2014-17 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Le Lieu Unique – Incoming, 2019 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

34 Le Lieu Unique – Incoming, 2019 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

35 Richard Mosse, Still from Incoming, 2014-17 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Richard Mosse, Still from Incoming, 2014-17 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Richard Mosse, Softball Stadium, Hellinikon Olympic Complex, Athens, Greece, 2016 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

44 Richard Mosse, Idomeni Camp, Greek-Macedonia Border, 2016 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

45 Richard Mosse, Moria Camp, Lesbos, Greece, 2016 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Richard Mosse, Moria in Snow I, Lesbos, Greece, 2017 © Richard Mosse. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

MAPPING BORDERS AND FLOWS THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - - The project aims 2 What relationalities are pro- relationalities What 3 subject to? Here I would also like to subject to? Here I would also like to Katherine McKittrick’s argument for Katherine McKittrick’s to create a counter geography of borders to create a counter geography migra- and an account of undocumented of violence as the tion that resists the use instead for forms sole analytic and looks relation in and of life that emerge within, hostile environ- to, the dynamics of the ments of border control. useful here of place’ is ‘a black sense in thinking of forced migration and displacements not only through violence and death but also to turn our conceptual attention to the practices of resistance and modes of enduring that emerge in response. only pause for a moment to consider the term ‘border regime’, which has been incred- ibly useful in developing a Foucauldian analysis of state control of people on the that understanding an including move, such control is deployed not only at the in all of but also emerges border, physical its dispersed forms through the deployment of technologies and bureaucracies of border securitisation and control. Yet, one of the consequences of the ubiquity research is that term in migration of this power of workings the analysing only by and its violent effects, we are left with the problem McKittrick, alongside many is which identified, has feminists, Black the erasure of certain modalities of living as some lives are only ever considered can think, here, of the many in death. We have that artworks and articles projects, rightly addressed the weaponised Med- iterranean as the liquid incarnation of the deathly migration policies. However, people who die on those boats did not ar rive from nowhere, their lives and after lives extend far beyond European shores duced through the movement and dis- these do how and people of placement ordinary people affect the border regimes that they pass through and are not analysis. Here, I discuss some work we work discuss some Here, I analysis. the re- conducting as part of have been that Atlas’, ‘Topological project search on the these two strands, sits between of spa- techniques one hand mobilising other analysis and, on the tial and visual multiple and overlapping working with necessarily pro- narratives that do not duce a singular truth. - Nishat Awan: On navigating horizonless worlds: a counter-geography of border regimes 49 On navigating horizonless worlds: a counter-geography Nishat Awan: becomes a state of living in a persistent a in living of state a becomes bor the within trapped those for present der regime, yet within mainstream media are lives migrant art contexts certain and only represented through singular and tragic events. What political possibilities remain for engaging with this situation through visual culture, when we have seen that the migrant image itself has become a commodity to be traded in art galleries? Even with the best of intentions migrant lives are caught within a logic of spatial violence so that ordinary people and their dreams become spec- tacular tragedies. In dealing with such difficult topics, some contemporary art practices have deliberately blurred the line between fact and fiction, the real and in ways that question the the imaginary, in very basis of documentary modes. Yet, our ‘post-truth’ world, another strand of artistic production positions evidentiary practices as an antidote. This can be has that turn forensic recent the in seen also been heavily influenced by architectural practice and techniques of spatial The 1

The lives of the undocumented are border regimes geography of geography a counter- worlds: worlds: horizonless horizonless On navigating navigating On Nishat Awan Nishat condition of undocumented migration spent attempting to be somewhere else, so it is ironic that in such lives the question of temporality emerges more urgent- ly than that of space. This is because the price exacted for moving across borders without papers is time. For example, they money, enough earn to wait people await decisions on their asylum applica- mo- opportune an for wait simply or tions, Therefore, migration ment to go further. policies and border securitisation create there lives; huge uncertainty in people’s may be periods of stasis but that does not necessarily signal the end of a journey, which can encompass settling in, finding a home, deciding to move on or being deported. At the same time, deportation regimes and militarised borders keep people moving, this is what Shahram Khosravi terms ‘circulation’ ‘[…a con- trolled movement of people sent back and forth between undocumentedness and deportability: between countries, between laws, between institutions.’ Bus station on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan where many start their journey towards Europe (2019) Photo: Nishat Awan

and the guilt that triggered an interest return to the question of territory and that African-Americans to escape to northern in them. For the purposes of this text, of the environment.4 Shifting territorial free states or to Canada. It is too tempt- the border regime is understood as a formations coalesce around geopolitical ing, perhaps, to make such easy correla- technology of power that allows certain borders as we have seen in the case of tions, but it is hard not to think of the leg- relationalities and disallows others and Europe in 2015 when states opened and acies of slavery and colonisation in the my analytical focus is on those relations closed their borders in response to the context of the bitter words of one person that short circuit this logic and produce movement of people, actions which went I met in Turkey, working tirelessly to help other geographies, no matter how fleet- against their commitments to internation- migrants along their way. He noted how, ing. This requires paying attention to the al treaties. The case of the Mexico-US in the past, colonial powers came and communities that coalesce around the border, in particular, has shown how the took the labour they required, but, today, border understood in all of its complex- environment itself is being weaponised the slave walks to their indentured ser- ity, including geographies that arise out to deter migrants becoming an integral vitude all by themselves. For this person, of European concerns, narratives that do part of the border regime. However, what tired of witnessing such injustices, these not produce perfect victims for humani- is perhaps important to note is that while were words of despair, but, perhaps, he tarian redress, and the varying forms of people are funnelled into environments would have found some comfort in think- precarious labour that service everyday that are extremely dangerous and where ing of himself as a conductor on a con- aspects of contemporary borders; from survival is often impossible, the land- temporary version of the underground the petty official who checks IDs ‘at scape, as an actor within the formation railroad. Yet, Frederick Douglass’ critique random’ to the smuggler who can help of territory, is ambivalent, that is to say remains apposite; that many abolition- people pass through a checkpoint some- that there are also examples of people ists by publicising their work too much where near the Pakistan-Iran border. being able to hide and evade border con- were detracting from the clandestine trol through harnessing aspects of the nature of the underground railroad and Territorial formations at the border landscape. At the Pakistan-Iran border, the extreme danger the conductors, who for example, knowing how to foretell the were themselves former slaves, exposed It is helpful to think of the border not coming of a dust storm is a crucial skill themselves to by travelling into southern only as a method for ‘the multiplication of for those hoping to guide people across states where they could easily have lost 5 labour’, as Mezzadra and Neilson have undetected as is an embodied knowledge their hard won freedom. posited, or as an ordering and sifting de- of the rugged terrain. The journeys of un- In addressing the border as a geo- vice for managing flows, as has been dis- documented migration are, thus, produc- graphical and territorial phenomenon, a cussed more generally in border studies, ing new counter-territories and forms of technology of government and a device but to also view it as a shifting territorial resistance that for some are analogous that produces its own communities, our formation that is itself affected by the to the underground railroad, the network emphasis has been on producing ac- displacements it enacts. This requires a of secret routes that allowed enslaved counts that allow space for the fragile THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 50 Nishat Awan: On navigating horizonless worlds: a counter-geography of border regimes movements of the undocumented while is not just about being located far away forms of data analysis. Platform visuality retaining a degree of opacity. We under- or being inaccessible, but also speaks to seems to have exploded notions of per- stand these not only as lines of evasion those places that, through their material spective and embodied forms of knowing but also as a faint web of sedimenting conditions, repel us in some way, or from that might be the usual mode of navigat- relationalities that produce a particular which we are repelled. Distance is, here, ing visual culture as lived and perceived. sense of place and a counter geography considered in a topological idiom, as re- Instead, the challenge posed is similar to border management. In this respect, sulting from a lack of relational connec- to what Harun Farocki identified as that our approach is indebted to Ursula Bie- tions that stretch topographical notions which computer animation presented to mann’s substantial body of work that has of nearness. While such places might film; the relationships between space elaborated the notion of a counter geog- disallow a situated or embodied engage- and time that are usually made by the raphy as bringing together a theoretical ment, for some, increasingly, they are film maker through techniques of mon- analysis of globalisation, ethnographies made available through visual regimes of tage are now to be produced by the of the material realities of life, and a modelling and mapping. viewer (or the user) themselves as they critical approach to the abstractions in- From NASA’s Blue Marble, which navigate through and across platforms. herent in technological representations.6 is a composite image of our planet to Yet, this navigation occurs in a totalising The project, ‘Topological Atlas’, there- computational models produced through world that resists any outside meaning fore, takes as its topic of interest not only data aggregation and the virtual realms beyond the closed and often obscure the border, migration and territories of of computer games, there is a certain circuits produced through the exchange displacement but also the technologies sense that we inhabit a world of totalities and analysis of data across platforms.8 that curate our relationship to places at a where the horizon beyond which things Recent debates in visual culture have distance. I have written elsewhere on the might remain uncertain or incalculable discussed what a machine or a platform prevalence of forms of digital witnessing seems to have disappeared. As visual sees (as opposed to what it makes vis- in relation to places that are considered and spatial practice embraces these ible). These range from Trevor Paglen’s out-of-bounds and the fraught issue of technologies, what critical questions exploration of machine vision that does how we might then construct an ethical emerge around the political potential of not produce images that can be seen by engagement with such places where such methods? These platforms, on the what he refers to as ‘meat-eyes’ to the it may be difficult to spend time due to one hand, give us information overload question of how visuality transforms in conflict or where access is restricted and, on the other, produce a sense of a relation to algorithmic production.9 Here, by state actors.7 Distance, in this sense, world made completely visible through the notion of image ensembles emerging THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

Dust storms are frequent near the Pakistan-Iran border (2019) Photo: Nishat Awan

Nishat Awan: On navigating horizonless worlds: a counter-geography of border regimes 51 across hardware, software and various that we do not reproduce their totalising of unexpected connections across mul- external inputs produces a form of seeing effects. Instead, we focus on producing a tiple temporal and spatial registers. This that, according to Adrian Mackenzie and series of narratives that resist reproduc- is especially pertinent for imagining the Anna Munster, […create new opacities ing the all encompassing violence of the relation of scale to mapping. Scale, as a that even the most advanced seeing-de- border regime, while, at the same time, relationship between measure and ratio vices - the machine learning-based pre- involve a critical distancing from the re- that is used to index the spatial, could dictive models used to organize and or- gimes of visuality, embedded within dig- also be considered in flux so that contin- der image flows - cannot dispel.’10 ital platforms of mapping and modelling. gent and dynamic relations emerge that This opacity sits uncomfortably next transform according to time, context and to the claim to make far away places vis- Topological maps location. This transformed relationship ible or to reveal the processes that are between measure and value also maps producing and transforming territories Based in the mathematical study of onto the relations between ontology and suggests that the pertinent political continuous transformation, topological and epistemology, the inescapably inter- question may not be what we can see thinking privileges relations over spa- twined nature of which has been at the but how we see and what this does to our tial proximity. In a topological culture, core of a feminist politics of location or ability to act. If we take Farocki’s insight movement and change are experienced situated knowledge. In such intensive re- that navigation is a key mode through not as fixed forms traversing space and lations, the role of participative research which we can critically engage with new time but are themselves composed and becomes important as it intervenes in the forms of the visual, which seems to still recomposed in relation to each other. A process of creating value through ways hold true for the image ensembles de- topological approach to mapping would of knowing and apprehending the world. scribed above, then the question of how therefore be able to represent the bor- Here, the multiple roles of mapping as a to navigate through opacity seems to be der as a dynamic entity that produces mode of participative engagement, a way crucial, knowing also that opacity, as its own culture through different types of collecting data and a form of spatial 14 described by Édouard Glissant, is in cer- of practices. Since topological thinking analysis has much to offer. While contain contexts for certain people a mode views culture as intensive, units of mea- cerned with network thinking, a topolog- 11 of survival. If we consider the practice sure and notions of value also emerge ical mapping practice would not make of navigation in the context of seafaring, in relation to each other rather than as a strong distinction between empha- it requires an external datum provided external metrics.13 In the context of mi- sising connectivity (as is the case with by the horizon or the stars, which ,in gration and the functioning of borders, actor-network theory) and emphasising contemporary times, is provided by the it is an attempt to understand border nodes within a network (as object-ori- ping of our phones to the satellites or- conditions as highly specialised while ented ontology does). Instead what is of biting overhead. These offer a relation also being constituted through a series importance is how forms of life emerge to a known object from which a position can be triangulated and then pinpointed on an already existing map. Orientation is different, however; it does not require an external datum in the same way. Here, I am thinking of Sara Ahmed’s notion of orientation where she writes that bodies and objects are affected by the orientations they take towards each other through sharing space, and that these orientations depend on certain tenden- cies and social norms. Ahmed is writing about queer lives but her insight into how orientations act both as ‘straightening devices’ as well as providing ‘fleeting moments’, where something slips and other inhabitations are possible, is I think also applicable here.12 We are finding such orientations in the lives of the people who are making their way across difficult borders, while we are also thinking orientation as a methodology for approaching modelling and mapping platforms so The partial and patchy representations of the Topological Atlas Photo: Yelta Köm THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 52 Nishat Awan: On navigating horizonless worlds: a counter-geography of border regimes THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - - The and 18 17 but also for the 19 ious obstacles it places in the way, some way, the in places it obstacles ious intended and others not. Of course, the system of ‘lines’ ensures monetary value not only for those whose ingenuity allows a from outcomes maximal derive ‘to them minimal set of elements’, infrastructural relations in these border areas are less to do with the road, fence and wall building that we would normally associate with hardened borders (although these are also present), instead, the state modulates flows across the border that it never intended to stop and it relies on this infrastructural capacity of people to find a way through the var which is the usual modality in which which is the usual border exchanges at the geopolitical are understood, but through the tension subjec- and technology terrain, between In concrete terms, this means, for tivity. example, understanding how ethnicity affects experiences of crossing the bor der - Pashtuns, Punjabi or Baloch will have completely different experiences of the technologies of border management including how they are treated at the frequent check posts along the highways. The system of ‘lines’ (bribes) and favours that allow some to pass through and others not are often brokered through low-level agents who are also drivers in the or are of buses or conductors as guise of passengers. Their ethnicity, well as the informal networks they have managed to cultivate, will ensure their survival in this dangerous business - it is an example of what Abdou Maliq Sim- infrastructure’. as ‘people calls one to Iran, Turkey or further into Europe. In into Europe. or further Turkey to Iran, spatial visualisation and using mapping, phenomenon, these consider to analysis and not to reveal the routes the aim is the of those who are evading strategies way in order to make their border regime pros- consider to be more to what they nor is it to reveal perous lives in Europe, hidden practices of low-level the partially trying to make smugglers who are often been long has that area an in meet ends Ira- and Pakistani the both by neglected the aim is to make nian states. Instead, of power not sense of the entanglements as of sovereignty, through the language cautioned, Elizabeth Povinelli has state at large that derives economic ben- These are also These 16 Border entanglements - a word used for tolls or transit 15 Nishat Awan: On navigating horizonless worlds: a counter-geography of border regimes 53 On navigating horizonless worlds: a counter-geography Nishat Awan: For the last year, the Topological At- the Topological For the last year, duties but also for the piece of paper required to pass the border at these smaller local crossings. It can only be used by those who can prove residence in close for allows and border to the proximity short stays of up to 15 days within 60km These small outposts are of the border. ex- for occurs, trade border grey where ample, the roughly 40,000 litres of cheap Iranian diesel that flows into Pakistan pickup of back the on barrels small in or the trucks and motorcycles every day, narcotics trade that connects Afghani- stan, Pakistan and Iran. the places where undocumented migrants can cross the border on their way rahdaari las project team has been working on the Pakistan-Iran border to understand the nature of the territorial formations being produced and reproduced through the movement of people and goods, sea- sonal and climatic changes and the knot- ted entanglements of these flows and have explored these at exchanges. We as such key locations along the border, border crossing which is the the Taftan only formal border post between Paki- focus main our However, Iran. and stan has been on the smaller crossings where inhabitants of the area can pass with a tories to that of a building interior and the and building interior to that of a tories of, ease This body. scale of the intimate combin- of, switching and and necessity man- views in a seamless ing scales and in the to the use of maps ner is central geo- For studying spatial and discipline. can mapping such phenomena, graphic visual representa- be a powerful form of gleaned tion that allows the complexity to be repro- from ethnographic methods that can produce duced visually in ways The ques- speculative forms of analysis. central to tion of perspective is therefore we are developing, the mapping practice it might be in particular how which asks within such possible to situate oneself and how we visual and spatial regimes, gendered and can account for racialised, other forms of exclusion within these increasingly ubiquitous worlds. - par ex can be reimagined differently. differently. be reimagined can Maps in a topological atlas would Maps in a topological cellence across asymmetric relations and through and through relations asymmetric across and of vertical pressures the interplay local- that are also highly lateral affinities be a topological map would ised. Thus, account for such spatial to necessarily time same the at while conditions local that a relational paradigm operating with of scale. transcends questions - and patchy represen work with partial evidentiary urge tations, resisting the mapping within some contemporary the project con- practices. In particular, as an unfinished, ceptualises the ‘atlas’ representation of impossible and colonial form of world-mak- a world, but also as a this how wonder We worlding. or ing topographical representation One important avenue for a critical practice would be to trace the genealogy of maps and mapmaking not through the usual route of thinking with geographical maps that are completely entwined with the colonial endeavour of charting and appropriating new territories. If we, instead, trace the lineage of mapping in the field of architecture a different set of concerns emerge. Since architecture, de- deals with the most traditional, at its sign and construction of buildings, forms of drawing and working with buildings have been constitutive of what archi- Architecture today. is mapping tectural embraced the axonometric drawing as a mode of visualising buildings and ob- with but sides different two from jects a view from nowhere. This was not the map geographic the of view eye bird’s but a composite image that created a be could it so see, could one no that view considered an early precursor to the to- one talising models discussed above. Yet crucial difference remains, which is that in most architectural mapping there is no claim to represent ‘reality’, rather reality is always constructed through the act of drawing, meaning that maps become Architectural devices. propositional drawings are also made with the purpose of communication, traditionally between and builders, and craftsmen architects, communi- diverse more between today ties of practice. Architectural maps can range from the scale of regions and terri- THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 54 Nishat Awan: Onnavigating horizonlessworlds: acounter-geography ofborderregimes that canspangenerations. Whatapprox- to moveorthequasi-eventof violence mental degradationthatforces people ‘slow violence’ofprotracted environ- our televisionscreensbutrather itisthe violence ofthetragediesthatunfold on within whatisoftennottheextraordinary to ordinarylives.Suchlivesarecaught of representationthatcandojustice instead withmodesofopacityandforms depend onuncoveringtruths,butwork other waysofknowingthatdonotonly Topological Atlasproject,thus,mobilises contribute towardssupportingthose.The also theformsoflifethatresistandto that notonlyrevealspatialviolencebut most importantly, toproduceanalyses complex representations;and,perhaps tive asadevicetonavigatethroughsuch to produce a unifying vision; to use narra- ence andrelationalitiesover an attempt worlds; toprivilegeintensitiesofexperi- knowing rather than producing totalising allow formomentsofuncertaintyandun- would be: to make patchy models that ing ‘hereish’mapsforatopologicalatlas type models.Someprinciplesforproduc- or the total immersion of virtual reality view ofsomethingliketheBlueMarble perspective ratherthenthegod’s eye only evermakesensefromasituated these complexentanglementsthatcan local orglobal,butalsoareglimpsesinto human relations, and which are not only not onlyvisualisefromtheperspectiveof the types of mapswe are producingthat concept ofthe‘hereish’iswhatdrives We canonlyremain global, butwecannotremaininthelocal. need notscaleuptotheHumanor local acrosstheseseepingtransitswe geopolitical borders.‘Aswestretchthe our livesareinterconnectedacross lihoods, istomapoutthewaysinwhich ports, andthatiscrucialtosomanylive- small scaleindustrythatthisdieselsup- seep intothelandandseafrom diesel. To trace the lines of toxins that the small boats that carry and use the Sea inBalochistanisoftenpollutedby the pristinecoastlinealongArabian tion meansthereisspillage everywhere, that moveacrosstheborder. efit fromthecheapoilandothergoods The informalnatureofoiltransporta- hereish .’ 20 Povinelli’s such ‘uncertainfutures’? we imaginethatallowus to workwith imate narrativesandfutureworldscan actively createotherrealities. models thatworkwithmultipletruthsand and threat,weareproducingspeculative its ownnarrowunderstandingsofrisk tion thatreproducesaworldbasedon basing ourpoliticsonalogicofpre-emp- at aDistance’, nessing: TheEthicsofEngagingwithPlaces 7 NishatAwan, ‘DigitalNarratives andWit- tol: Arnolfini,2008). Ursula BiemannandJan-ErikLundström(Bris- 6 W. Norton&Company, 2016). Ursula Biemann Video Works 1998-2008 Works Video Biemann Ursula 12 SaraAhmed, gan Press,1997). by BetsyWing(AnnArbor:UniversityofMichi - and aBlackSenseofPlace’, 3 Katherine McKittrick, ‘On Plantations, Prisons, 2 See,www.topologicalatlas.net 27 February2019]. philosophy.com/article/stolen-time> [accessed 4 SandroMezzadraandBrettNeilson, 10.1080/14649365.2011.624280>. 11 ÉdouardGlissant, org/10.1177/0263276419847508>. derland’, gate, 2005);EtienneBalibar, ‘EuropeasBor “Navigation BeyondVision” -’, 8 DoreenMendediscussesthishere‘Editorial: 6X.2016.1234940>. 311–30 [accessed16September 2014 . Geography 9 Trevor Paglen,‘OperationalImages’, sion/> [accessed29February2020]. nal/101/274019/editorial-navigation-beyond-vi- #101 (2019) . Environment andPlanningA,48.6(2016),1047– Geopolitics andOilTales fromKarachitoTaftan’, State GovernanceattheGeographicMargins: 16 NausheenH.Anwar, ‘AsianMobilitiesand meaning responsibilityfororpossessing tersecting FragmentsinJohannesburg’, 18 A.M.Simone,‘PeopleasInfrastructure:In- Press Books,2016). ture’, Agencies ofRelationalPracticeinArchitec- 14 DoinaPetrescu,‘Relationscapes:Mapping Celia Lury(Wiley-Blackwell,2012). 21 RenataTyszczuk, 20 Povinelli,p.13. 19 Simone,p.411. em to Late Liberalism Late to em nary Tales for the Anthropocene the for Tales nary 15 Theword ccs.2012.06.011>. ies, 3.2(2012),135–40

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

3 - - In 6 maps are 5 Maps are, therefore, 7 and so they are actually 8 “There is no such thing as a 9 There is, therefore, a dialectic within However, the way in which maps the However, For the Frontex agency, 4 deeply political objects. maps that is often misunderstood. They are both intrinsically scientific and ob- subjective necessarily also but jective, and partisan. The subjectivity of maps, which geographers have been slow to dif- in explained be can such, as accept ferent ways. First of all, no single map can claim to represent the complexity of the real world on its own. According to Goodman Through this example and so many oth- Through this example is a rational ers, we see that cartography knowledge. It is a methodology to access the world and car method to figure out tography is definitely the geographical tography is definitely working tool. favourite researcher’s phenomena is summarize geographical disinterest- nor gratuitous neither often ed. completely unabridged map; for abridg- ment is intrinsic to map making”. It is a simplification requires that clarity fact map. a on everything put cannot we and sometimes tools in the favour of a dom- and sometimes weapons inant authority, to denounce it, used, for instance, to determine where used, for instance, to the external borders of the European Union are most vulnerable to the arrival of migrants, and, thus, are relevant tools to help in the deployment of troops to “protect” the borders (with push backs or other operations). On the contrary, denounc- of way a are they NGOs, for ing the absurdity and ineffectiveness of highlighting also but policies, migration rights. human violate that practices the hands of nationalist political lead- and planning in useful be can maps ers, monitoring the construction of walls on their borders. In the hands of activists, maps take on a tactical dimension when it comes to digging tunnels or deter mining hidden paths to avoid police at police avoid to paths hidden mining border crossings. viding keys to understand how the world the world how keys to understand viding the fa- thinks, of course, of works. One and maps by Edmund Cooper mous 1858 Cholera which linked the John Snow, - London to water contamina epidemic in of which the identification tion, allowing responsible for the disease. pump was - - . Therefore, in order in Therefore, 1 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World 55 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World Much more than a list of sta- 2 Cartography is a real scientific meth- any given moment. In addition, no diver entire of the topography can observe the seabed. The map is a device that shows see. can eye no what od, which makes it possible to catch possible it makes which od, and immobilize the invisible, it invites us ex- by us surrounds what about think to tracting us from individual schemes of it makes space perception. In this way, objective. tions. In short, every map is like a canvas on which dots, lines and areas are drawn. Every map is the result of an organized gathering of shapes and words, designed to narrate geographical phenomena. In deed, this is what cartography is all about, telling geographical stories tistical figures in a table, maps bring out figures in a table, tistical pro- reality, of structures underlying the to fit the whole world on a sheet of paper or a computer screen, it is then measured, triangulated, digitized, stored, simplified, and distorted by more or less traceable mathematical transformations. Following this, statistical data can be added to it in to express the form of graphic symbols a particular geographical phenomenon, which, of course, are also transforma - Maps

Mapping migration is nowadays a Mapping migration is Maps are representations of the

“The importance of an image is measured by the magnitude of its imaginary aura” (Gaston Bachelard) ly observable. No astronaut, for example, no matter how high s/he is in space, can at world the the countries of all at look world, which allow people to visualize vast areas at a glance that are not direct mandatory requirement for a thorough a for requirement mandatory How- logic. spatial its of understanding meth- it is also a huge scientific and ever, odological challenge. Indeed, how can we make the complexity of human movements worldwide visible by summarizing them in simple still images? Could there be some representational bias, hidden motives or something unspoken? Finally, what are the discourses carried by these we geographical images? In this paper, to try to keys decoding some propose understand how the maps represent the world, and allow us to change the way we see it. Some rhetorical issues about migration mapping Some rhetorical issues about of the World of the and not a mirror not a mirror and act of creation creation act of Nicolas Lambert Nicolas is an map Every THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 56 Nicolas Lambert:Every map isanactofcreation andnotamirror oftheWorld map wouldlooklike. speculated aboutwhatanunsimplified to LewisCarrollandUmbertoEco,have many authors, from Jorge Luis Borges Bahoken of anintention,intellectualvision.As short, everymapisanactofcreation. of thedesigner(orauthor)a map.In with meaningsthatreflectthe intention patterns arenotmute,theyendowed within itapurpose whichisexpressed rhetorical weapons.Everymap carries see. to helptheusersseewhattheyneed only by omission. They distort the truth maps canbeconsideredtountruthful,if their inabilitytorepresenteverything, ping process.Consequently, becauseof plification is an integral part of the map- task. Itseemsfairtoarguethenthatsim- such arealization,itwouldbepointless derstand that,beyondtheimpossibilityof posed onitateverypoint.Itiseasytoun- thing intheworldandwouldbesuperim- size map,whichwouldrepresentevery- ances”. search forwhat’s behindtheappear The maphelpsusto“understandand emergence ofthekeystounderstanding. tization of the reality necessary for the orders, inshort,thatmakesaschema- simplifies, summarizes,prioritizes,omits, A goodmapwillthereforebetheonethat Figure 1:Two mapswithoppositemessagesbuiltthesamedata Like alanguage,cartography has 12 Ultimately, every map isthe result 10 13 Reasoningthroughtheabsurd, pointsout,thecartographic 11 Itconsistsofafull- - some weaponincartography. can easilybeseenthatpathosis afear migrants arebasedonthesame data,it etc? Throughthesetwomapson Syrian acceptable levelofmigrantper country calm, andwhichwill warn? Whatisthe the left?Theoneonright?Whichwill Which mapisthebestone?Theoneon in Europeberepresented(Figure1)? For example,howshouldSyrianrefugees lours oraggressive,contrastingcolours. tance. Itmeanschoosingsoft,pastelco- enlarging themstronglytogiveitimpor symbols tominimiseaphenomenonor balancing actbetweenchoosingsmall rather thansharp,abruptangles.Itisa choosing round,harmoniouslayouts emotions andimagination.Itisabout other hand,Pathos is theuse of affects, to objectify reality (see above). On the It isscientificcartographyanditswish message assuchanditisthecontent. the intellect,tologicalreasoning.Itis on threepillars:logos,pathos,ethos temporary cartography. They are based such asAristotle,applyverywelltocon ophers morethantwentycenturiesago, oric, whichweredefinedbyGreekphilos data and automaticexpressionsofstatistical and omissions,thatarenotmechanical by colours,lines,words,exaggerations The Logosistheappealtoreason, Finally, Ethosis whatreferstofunda- 14 Thefundamentalconceptsofrhet 15 . - - - - - mind andtoaffects. logic thatwillbeabletospeakboth linked togetheraccordingtoadiscursive where alltheelementsofmapwillbe structing acoherent,meaningfulimage, art ofcartographywillconsistcon- minimum amountoftime.Andforthis,the the maximumamountofinformationina to captivateanaudiencecommunicate the moreeloquentitisandwillbeable authoritative argument. institution, ofanewspaper... Ethosisthe utation of a researcher, the fameofan producer ofthemap:academicrep- This is the weight that will be given to the mental values,credibilityandauthority. popular instruction of the Frenchman from 1826,itisthechoroplethmap ofthe cently. Thefirstthematic maponlydates mation haveonlybeenproduced veryre- first mapsrepresentingstatistical infor with NicolasOresme(1370),while the first chartsappearintheMiddle Ages the so-calledBedolinaMap,andthat known mapscomefromprehistorywith cartography. Letusrecallthatthefirst emerged quitelateinthehistoryof communication. raphy is definitely a powerful weapon of In brief,amapwillbemoreeffective, Mapping Migrationisatopicthat 16 Therefore,cartog- Flows - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 tion, even if only actual population flows flows actual population if only tion, even from all account (migrants are taken into at not go to all countries), countries do links should be represented, least 10,000 if the considerable. Even which is still and be easily automated process could any technical problems, did not cause no chance such a map has absolutely would, therefore, of being readable and these solve To be completely useless. therefore, have issues, cartographers, and geographic to manipulate statistical them and there data before representing available. For are several operations further statistical example, filtering, or only represent to used can be analysis, flows (but the largest or most significant and this would no also hide the smallest) doubt lighten the map. Another possibility would be to no longer work at the country level, but to build regional ag- East, Middle the Asia, (Africa, gregates Eastern Europe, etc.). The choices made here would have a very strong impact on the resulting image. For example, if one chose to aggregate all African countries In addi- 18 We have to try to We 17 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World 57 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World To better understanding, let’s con- better understanding, let’s To Mapping migratory movements, i.e. movements, migratory Mapping imagine how to catch, in a single image, to catch, in a imagine how dancers moving on bodies in motion, like tangled up other, a stage, crossing each trajectories. How in a variety of chaotic traces be repre- can all these particular on the same im- sented at the same time of paper when we age the size of a sheet of migrants world- know that the number people? million 270 to close is today wide The sider this issue in a concrete way. 197 recognises currently Nations United Representing world. the around states population displacements between all the countries of the world over a given period of time would be like drawing nearly 40,000 lines on the same image. - a complex spatio-tempo immobilising a still is system, political and social ral, real challenge today use of arrows in cartography also goes goes also cartography in arrows of use ways the then, Since Minard). to back international migration of representing but the methodological have proliferated, challenges remain. and cognitive Figure 2 : The red arrows Among the authors who have left Among the authors Charles Dupin. Subsequently, several au- several Subsequently, Dupin. Charles repre- the in interested then were thors at the movement of people, sentation of is true, of great international a period, it between that recall also us Let mobility. peo- more than 60 million 1820 and 1914, In 1913, to the United States. ple sailed War, First World on the threshold of the worldwide repre- the number of migrants population com- sented 5% of the world’s pared to only 3.5% today. migration of history the on mark their French engineer flow mapping, is the who produced Charles Joseph Minard emi- world’s the depicting 1862 in map a coloured bands of grants with the help of on the num- varying thickness depending ber of people. Another important contrib- utor was Matthew Sankey who formal- ized and used these methods abundantly through his famous diagrams, and, final- Ernst Georg Ravenstein and his map ly, “Currents of Migrations” published in 1885, which was probably the first migration map using arrows (even if the first THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 58 Nicolas Lambert:Every map isanactofcreation andnotamirror oftheWorld by moreorless curved linesconnecting exemplified bythefamousredarrow. extremely powerfulrhetoricalelements gerous. This idea is often underpinned by the influxofmigrantsispotentially dan- tematically carriesthesamediscourse: this Eurocentricviewpointalmostsys- we prefer to call expatriates. In the end, map migrantsfromrichcountries,who main hostcountries.Nordoweusually the countriesborderingSyriathatare many, withouteverseeingthatitisinfact should takeinasmanyrefugeesGer by asking, for example, whether France tion ofSyrianrefugeeswillbeaddressed reality of displacements. Thus, the ques- blinkers thattruncatethegeographical plainable. However, thisbiasworkslike rocentric biasis,therefore,largelyex- be bettertoclosetheborders?TheEu- it destabilize our societies? Wouldn’t it arriving? Istheflowabsorbable?Will societies. Aretheretoomanymigrants political issuesthatarepresentinour is quitelogicalbecausetheyunderpin an migrants arriving in Europe, and this tion fromtheperspectiveofnon-Europe- invariably discussthesubjectofmigra- maps we see in the media will almost ence ourwayofseeing.InEurope,the assume aparticularanglethatwillinflu- as migration, maps will most of the time litical andcontroversialsubjectsuch world. Moreover, onanextremelypo- in thewaywecollectivelypicture is sometimesthereasonforcontroversy. they are based on the same data, with oppositemessages,eventhough ical units, therefore, produces images information and modifying the geograph- grants migratetoEurope.Selectingthe of theSouthand,only20%Africanmi- tion takesplacebetweenthecountries countries andthatthemajorityofmigra- from developingcountriestodeveloped 37% ofmigrationintheworldtakesplace even minor. Letusrememberthatonly would appearmuchlesssignificantor etc.), thenthemovementtowardsEurope regional blocs(NorthAfrica,West Africa, er hand,ifAfricaisdividedintosmaller nificant flow towards Europe. On the oth- into a single entity, there would be a sig- Most ofthetime,flowsaremapped Maps playanimportantfunction 19 which - graphic discourse:arhetoricofinvasion thick lines,createsananxiety-provoking vergence effect,combinedwiththeoften converging at the same place. This con- construction ofmapswithallthearrows wards Europe, this method leads to the only themigrationroutesheadingto- destination orbychoosingtorepresent only Europeancountriesasof been mentionedabove.Byconsidering more criticalbias,isrelatedtowhathas This is a first bias while the second, much of originandresidencethemigrants. jectories taken,butsimplythecountries indicate themovements,oreventra- arrows, therefore,oftendonotdirectly grants inacountryatgiventime.The data, i.e.acountofthenumbermi- of movement,itisoftenbasedonstock effective sinceitbringstomindtheidea this typeofrepresentationmaysound Joseph Minard mentioned above). While the volume,asonmapsbyCharles (the thicknessofthelinerepresenting indicating thedirectionofmovement ends ofwhicharemarkedbyanarrow countries orregionsoftheworld, Figure 3:Whereisthe border? camp and red for the “enemies”. certainly meaningful:blueforourown forced by a choice of colours which are (figure 2).Thisaspectis,moreover, rein- Other representationsare,however, gration flowsthatwehaveinourbrains. matter. tographic representation of its subject ‘normal’ andultimatelyhegemoniccar of migrants.Thismaphasbecomethe the story of a Europe invaded by hordes tex agency, likesomanyothers,tells and theyarewellawareofthis. powerful toolsavailabletocartographers their readability. Colouris one of the most choose colours merely on the basis of be naivetobelievethatcartographers culture toanother. Nevertheless,itwould dictory, andwhichcanvaryfromone has manymeanings,sometimescontra- stability orrisk. other hand,redrefersmoretodanger, in- peace, serenityandconsensus. On the Blue, forexample,evokescalmness, know thatcolourshavestrongmeanings. to theworkofMichelPastoureau,we Finally, this map made by the Fron- 22 Thisistherepresentationofmi- 21 Ofcourse,eachcolour 20 Thanks - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - rightly reminds us, “borders are rightly reminds us, “borders 24 an outside and an inside, separating the an outside and an inside, As Reece desirable from the undesirable. Jones artificial lines drawn on maps to exclude other people from access to resources and the right to move”. In cartography, there will, therefore, often be a prefer ence to represent these borders by linear plots precisely following the contours flexibility a certain with the countries, of - Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World 59 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World Figure 5: A Borderless World 126 articles of the Convention, only one 126 articles of the Convention, movement while all deals with freedom of security of exter the others concern the the aim of Schen- nal borders. In reality, gen was to draw a dividing line between European countries and the others, and the to make it as secure as possible. It’s idea of the fortress. In our imagination, we often think of these boundaries as lines drawn in a binary way delimiting Borders which aims to break the 23 Figure 4: The red mound of migration The struggle over the representa- The first Schengen Convention was possible, but they remain peripheral. One possible, but they remain Af- “Great the of example, for think, can by Philippe rican Wheel”, hand-drawn Rekacewicz, tion of migration, thus, carries within it ap- ideological fight over the a deeper, Moreover, itself. migration of preciation while flow maps give the impression of a certain fluidity in space, it must be noted that the actual movements of migrants are punctuated by numerous devices designed to hinder their movements. This how and borders of issue burning the is they are represented. was objective primary Its 1985. in signed to ensure both the free movement of people and goods and the security of the The borders. external Union’s European raison d’être of this convention was to bring about the abolition of borders without losing control over the movement of non-European foreigners. In fact, out of linear and unidirectional logic of these with them replacing by representations a more systemic and circulatory aspect Indeed, cogwheel. by the symbolized maps, hand-drawn these all perhaps which, rather than representing aggre- stories, real-life data, represent gated accounts of itineraries, would be better representations because they attempt to humanize cartographic representations reflect- point of view, from the migrant’s ing his or her lived experience as closely as possible. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 60 Nicolas Lambert:Every map isanactofcreation andnotamirror oftheWorld also places of retention in airports, pris they aremerelyoneaspectofit.There flows aredeflected butneverstopped, nary Islands, Lampedusa, etc.), migratory ing pointisclosed(StraitofGibraltar, Ca- gratory flowswhileeverytime across- ing hasnoeffectontheintensity ofmi- some of its internal borders), this tighten - the controls on its external borders (and of Europe.EverytimeEuropeincreases compare itwiththemigrationpolicies geography ofthisdeadlyborderandto these data also allow us tosketcha However, beyondsimpleaccounting, the EuropeanUnionagainstmigrants. is comparabletoawar;warwagedby ing people,itmustbesaidthatthisfigure accurate accountofthenumbermiss- violence itcanimposeonmigrants, linear dimension of the border and the barriers arearuthlessreminderofthe tional linearone different representationfromthetradi neighbouring countries, which isa very woven overtimeuntilitextendsitsgripon bile border, anet-likeboundary, whichis map (Figure3)showsareticularandmo sure, theyhavenochoice.Intheend, take ontherolebut,underEuropeanpres material capacityandthepoliticalwillto guards oftenlackthelegalframework, calization. Countriesdesignatedasborder which representsadefactoborderdelo over thesurveillanceofourownborders, consists ofhavingnon-EUcountriestake This processof“externalisation”actually the officialbordersofEuropeanUnion. confinement takesplacefarawayfrom migration policyinEurope.Nowadays, considered since 2003 as a major tool of ed onmapsbydots),whichhavebeen ons, hotspots…(thatcanberepresent is wellanchoredinpeople’s minds. Nevertheless, theideaoflineborder aspect toosmoothandharmonious. gular appearanceinordertobreakthis authors willsometimesgiveitamorean- regarding themaritimedelineation.Some 1990s? people havediedonitsincetheearly when weknowthatmorethan50,000 not seetheborderasalargebattlefield there isthearea(Figure4).Howcanwe Of course,barbedwire,wallsand Finally, afterthelineandpoint, 26 Even if it is impossible to have an . 25 but ------hand onmaps. or inevitableabouttheselinesdrawnby understand thatthereisnothing natural overcoming themsothateveryonecan Drawing aworldwithoutbordersisabout create thosedifferences”(Jones,2016). ences betweenpeoplesandplaces;they a representationofpre-existingdiffer ger. “Bordersandlinesonmapsarenot that onepersonintensuffersfromhun- dren growupinawealthycountryand recall that eventoday, only 10% of chil- no onecanbeexcluded(figure5).Letus out edges,withoutacentre,andwhere dom? Aworldwhichis,therefore,within whicheachpersoncanlive in free- Reclus ofaworld shared byall humans, idea oftheanarchistgeographerElisée set’ thatistootight?Whynotjointheold into rigidadministrativegrids,likea‘cor statistical dataissystematicallylocked represented byaboldlineandwhere maps where every national boundary is the Earthsowhycontinuetoproduce with it.Theyshapethewayweoccupy shape ourwayoflivingandinteracting short, theserepresentationsoftheworld fied andperceptibleformataglance.In ality itselfbygivingitaconcrete,simpli- The representationofrealityvalidatesre- migration routes. response totheincessantmovementof conflict zone that is being recomposed in becomes mobile, like a polymorphous dangerous. Themigrationborder, thus, more expensive,longerandmuch making trajectoriestoEuropeeachtime mation Sciences(CNRS,France). search EngineerinGeographicInfor The authorisacartographer, Re- Maps shapeourvisionoftheworld. 3 D.Cameron,and I.G Jones,“JohnSnow, 2 Jacob,‘ (Albin Michel,1992). 1 C.Jacob, References: théorique de la cartographie à travers l’histoire l’histoire travers à cartographie la de théorique L’empire des cartes des L’empire L’empire des cartes - Approche Approche - cartes des L’empire Conclusion: cartography and imagination ’. - - -

Approches critiques des politiques migratoires politiques des critiques Approches 22 Van HoutumandBueno Lacy, “Themigration Armand Colin,2019). raphier lesmouvementsmigratoires,” S. MekdjianandandP. Rekacewicz, “Cartog- 17 L.Bacon,O.Clochard,T. Honoré,N.Lambert, 3e éd.(Migreurop,Paris:ArmandColin,2017) 12 M,Monmonier, (1999). https://doi.org/10.4000/cybergeo.5233 faire la guerre la faire entifique sourcedemanipulation” 13 F. Bahoken,“Lacartethématique,objetsci- go, IL:UniversityofChicagoPress,1991). of Thematic Cartography: Principles, Methods, Methods, Principles, Cartography: Thematic of 9 N. Goodman , monde-diplomatique.fr/2019/02/A/59572 4 Y. Lacoste, no.4,(1983): 393-396. 7 L.Mogel,andA.Bhagat,eds. the-left-to-die-boat https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/ 6 Seeforexample“TheLeft-to-dieboat”: the EuropeanSchengenArea. European Union tasked with border control of cy, alsoknownasFrontex,isanagencyofthe 5 TheEuropeanBorderandCoastGuardAgen- 8 A.Stienne,“Unecartequiderange,” thetics &ProtestPress,2008). cartes, pasdesmigrants:lesréfugiéssyriens,” 15 F. BahokenandN.Lambert“Méfiez-vousdes ivier Clocharded. “Interroger lescartes:raisonsetaffect”,inOl- 16 BahokenF., LambertN.,andRekacewiczP. ses.org/4188 21 N.LambertandC.Zanin,MadMaps, (2020): 196-219. anarchie the modifiable areal unitproblem,” correlation coefficients:threeexper-iments on 19 S.OpenshawandP. Taylor, “Amillion orso 18 197*–=38,612 no.3 and4)(2016):185-214. 11 G.Palsky,“Borges, Carroletlacarteau1/1”, Editions dumondelibertaire,2013). 14 N.LambertandC.Zanin, ical cartography ical Hypotheses mune Geog-raphy of Journal European Cybergeo: Monde Diplomatique Monde européenne des migrations internationales migrations des européenne qui va changer votre vision du Monde du vision votre changer va qui Sciences Spatial the in Applications 10 P. Pelletier, andÉ.Reclus, napolis: HackettPublishingCo,1972). lo-gy,” the BroadStreetpumpandmodernepidemio- and Applications and cartography ofmigration,” gration maptrap.On the invasion arrows in the 20 H.Van HoutumandR.Bueno Lacy, “Themi- Openshaw-Taylor-1979.pdf GISPopSci/workshops/2009/UCSB/readings/ 127-144. Pion.[Enligne].http://www.csiss.org/ , 14(2020). International journal of epidemiology of journal International , (Reclus,Kropotkine,Metchni-koff. P.: (2018).https://neocarto.hypothe- La géographie, ça sert, d’abord, à à d’abord, sert, ça géographie, La , (Paris:Maspero,1976). , (LosAngeles:JournalofAes- Problems and Projects and Problems , (CRCPress,2020). Atlas des migrants en Europe Europe en migrants des Atlas How to lie with maps with lie to How (2019).https://www. Practical Handbook Handbook Practical Mobilities An atlas of rad of atlas An Géographie et et Géographie Cause Com Cause Statistical Statistical 15,no.2 , (Chica- , (India- (1979): (Paris: L’atlas L’atlas Revue Revue 32, 12, Le Le - - . , THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World 61 Nicolas Lambert: Every map is an act of creation and not a mirror of the World (2007) ,”. Mad Maps The Killing of Muhammad Visions cartographiques (Verso Books, 2016). Books, (Verso Violent Borders: Refugees and the de Forensic Architecture. https://vimeo. http://visionscarto.net/rendez-vous-a-sharon- stone 24 R. Jones, map trap,”. Sha- (2007) “Rendez-vous à Rekacewicz 23 P. Stone,” ron’s com/416133368 26 Lambert and Zanin, “ 25 See for example Gulzar Right to Move THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 62 Krista Lynes: HowtheWorld isnotaMap:The PoliticalAesthetics ofMappingMigrant Journeys Project mapping and journeying. While map- puts intoplayacriticaltensionbetween graphic accountsofmigrantpassage, Journeys Mapping Migrant Aesthetics of The Political is notaMap: How theWorld Krista Lynes ney Project ney find anotherway…” to Italysaid‘Wait afewmonths,we’ll Bangladesh… The man I paid to go like that/Afterwardstheysentmeto for 8monthsand20days,something called thepolice/AndIwasjailed cannot enterthecountry’/Andthey looked a little fake / They told me ‘You pje /Theytoldmethatmypapers Macedonia… WhenIarrivedinSko- leave forSkopje/Inacountrycalled Moscow /Themantoldmewehadto arrived inMoscow/Afteraweek left fromMoscow/WhichishereI hi /WhereIspenttwodaysThen, I wentfirstfromDhakatoNewDel- Dhaka toRussia/Nothat’s wrong/ “He toldmeIhadtogofirstfrom Bouchra Khalili’s , amultichannelsetofvideo - (2008-11) Mapping Journey Journey Mapping Mapping Jour Mapping - ditions ofmovementinthe21 the journeyexposesdifferentialcon- project generatesbetweenthemapand gendered violence. The tension Khalili’s which frequently includes racialized and conditions mappingseekstoenforce, other hand,isanattempttofleethevery alism, andcontrol;journeying,onthe with bordersecurityregimes,nation- representation, butitisalsoassociated ing andcrossingback.Mappingisabout wards eventfulness,misdirection,cross- journeying pullsinanotherdirection,to- identifying markers,andseamlessness, nate system,madeupofclearborders, ping pullstowardaCartesiancoordi- als.” to a“massinfluxofthird-country nation- Intervention Teams (RABITs) torespond reformed in2007toincludeRapid Border ment”) wassignedintolawin2004 and Agency responsiblefor“bordermanage - (the EuropeanBorderandCoast Guard ticularly chargedcontext:FRONTEX Khalili’s projectissituatedinapar 1 Theseagencies’ focushasbeen st century. - gendered) violenceordeath. and exposesomanyto(racialized and cartographies thatregulatemovement gratory maps,andthatresistthe violent for tracing these journeys that undo mi- terested intheseaestheticinstruments as somethingotherthanamap.Iamin- open aplaceforunderstandingtheworld for undoingmapsfrombelow, andprying tion, providingpolitico-aestheticforms critique ofthecartographiesdomina- cases may constitute an insurrectionary this period).Mappingjourneyinginthese case, IarguewithKhalili’s projectsfrom however, domorethanthis(asisthe zenship. Journeyingartefactsmayalso, manitarian structuresofconcernedciti- ing canbethoroughlyembeddedinhu- vests orlostpersonalobjects.Journey- museum collectionsofabandonedlife accounts, personalintereststories,or ist firstpersonnarratives,documentary many forms:someinvolvesensational- ing arenecessarilyresistant. They take is nottosaythatartefactsofjourney- dominant cartographicregimes.This rience ofmovementinthefacesuch ic instrumentforrepresentingtheexpe- journeying constitutesapolitico-aesthet- of theSchengenAgreements,mapping management and the spatial imaginaries tices indicatethedrivetowards border detention. Ifdominantmappingprac- itarization, expulsion,deportationand the repressive conditions of border mil- of tracesjourneysundertakenunder has generated an increasing number unrest, impoverishment,anddomination, The pressingurgencytofleecivilwar, cies havebeenacutearoundtheworld. apparatuses ofdetectionandcontrol. therefore, beeninstrumentswithinlarger al South.Mappinginfrastructureshave, mate crisis,andimperialismintheGlob- fleeing theeffectsofglobalization,cli- ditions ofviolenceandthreatforpeople and coherencehasproducedthecon- tection andinvestigation,coordination surveillance, borderexternalization,de- ders.” Suchoperationalizationofborder logics appliedtoEurope’s “externalbor coordinating functions,andmanagement operational: cooperationagreements, At thesametime,statesofemergen- - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

- - - th ”. crisis

4 The visual regime of maps of migration These two poles (the forensic and itarian face of the refugee on the other. At itarian face of the refugee on the other. times, each of these faces are found in disparate social forums - news reports on one side, and operational reports on the At times, the turnstile connecting other. the forensic to the humanitarian moves the two faces putting in motion the quickly, mediation of migration as a crisis. vice of exposing the mechanisms through vice of exposing the mechanisms as a problem of which the crisis appears security (on regulation, demographics, (but violated) the one hand) or inviolable human rights (on the other). It is therefore an opposition that can be It is therefore an opposition the ser in re-appropriated for criticism, century optical toy in which a disk with two to attached is side each on pictures pieces of string. When twirled quickly, the two images are blended into one so that one appears nestled in the other. a “marvellous The thaumatrope (literally, turning”) frequently allows for two parts to return to a whole (the general to his accoutrements), for the object to find its context (the bird its cage), or for causal relations to be explained (the woman meets death). In doing so, the thauma- optical trope engages in a marvellous their in objects puts which one trick, social of series a re-confirms and place, gender, by marked (frequently fantasies race, and class). continuum - delimits the character of the of the character - delimits continuum crisis? (Is it a demographic ‘crisis’ itself A A human rights crisis? A labour crisis? crisis?). crisis? A national bureaucratic is schema The “forensic-humanitarian” for sort- as a classifying tool useful not forensic (humanitarian here, ing images opposition whose there), but rather as an structures of ideo- terms delimit the very in the mediated logical closure at play “migrant field of the so-called the humanitarian) persistently flip from and in doing one register to the other, so reveal themselves to be supported by the platforms, institutions, operations the other. of mediations and power, of In doing so, they animate the visual ar tefacts of the crisis. This flipping back and forth recalls a thaumatrope, a 19 also operates by such optical tricks: the forensic tracking on one side, the human

- - - Maps without Journeys: The Mapping Journey Proj The Forensic and the Humanitarian One cannot, however, fully under One cannot, however, This tension between the forensic Ultimately, while sitting through the while sitting Ultimately, tells the story of the global bordering ect regime and the violence it metes out in particular spaces. ’securing’ - project is so eman stand why Khalili’s cipatory without understanding the aesthetic regime of migrant control and border operationalization. The expansive global field visualizing proliferating and migration encompasses traditional and and ama- new media forms, institutional teur producers, high and low cultural objects, and circulates among communities across the globe. On one end, forensic mapping: data regarding points of entry, drownings at sea, migrant demograph- human- ics, asylum claims); on the other, iconic, sto- itarian accounts of singular, ries of human drama. At one end, then, the on and abstraction; massification In other singularity and response-ability. fig- data, images, of sea the of midst the ures, and networks, these poles organize the visual field within which one might seek migrant recognition, or imagine an adequate response. and the humanitarian organizes the visual field of the migrant crisis, an - depending on where one is located on the charting such movements as “invasions” as “invasions” such movements charting is map. This instability as on a military chooses by the fact that Khalili affirmed The map for each narration. a different their countries are different; colors of the dis- conventions and fonts typographical the car refusal to harmonize tinct. This tographic imagery is part of the potent tographic imagery is teaches us in and political lesson Khalili through this project. the impression narration, one is left with the maps. These leeches out of that time journeys, made are long and arduous North Ameri- more so by the European, regimes. One can, and Israeli bordering took five years be- for instance, journey, to of work periods detentions, of cause and crossing, Mediterranean the afford As a route. their diverted that obstacles collection, Krista Lynes: How the World is not a Map: The Political Aesthetics of Mapping Migrant Journeys 63 How the World Krista Lynes: - 3 at the Jeu de at the Jeu Mapping Journeys Mapping Each of the eight Each of the 2 The installation of Bouchra Khalili’s of Bouchra Khalili’s The installation Individuals performed their own iden- performed their Individuals stories, narrators’ the follows one As projections used a map as a prop for one projections used a map of their mi- person to narrate the itinerary the screen, but the gration. The map filled of hands drawing viewer also saw a pair they movement as path of their out the from travelled they how of story the told on their journey. one station to the next each narrative Khalili chose to record The frame in- journey in one long shot. a hand holding cluded only the map and Khalili insisted on a permanent marker. the importance of the permanent marker, “as if drawing were literally erasing the existing and arbitrary boundaries.” Mapping Journey Project Paume in Paris in 2018 included a series in 2018 included Paume in Paris projec- screens, with of four suspended sides. tions on both ney presented on each screen unmakes its logic. This is cartography, the map’s map- of logic the because striking so organizations by movement migrant ping such as FRONTEX, UNHCR and others consistently reaffirm those boundaries, tity and their story, even as their hands their as even story, their and tity served as reminders of the embodied specificity (and the intersectional posi- tionality) from which they spoke. Their accounts are not interviews; they speak with their own voices. They also engage inviting sometimes audience, diverse a those listening (through Khalili herself) location a of experience shared a into (“tu sais à Paris comment ça se passe”, or “you know how things go in Paris”). one is struck by the erratic, wayward nature of their journeying: the obstacles faced that are charted as detours chart- are that the setbacks zigzags, or ed as advances and returns. As each their person narrates their own journey, pen work slows down as they tell the story of travelling over land and speeds up as they embark on flights. The hand pauses in certain places, which neces- sitates a story or two, much in the way author must have in which the journey’s paused in that location to solve a problem, overcome an obstacle, or set a new path forward. The singularity of the jour The Mapping Journey Project, 2008-2011 Video installation, 8 single channels View of the installation at “Here & Elsewhere”, The New Museum, New York, 2014 Photo: Benoit Pailley, Courtesy of the artist

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 66 Krista Lynes: HowtheWorld isnotaMap:The PoliticalAesthetics ofMappingMigrant Journeys to Europe”fromOctober16,2015. multimedia story, “ClosingtheBackDoor points orbarriers.Inthescrollingmove- huddled massesgatheringatcheck- both individualsstrugglingtocross,and Those picturedinthephotographsare above, orinterpretinggraphsandmaps. of the fence to the other, viewing from into positions,crossingfromoneside reader oftheNewYork Times ismoved or firmlybehindthepolicecontrols.The ogy), ontheEuropeansideoffence, tures ofhelicoptersanddronetechnol- a “godtrick”,takenoverbythearchitec- the fray(whatDonnaHarawayhascalled the “correct” side of the border, above while theimagespositionhimorheron European Community’s easternborder, through thegeographicalterrainof protection. Thedatapropelstheuser mentality andthecrisisofhumanrights of themigrantcrisis:crisisgovern- is invitedtoregisteratoncethetwosides populations onthemove.Theaudience between bureaucraticapparatusesand between migrantdataandlives, scrolls throughthestory, onealternates Take, for instance, a New York Times Credits: Screengrabby author Thaumatrope. SpecialCollections,Firestone Library, PrincetonUniversity. 6 Asone was acrisisof“Europe” ment ofthemigrantcrisis(athat It indexednotonlytheviolentabandon- transformative imagesofthe20 ing, comparedalmostimmediatelytothe image, an index of the tragedy unfold- transformative andiconicdocumentary sponses (“We refugees”,forinstance).A for ethicalregard,andidentificatoryre- if notaface,solicitingoutrage,demands image lentafiguralshapetothemigrant, commonplace) actofabandonment.The ish beachinastriking(butshockingly Aylan Kurdi,washedashoreonaTurk- represented bytheimageofyoung The humanitarian lens is canonically formal operationsandjuxtapositions. crisis emergesfortheWestern viewer. the “completepicture”ofmigrant ment from image todata set andback, not theleastbecauseitisimageof documentary, butalsoalwaysforensic- nificance isnotonlyhumanitarianand and thepotrevealsthatimage’s sig- but alsoitsowniconicity. rather thana‘migrantcrisis’forEurope), Such operationsareatplayinless Lift thelidonthisimage,however, FOR FOR th migrants, century. Sly, the story wentviral,wasretweetedbyLiz shared it via Twitter, at whichpoint the Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, Syria) untiltheEmergencyDirectorat countries inWest Asia(Lebanon,Gaza, photograph circulatedinitiallythrough networks. Whattheyfoundisthatthe image’s distributionthroughsocialmedia to tracetheverypathandeffectof Media Lab,devisedaresearchproject British researchgroup,theVisual Social networked status. In thisregard,the thus, initsvelocity, itsmultiplicity, its circuits ofdistributionandexchange- of thePiéta,forinstance),butalsoinits pact (recalling the Christian iconography significance liesnotonlyinitsvisualim- a corpse.It’s alsobecausetheimage’s and network. manner ofjoiningusersinadatabase the structuringfunctionfordata, very varied.Searchdata,thus,becomes effect ofthisemotionalengagementwas Welcome campaigns,butthatthelasting refugees, includingvariousRefugees networks ofsupportandlobbyingfor es, mobilized civil society into organizing ages triggeredstrongpersonalrespons- state leaders,theyconcludethattheim- used innewsreportingaswellby Google searchdataalongsideterms and Ankara).Throughthecollectionof ago, NewYork, NewDelhi,MexicoCity, Aires, London,Istanbul,Bogotá,Santi- top cities,inorder, wereParis,Buenos searching fortheterm“Aylan Kurdi”(the locate thesitesfromwhichpeoplewere such, theVisual Social MediaLabcould terms acrossdifferentlanguages.As which assemble collections of search relied onGoogledatagatheringsystems, Asia, Europe,andNorthAmerica. Chief, andwasthensharedacrossWest within theframe.Theimageaccruedval partially weddedtotheformalqualities from thisimagewere frequentlyshocking graph. While the memes that emerged an imageandanetwork,figure anda graphs makeclear, theimagewasboth in thepathofitsdistribution.As these tweeted. Itbuiltaffectivecommunities ue asitwasclicked,liked,shared, and Measuring theimage’s impactalso The image’s impact,then,wasonly Washington Post Washington ’s BeirutBureau - - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

- Data 11 mediation As one experi- 14 10 a technique for man- What is perceptible, 12 13 If we momentarily suspend the map If we momentarily suspend The enfolding of the humanitarian kind of connectivity. “Streaming” be- “Streaming” of connectivity. kind both metaphor through which comes the On data mirror each other. bodies and net- other mirror networks this, of top one an- overlay on works: imaginaries this process Anna Munster names other. us anesthesia,” which inures “networks and their to the unevenness of networks, varying relationality. gue, via Heidegger, that technology is a gue, via Heidegger, “world-forming process”, a way of ‘being-with’ and ‘emerging-with’ technolo- dimensions the instrumental beyond gy of it. When we look at a media artefact, themselves. Kember and Zylinska ar aging information and for rendering data as recurring patterns. It is significant scale the dynamic maps that all of these movement according to various metrics (where one dot = 17 migrants, 20 migrants, or more). In this sense, the data rendered has been “computationally as perceptible.” on which the dynamic flows of migrant on which the dynamic we see that data crossing are figured, crisis is gov- visualization of the migrant net- link-node of concerns the by erned evoke “a sense of work images, which vastness of the both the overwhelming and a tidy repet- data it seeks to visualize quantity.” itive mode of managing ences such dynamic data visualization maps, therefore, the perceptual work of understanding the phenomenon of mass movement makes invisible other forms of communication, relation, and mediation. These include not only the scale of human relationality in all its dimensions, human/ of architecture vast the also but non-human relations, of natural and cultural forces, of economies and ecologies that constitute the Mediterranean - in this instance - as the theatre of the migrant crisis. within the forensic points to the danger attention on singular of focusing one’s media objects, or even on media platforms or infrastructures, at the expense of the larger processes of by consequence, “comes to stand in for what is perceived.” mining becomes a model for “generating the perceptible,” - - - of data relationali She notes 8 figure , the movement 9 out of Europe Network images become uniform, FRONTEX (the European border and FRONTEX (the European Anna Munster has argued that data is not only about connectivity, but also is not only about connectivity, that networks begin to mirror networks, so that very different data sets began to look the same (and embody the same relationality). This is of critical importance visualized by migration to the networks data, because the question of coursing through a networked world, provides an archetype of a particular ty about the ethico-political ties that bind subjects across state boundaries. We not movements the all on speculate might “Medi- the of maps the on represented terranean situation,” the movements of populations dominated by imaginaries of links and con- lines direct as visualized nodes, and flows of images The dots. necting streams coincidej with the of capital, goods, ideas and culture; The dense networks of relationality that constitute the Mediterranean as a space of exchange, crossing, traversal or the var ious ‘scapes’ by which Arjun Appadurai maps disjuncture and difference in the global system. ages. They conform more fully to node- conform more fully to ages. They though topologies, even and-link network insight by tying the map papers over this trajectories. such links to geographical the UNHRC, IOM, coast guard agency), minis- interior national various Eurostat, Data News Hub tries, and the European data that forms all provide much of the migrant visualiza- the database for these also do data tion projects. Such agencies to render their visualization themselves and website findings for annual reports communications. Their data forms the basis for reporting by major newspapers online, as well as a variety of data visu- re- and other NGOs by projects alization search groups. visualizations “awaken us to the topological nature of networks, and emphasize that relational space is now definitely the habitus of information.” we look at data visualization maps, is maps, visualization at data we look index- from the same that they emanate scans as, for example, PET ical illusions are not images. Trajectories and NASA aver statistical are they travelled; routes Krista Lynes: How the World is not a Map: The Political Aesthetics of Mapping Migrant Journeys 67 How the World Krista Lynes: ------

7 . Despite this, the map is the dominant the map is the dominant Despite this, Lucify state plainly that the routes the that plainly state Lucify for key anchor the provides The map HCR data to create a map of movement: little specks of light travelling like swarms graphs bar increasing towards insect of on each country of Northern Europe. alize, understand, and communicate im alize, understand, and A project in the portant data and models.” period, entitled aftermath of the 2015-16 animated UN “The Flow towards Europe” nophobic sentiments of flows or waves nophobic sentiments a is Lucify, of migration. A prime example visu organizations “helps that lab design cies engaged in animating migration data cies engaged in animating that sensa through data visualizations fostered the xe tionalized the crisis and liferation rather than to its content liferation rather ly unaffected by the trauma of the image’s of the image’s the trauma by ly unaffected people likely responded content, it seems its pro of the image, to to the very ubiquity frame for representing this movement representing this frame for In and forensic. between humanitarian a number of agen the post-2015 period, and travel times in their data visualization are not accurate, but that their animation sought instead to “provide an intuitive grasp of the scale of the problem.” their data visualization, which appears to make sense, given that migration in- interesting is It movement. spatial volves geo- this how about however, think, to the aes- imaginary organizes graphical thetic and ideological force of ‘migrant data’, what it normalizes, makes clear and makes invisible at the same time. While the map provides the background on which the movement of populations car certain naturalizes also it unfolds, tographic configurations. For instance, of data whose unit maps rely on many Trajec- the nation-state. is classification tories of movement, while they appear to emerge out of specific territories around the globe, actually emanate from the The de- centre of the national territory. parture is ,thus, frequently an abstraction of data at the national level, and not the actual path of migration routes. Further, because these visualizations frequently map only points of departure and arrival, they abstract migrant trajectories into direct lines, arcing (as the bird flies) directly from a departure location to an arrival location). What we forget, when Bouchra Khalili, The Constellation Series, 2011 68 Courtesy of the artist Bouchra Khalili, The Constellation Series, 2011 Courtesy of the artist 69 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 70 Krista Lynes: HowtheWorld isnotaMap:The PoliticalAesthetics ofMappingMigrant Journeys tweets; theflipsideofdatacollection is graph ofAylan Kurdiisthenetworkof form. Justastheflipsideof photo- is, thus,indispensablyrendered in visual temporary politicalevent.The forensic these metricsthatgiveshapetothecon- of thecrisisisconstitutedpreciselyby claims, bordercontrols):thecontours comparisons topreviousyears,asylum of origin,arrivals,demographicdata, alizations (mapsoftrajectories,countries crisis isconstitutedbya“flood”ofvisu- ‘migrant crisis’is renderedinpicturesis data visualization data nological world”. of being-in,andbecoming-with,thetech- but morebroadly“anintrinsiccondition medium, platform,genre,ortechnology, the world. Mediation is, thus, not simply ble for the emergence of phenomena in and materialforcesthatareresponsi- to worldevents,butthelargersocial and communicationswhichgiveshape the emergenceofimages,narratives, it iscut.Thisprocessincludesnotonly relations, thelivelyprocess,outofwhich what wemissisthedynamicsystemof fore onthesubject,body, andidentity.” (from economicstopolitics)andthere- influence onhowsocietiesareshaped At thesametime,datasetshaveadirect manifested in multiple materialities […] can bevisualizedinmultiplewaysand ily visible or graspable - processes that exist asprocessesthatarenotnecessar that “Digitalinformationanddatasets In thisregard,ChristianePaulargues telescope andotherimagingmachines). photography, butalsothemicroscope, the indexicalmedia(principallyfilmand probability and risk calculations than in located farmorefrequentlyinstatistical lines, but algorithmically. The verifiable is longer operatesoptically, alongpanoptic the world. Surveillance frequently no data broadly constituted, in organizing more fundamentalfactoffacticity, of that visualityhascededgroundtothe ernmentality. populations, and, thus, a problem of gov- migrant crisis”),and,thus,aproblemof and action-revealsamultiplicity(“the its potencyforhumanitariansentiment I havementionedthatthemigrant This mightleadustotheconclusion 15 . Thus,tosaythatthe Thesingularimage- 16 - conjunctive processes.” of worldeventsastheyarise through contingent deformationsandinvolutions artistic practice,“tofollowvisually the gues withregardtoMarkLombardi’s elements”, butrather, asMunsterar set ofidealspatialrelationsbetween migration abstractly, accordingto“a visual field? ico-aesthetic interventionsinthislarger visual field,howdoweunderstandpolit- set remediatingandmediatingalarger and artifactofthecrisisisfromout- formula andfigure,ifeachinstance trick offlippingbetweendataandimage, is governedbythemarvellousoptical If the visual regime of the migrant crisis vak calls“whatwecannotnotwant”). peals to the universal (what Gayatri Spi- processes of governmentality and ap- organize apoignantvacillationbetween mediate andremediateoneanother, and relations moveinrelationtoeachother, ratuses, materialprocesses,andsocial in which technologies, ideological appa- call ‘mediation’toutcourt),themanner of remediation (what Kember & Zylinska the forensicwithactiveprocesses matropic flippingofthehumanitarianinto finite numberofsequences. thus, berenderedinatheoretically- readings. Informationinadatabasecan, ous structurespreparedataformultiple and algorithms.Inthisparadigm,vari- to “pullmedia”-useracts,hyperlinks “push media”(typicallyevidence-based) This constitutesamovementawayfrom ‘crisis’ asacontemporarypoliticalevent. ‘migration’, and shape the contours of the populate ourcontemporaryimaginaryof border wallsandpassages,that arrivals, timestoprocessasylumclaims, years’ data,concentriccirclesofmigrant en andchildren,comparisonstoprevious demographic breakdowns of men, wom- of flows, countries of origin and arrival, to ignoretheflood ofvisualizations -maps thinking networks asprocesses,rather process “metamodelling”,amanner of The firststepmightbenottomap I’d liketoproposethinkingthethau- An insurrectionaryaesthetic: how theworldisnotamap 17 Shecallsthis -

what dominates the obstacles and defeats. Yet this is personal why, therhythmsandfrictions, is the eccentricities of the journey: the such representationsandcartographies ment). Whatisfrequentlymissingfrom order toshutdownchannelsofmove- tracked bybordersecurityagenciesin journeys (althoughroutesarefrequently ations areabsentfrommapsofmigrant movement. Manyoftheseconsider route, andwhatfrictionslowsorstops vectors ofpower, whatisexperienceden routes and conduits that are infused with how movementischannelledalong to havevelocityorspeedofmovement, have theculturalorresourceinvestment a choice or not, whether those moving politics ofmobility:whethermovementis considerations tracethehierarchiesand f) “whenandhowdoesitstop?.” does ittake?”;e)“howfeel?”;and person orthingmove?”;d)“whatroute thing move?”;c)“inwhatrhythmdoesa move?”; b)“howfastdoesapersonor pects: a) “why does a person or thing down the politics of mobility into six as- geography, Tim Cresswellhasbroken visualizations unfold.Withincritical practice, andthepossibilitiesthatsuch importance ofBouchraKhalili’s artistic helps ustounderstandtheimpactand experience.” neously diagramthesingularityofsome instead to“collectivelyandheteroge- reinforce habitualmodesofliving)but models (which,Munsterargues,only cess, theaimisn’t toprovideuniversal than asamapsorfigures.Inthispro- regime anditsrigid mappingpractices. who activelyresisttheglobalbordering rectionary congregationofindividuals ries, mapsandtrajectoriesisan insur what emergesfromthecollection ofsto- cies (even though it is also that). Rather, jectory anditsaccidentscontingen - of movement: the arc of a particular tra- work, nevertheless,isnotthesingularity ry. WhatemergesfromBouchraKhalili’s through thePalestinianoccupiedterrito- from theGlobalSouthtoNorthand and differentialdynamicsofmovement that visualizevividlytheexperiential Project This explanation of metamodeling : a set of stories and trajectories 18 The Mapping Journey Journey Mapping The 19 These - - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - (rather locatedness (2014) situates itself precisely Liquid Traces: The Left-to-Die intersected by a variety of forc- 20 Similarly, Charles Heller and Lorenzo Similarly, in the overlapping data sets that reveal that sets data overlapping the in economies of aban- the Mediterranean’s donment in an emblematic instance. in assemblies political currents, Wave the streets, Frontex security policies all conjoin to articulate the Mediterranean as a space of acute abandonment. True tial and situated but also distributed and layered, than location), a locatedness that is par Boat Case social scientific methods for understanding migration as a social phenomenon, particular of level the at occurs that one collective units (populations, nations, etc.) First off, the singularity of migrant movement troubles the specificity of re- (the of location or of a politics flexivity manner in which both the subject and object of knowledge is located in gender, class or nation), ethnicity, race, sexuality, since standpoint is particularly what is eroded and lost by migrant movement. thus, points to varying and Singularity, uneven processes of es, speeds and exposures that are social, technological, environmental, economic and ideological. Pezzani’s ------sin . rather than The notion that one might remediate rather than a spreadsheet. The pages em which format, #/# a in numbered are data and visual artifacts (and, thus, acti- vate the turnstile of forensic and humanitarian visual regimes) to diagram the gularity of some experience haling fumes from stove, at Moria camp, Lesbos” “died of cold after walking for 48 hours through the mountains of Turk ish-Bulgarian border”, etc.). It constitutes a list that refuses to be a list, a database that abhors its structure, a structure whose information cannot simply be sort ed or synthesized because the cause of death remains obdurately singular phasizes the length of the document and, thus, materializes the scope of the trage dy in a bounded physical form. The data includes the date the body was found, the name and region of origin (if known) as well as the cause of death. This latter column occupies a full third of the page; the text skirts the conventions of story telling with its meticulous details (“miss when their ing, after falling into the water rubber boat deflated between Libya and Italy”; “strangled with electric cable on building site in Qawra, Malta”; “died of in universal models poses a challenge to Krista Lynes: How the World is not a Map: The Political Aesthetics of Mapping Migrant Journeys 71 How the World Krista Lynes: - - - Europe. https://www.lucify.com/the-flow-towards-europe/ The Flow Towards Lucify, Credits: Screengrab by author We might note a similar logic inform We Khalili is not alone in her practice. In pins the data visualization projects I’ve Its form is peculiar, discussed thus far. since it appears online as a PDF however, rope”. At first glance, the list appears to be a database, the raw data that under ing UNITED’s “List of 33,305 documented ing UNITED’s deaths of refugees and migrants due to the restrictive policies of Fortress Eu 2015, the Swedish independent broad- caster Sverige Radio published a project where one could follow the paths of seventy Syrians seeking to enter Europe. by powered map a is interface core The CartoDB (an online software for mapping data). The map opens into dozens of individual stories, some of which include audio interviews with migrant families. The map does not overlay trajectories on one another; it does not summarize movement patterns. Even though the project seeks to document the migration path each Europe’, ‘Fortress to Syrians of is unique and few paths are direct; some recede to advance again, slide sideways in an effort to move across a secured border while many end in an unknown their to close remain some and location site of departure. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 72 Krista Lynes: HowtheWorld isnotaMap:The PoliticalAesthetics ofMappingMigrant Journeys matériel andpatterns ofmovement. founts ofexpertise,knowledgepractices, proximity anddistance,thatthey relyon in complexandmediatedrelations of not) butratherthattheyhang together ences areequivalent(they’redecidedly their failure.” tures andform,totheirinteraction “the historyofmaterials,surfaces,struc- plifies amomentofremediationtunedto cal andsocialatvariousscales.Itexem- junctions betweenthepolitical,ecologi- historical eventstomeasurethecon- mediating footage,maps,networks,and mediatic anddata-drivenartefacts,re- the projectvisualizesapalimpsestof to themethodof“forensicarchitecture,” change.” er, passintooneanother, sedimentand among thingsasthesebumpuptogeth- through varyingrelationsofproximity as “looselywrought;hangingtogether emergent socialandsubjectiveforms. give scientificmeaningto)thefragilityof agency). Itallowsustoattend(and that mightlooksomethinglikepolitical imaginaries of arrival in a potent brew tories ofdesire,personalwagers,and the kindofarticulationsthatfloattrajec- control andpatrolinternationalwaters; itarian andsecuritydashboardsthat making thedistresscallwithhuman- the sea;thatholdtogethercellphone and medicalvolunteersinthemiddleof tional coalitionofsocialjustice workers, whose enginehasfloodedandamultina- connecting anovercrowdedZodiacboat ulations that hang together by the rope certain articulations(thekindofartic- asks ustoattendthecontingencyof singularity ofthisexperience,boat. verifiability, toestablishtheweightof indexical trace),and,yet,itstrivesfor is interpellatedfromthedata(ithasno late thepathboattook.Thetrajectory calls andothertechnologiestotriangu- meteorological data,locationsofdistress tion ofasingleboat,usingwavepatterns, the veryactoftracingpreciseloca- film’s narrative tension isgeneratedby arrows governingdatavisualizations,the data worlds.Ratherthantheabstracted stices, then,betweenincommensurable Anna Munsterdefinesexperience The singularity of some experience 22 Thisisnottosaythatexperi- 21 It operates inthe inter - that thepathsdrawnin da and Bouchra Khalili, Berrada observes points ofpassage. Bari) as constellations between different seille, Mogadishu cartographic groundof tion Series”.Thisseriesevacuatesthe Khalili’s otherproject,“TheConstella- these bumptogether”evokesBouchra ing relationsofproximityamongthingsas lan trajectories of movement (Annaba on adeepbluebackground,theytrace migrant journeys.Presentedinwhitetext nodes (cities)thatconstituteparticular stead a constellation of dotted lines and objects inthesky.” to form“conspicuousconfigurationsof lations aregroupingsofstarsimagined emerges fromtheseschemas?Constel- constellations ofmovement?Whatworld a journey? What doesit mean tochart summon sky(particularly giventhecon- whole ofthespace.Thebluemight also of theocean,butthisoceanfloods the summons thecartographicconvention journey floatinaseaofblue.The colour conventions toletthecoordinates ofthe is groundless,andremovesthemapping on firstglancelookslikeaground,butit on andintheworld. into theskyandcharts of cosmicforces are alternatelyfantasticalprojections tent, orananimalfigure.Constellations which onerecognizesanobject,apor a fantasticalpatterningbyandthrough are notboundtooneanotherexceptin story isconstructed.” to sayeachother, andthatishowthe vails over the others, but they have things proposal, becausenoonenarrativepre- tive tonationalnarratives“anegalitarian sponds thataconstellationisanalterna- stellation oftenuousstrands.”Khalilire- precariousness ofcommunityasacon- but atthesametimeacknowledge“the preserve the singularity of movement, Series Journey Project Journey ▶ Marseille, Tunis In aninterviewbetweenOmarBerra- This “hangingtogetherthroughvary- What isaconstellationofpointson The bluebackgroundintheseworks and Insurrectionary Constellations The Mapping Journey Project Project Journey Mapping The entirely, presentingin- ▶ Kufra 24 Thepointsoflight 23 ▶ Naples The Constellation Constellation The The Mapping Mapping The ▶ Benghazi ▶ Mar ▶ Mi- ▶ - - es. nents: medium,substancesandsurfac- sual perceptionconsistinthreecompo- James Gibson, notes that ecologies of vi- ing out,aproposition. al schema,anidea,andapoesis,draw- and toperform.Movementisaperceptu- motion, togivethemform,actualize, potentiality -thecapacitytoputthingsin movement toitscreativity and aesthetic patterning. Indoingthis, Khalili returns here as a modeofdrawing, an aesthetic gratory routes.Movementisrepresented and pointsoflightthatarecitiestracemi- this bluebackground,thedottedlines endless geographicalhorizon.Against the boundaries of water and sky in an stellations ofcities-qua-stars),blurring our bodiescomeupagainstintouch.” fusion intothemediumoccur, andwhat to themedium,wherevaporizationordif- absorbed, wherevibrationsarepassed are whereradiantenergyisreflectedor sistance. Ingoldarguesthat“surfaces substance, betweenmovementandre- are theinterfacebetweenmediumand also). Surfaces,Gibsonemphasizes, as walls,barriers,wires,infrastructures think ofthesesubstancestakingshape rock, gravel,sand,andsoil,butwemight to movementandperception(hecites Substances, by contrast, are resistant affording movementandperception. autonomy. Indoingso,Khalilidrawsan and returnmovementtoitsfundamental not asamapbutplaneofpossibility, They opena space toimage the world across trajectoriesand space. movement, communityandcommunion surrectionary map,butautopicproject of present tousisthereforenotonlyanin- the move.WhatConstellationseries possibilities of movement for those on of lightthatconfiguretheworld-making tance. Thecitiesarelikestars-beacons project ofmovementinthefaceresis- of possibility. Thelinesaretheutopic image isnotagroundsomuchasplane are negotiated.Thebackgroundineach tion between movement and resistance absorb radiantenergy-wheretherela surfaces -blueplanesthatreflectand are, inthisview, notfieldsorgroundsbut What Khalili’s constellation series give us 25 Tim Ingold,indiscussingtheworkof Mediaarewhatwepassthrough, 26

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 . . . Cam- Context Life after . Exhibition Cat- Future Anterior: . New York: Rout- . New York: . Minneapolis: Uni- . Minneapolis: . Vol.14, No.1 (2007): . Vol.14, . Exhibition Catalogue: Jeu Blackboard Modest_Witness@Second_ Modernity at Large: Cultural An Aesthesia of Networks: . Vol.8, No.1 (Summer 2011). . Vol.8, Blackboard . Vol.28 (2010): pp.17-31. (2010): . Vol.28 Environment and Planning D: Society and Feminism and Technoscience alogue: Jeu de Paume, 2018. Anna. Munster, ledge, 1997. “Materials against materiality.” Ingold, Tim. Millenium.FemaleMan_Meets_OncoMouse: New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process Bibliography: Appadurai, Arjun. Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts Haraway, Donna. Donna. Haraway, Archeological Dialogues Conjunctive Experience in Art and Technology de Paume, 2018. The films “Radical Equality: Elisabeth, Lebovici, of Bouchra Khalili.” versity of Minnesota Press, 1996. versity of Minnesota of mobil- a politics “Towards Cresswell, Tim. ity.” Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory bridge: MIT Press, 2014. “A Populated Khalili, Bouchra & Omar Berrada, Opacity.” Dimensions of Globalization Cambridge: MIT Press, 2013. Data, Networks: “Contextual Christiane. Paul, and Collective Production” in Identity, Christiane Paul and Victoria Margot Lovejoy, (Editors). Bristol: Intellect, 2011. Vesna “Architec- Herscher, Andrew Eyal & Weizman, in Evidence” ture, Violence, pp.1-16. Sarah & Joanna Zylinska. Kember, Space and Criticism Krista Lynes: How the World is not a Map: The Political Aesthetics of Mapping Migrant Journeys 73 How the World Krista Lynes: - - - , 1. 5. , 5. , 12. , 7. , 3. , 5. , 5. , 6. , 2. Modest_Wit . Life after New Media . Modernity at Large An Aesthesia ofAn Networks Aesthesia of Networks An Aesthesia ofAn Networks Aesthesia ofAn Networks Aesthesia of Networks, An Aesthesia of Networks An Aesthesia ofAn Networks Aesthesia of Networks An Aesthesia of Networks Moving Images , 121. ness References: a ‘Technological into 1 Marin, “Is Europe Turning the interviews Fortress’?”, 136. Note that while to the so-called Khalili records take place prior the majority European migrant crisis of 2015-16, this work occur af- of the museum exhibitions of read in that ter the “crisis” and are accordingly context by museum-going audiences. to see the project 2 The first time I was able full ten years after installation was in 2018, a in the ongoing long the projecthad begun , and migrant crisis of aftermath of the so-called 2015-16. 3 Bouchra Khalili, “The Mapping Journey Proj- ect”.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ QxXnh23kE. conversa- rich of thoughts emerged out These 4 Morgenstern and Ian Alan Paul, tions with Tyler and are partially theirs, too. 5 For a greater elaboration of the mediation of Morgenstern & migration as crisis, see Lynes, Paul, - “Architecture, Vio & Herscher, 21 Weizman lence, Evidence,” 116. 22 Munster, ders-europe.html. - 7 https://www.lucify.com/the-flow-towards-eu rope/. 8 Munster, - 6 https://www.nytimes.com/interac tive/2015/09/15/world/europe/migrant-bor 10 Munster, 10 Munster, 9 Appadurai, 18 Munster, 18 Munster, a politics of mobility,” 19 Cresswell, “Towards 22-26. 20 This is how Donna Haraway articulates the across the global and the local between relation cultural studies, antiracist feminist studies and Haraway, See studies. science 23 Khalili & Berrada, “A Populated Opacity”: 167-8. 24 Encyclopedia Britannica. 4-5. 25 Ingold, “Materials against materiality,” 5. 26 Ingold, “Materials against materiality,” 11 Munster, 11 Munster, 12 Munster, 14 Munster, 15 Kember & Zylinska, 13 Munster, 13 Munster, 16 Christiane Paul, “Contextual Networks,” 110 17 Munster, alternative to the violent cartographies violent cartographies to the alternative the bor sense of worlded our that have new place their in offering world, dered moving in and patterns for configurations of earth with the coordinates communion and sky. Zineb Sedira The Death of a Journey and Framing the view

Zineb Sedira The Death of a Journey I, 2008 Colour photograph 120 x 100 cm © Zineb Sedira / DACS, London Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris/London

Zineb Sedira The Lovers II, 2008 Photographie couleur 120 x 100 cm © Zineb Sedira / DACS, London Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris/London

76 Zineb Sedira The Lovers III, 2008 Photographie couleur 120 x 100 cm © Zineb Sedira / DACS, London Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris/London

77 Zineb Sedira The Death of a Journey IV, 2008 Colour photograph 100 x 120 cm © Zineb Sedira / DACS, London Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris/London

78 Zineb Sedira The Death of a Journey, 2008 Colour photograph 100 x 120 cm © Zineb Sedira / DACS, London Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris/London

79 Zineb Sedira Framing the view I, 2006 Photographie couleur, 60 x 70 cm © Zineb Sedira DACS London Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris/London

80 Zineb Sedira Framing the view II, 2006 Photographie couleur, 60 x 70 cm © Zineb Sedira DACS London Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris/London

81 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 82 Allan deSouza: Through theBlackCountry beginning the journey. the beginning purchase of goods for the journey - The ferment of Barking and and Barking of ferment The - journey the for goods of purchase own navigationalhistoryasanimmigrantfromEastAfricatoBritain. the elusivesourceoffabledRiverThames.Insodoing,MumbaiingestsdeSouza’s dition tofindthesourceofNile,Mumbai’s questleadshimacrossLondontodiscover grandfather Bombay’s unrealizedwishtoleadanexpeditionEngland. son in C19th Africa. Almost a hundred and fiftyyears later, Mumbaifulfilledhis great ones ledbyHenryStanley. Bombaybecamerenownedasthemostwidelytraveledper he actedasguideandtranslatorforanumber of expeditions across Africa, including East AfricaandsenttoBombay, India.UpongaininghisfreedomandreturningtoAfrica, Sidi MubarakBombay(1820-1885).acquiredhismonikerafterbeingenslavedin ogist, HafeedSidiMubarakMumbai,thefictionalgreat-grandsonofhistoricalfigure, peans in London - Encounters with the Cockney - Selection and and Selection - Cockney the with Encounters - London in peans Atlantic Ocean of LowerEnglandandDowntheSevernRiverto or, TheSourcesoftheThamesAroundGreatShires Black Country Through the Allan deSouza to the concrete works and docks of Gravesend and Tilbury, he white bluffsofDoverisstillfresh inhismemory. the aspectofaridlimestone rocksofFolkstoneandthedry ochreous-coloured ridgesofthe English Peninsula;andperhaps camps ofCalaisontheonehand, andontheotherdrear, has sailedthroughthestiflingNorth Sea,withthegrim,frowning vades allnature,evokehisdesperation.Foritisprobablethathe thick gauzyatmosphere,thesemi-mysterioussilencewhichper The drearyverdure,thedistantpaleridges,sluggishsea, stranger, at firstviewof theshores, proclaims hisdispleasure. the channelthatseparatesEnglandfromcontinent.Every covered thehazylandandsleepingseaaswecruisedthrough temperate Europepresentsatfirstappearance.Apale-greysky in thattranquildrowsystatewhichatalltimesanyportionof with sycamoresandelmtreesbathedincoolvapour, seemed roads, flora and buildings - Some customs of the English - Euro - English the of customs Some - buildings and flora roads, May. 21. May. The followingextractsarefromtheexpeditiondiariesofZanzibaricrypto-ethnol- Arrival at London - Life in the city of London, its peoples, peoples, its London, of city the in Life - London at Arrival In adiarytransposedbyAllandeSouzafromHenryStanley’s 1874journalofhisexpe- But agreatchangehastaken place. Ashepassesclose -Theundulatingridges, and thegentleslopesclad CHAPTER I - - - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 Allan deSouza: Through the Black Country 83 - - Life at London is a busy one to the in- Presently on the horizon there rises the thin upright shadows of crane skeletons, and skeletons, crane of shadows upright thin the rises there horizon the on Presently we have stopped sight of the city, Within two hours from the time we first caught interested in of course, is intensely The stranger, May. 26. - - sweat of colour, drabness a noxious with greenest verdure, of its nature robbed views deep-grey of the with the unnatural He is wearied to the incoming wanderer. ing stench and the moistness He remembers the unconquerable for any change. sea, and eager half-formed Responding to his and lo! what a change! heights he last saw, wet bleached Chimneys with gaseousness. arid, concretic, eructive rises before him wish, the ground walls hefts of white-grey expanse; their great necks and warehouses raise their striated throttling smoke, and spreading of iron, pungent wire heads, thickets with impenetrable loom up in great massive and disgrace the landscape. Ash heaps spike morning glory, space wiry grasses while between the docks and in every open cones of grit and dust, is something bland or with thin sproutings of umbrage. There and plants crack the ground feature, because him, and his gaze is distracted from any special frigid in the view before the cold heaving bo- uniform greyness by the exhalation rising from all is toned down to a mind loses its restless is therefore caught and stilled, his som of the land. His imagination atmosphere. under the influence of the eternal winter and freezes activity, is the capital of the a pale grey mass which, we are told, to the left begins to glimmer distance of the low cruising westward, we come within spitting island of England. Still of number a of consists It capital. the define to able be to begin now and shores, dun of height and all greyish, standing on a rectangular massive structures, with great variety with a flood of concrete wall from the river, point of low land, separated by a broad margin to the left towards us. barrier curving gently from the point, outwards the ferry causes a sensation. It is the daily about 700 yards from the bank. The arrival of “migrant train” from Calais and Europe! now first this life existing near the English meridian, of fig- revealed to him, and all that he sees and hears ures and faces and sounds is being freshly impressed Figures and faces are picturesque on his memory. pink enough. Grim, miserable looking men of white, shirts, move with hooded sweat or brackish colour, lethargic motion, and cry out, regard- about with slow, in the Cockney to their friends and mates less of order, respond or Polish language, and their friends or mates with until, gesture, lively and voice loud equally with created, fresh arrivals, there appears to be a Babel Polish, Bangladeshi, and Somali wherein, Cockney, Igbo. accents mix with Arabic, French, and, perhaps, tending explorer. Time flies rapidly, and each moment rapidly, flies Time tending explorer. of daylight must be employed in the selection and pur jewelry, chase of the various kinds of fashion-wear, and electronics, in demand by the different tribes of the hinterland through whose counties he purposes journeying. Strong, tattooed lads come in with great flannel and striped denims, stone-washed of cases fabrics, neckties and baseball caps, bags of red, small phones, white, blue, lead and silver-coloured upon coils of thick and fat, and coils and large, slim headphones. These have to be inspected, sorted, ar be packed have to ranged, and numbered separately, or packages, or boxed ac- in portable boxes, stacks, cording to their character and value. The house-floors are littered with cast-off wrappings and covers, box- THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 84 Allan deSouza: Through theBlackCountry tall whiteoffices andlowsweatshops,where wealth or Jews.PastandbeyondBrick Laneisamedleyof obliged toputupwithneighbours ofEastIndianrace has notbeenabletolocatehimself atHampsteadis hood ofBrickLanenow, where theEnglishmanwho stead, theEnglishquarter. We areintheneighbor rower lane,wherethebrickisnot soredasatHamp- truncheon. Averyshorttimetakesusintoastillnar Tower, withthesubmachinegun,orpistol,Taser, and are somecoppersofthesameuniformasthoseat or fivebroadandcurved-steps. Withinthelowerhall raised 3feetabovethestreet,andreachedbyfour side ofthelane,andpossessesanimposingdoorway above ourheads,withalargehouseontheopposite It is connected by a concrete footbridge, about 20 feet high andbrick-lined-as all houseshere appear tobe. tecture whichfindsfavouratWindsor, threestories is arespectable-lookingbuildingoftheEnglisharchi- the loftyhouseandbrothelofPrinceAndrew. It houses arecloseby, anddirectlyinfrontofusrises ing respect toMonarchy officials. Thecustoms ware- changing complimentswithshipsofwar, andofpay- for theignitionofgunpowder, anantiquemodeofex- the salutingbattery, whichdoesceremonialservice Beefeaters andsternlookingCoppers.Onourleftis trance totheTower atwhichsitonguardafewlazy such marketnow. where jelliedeelswerebeingsold.Happilythereisno demolition. Years ago,behindit,therewasamarket pockmarked oldTower, crumblingfastintodisuseand plunge againintothelaneuntilwecomeinviewof his circumstanceswill permit. Aswepasson,getshortviews of theriver, andthen stand sidebyside,andatthetalldoorwayofeachstandsadoorman–ascomfortableas fifteen storiesabove ourheads.Theworkplacesof thefinanciersandofficialshere noisily aswego,walkbythetall,glass-faced,massiveoffices,whichrisetotenand any rate,disagreeable.Throughanarrow, crooked,cobbledlane,ourbootsclattering features which,withthethermometerat9°C.,mighthavebeenadubiouspleasure,or, at feet elevatedaboveourheads,watchthenightcoming. the balcony, wheretheechoesoffinanciersareresoundingandcruel,withour resources left to acontemplative and studiousmind, we wouldtakeoureasy-chairson humble abodesonthecrestofanancientreachbehindTower. Or, asthelastandonly to the White Chapel-to the “Gherkin,” where it stands unnatural and sentinel-like over city, returning duringthelongtwilight.Or we wouldtakethe Dock LandLight Rail Way unwholesome dinnerat6.30pm, would get on theTube andrideoutintotheinteriorof ful hours.Or, assometimesthecasewouldbe,westrikeworkearly, andafteran weariness: thearmchairissought,andtobaccowithapotoftearoundsoffunevent- are heardfromearlymorninguntilnight. marking pens, or the number of caseand box, with quick hurried breathing and shouting, about boxes;andarendingofcardboardorpaper, clatteringofmetal,demandsforthe pass backwards and forwards, to and fro, amid all this litter, roll carry-ons over, or tumble and otherdebris.Layaboutsworkers“messengers,”employeesemployers, lids, andamedleyofrejectedpaper, cloth,phonecoversandbrokenscreens,polystyrene We presentlycatchsight,onourright,oftheen - If we take our ride, in a few minutes we may note, at the pleasantest hour, those local Towards evening, aftersuchastultifyingdayofglaringcoldandbusytoil,comes - - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 Allan deSouza: Through the Black Country 85 The English never appear particularly friendly, and they seem to have a The English never appear particularly friendly, The English have turned their backs on the modern world and its cosmopol- The English have turned their backs on the modern friendly. too

Having crossed the bridge from Saint Pauls, we are in what is very appropriately in what is very appropriately Saint Pauls, we are the bridge from Having crossed view beautiful most a have we Common, Heath Black of crest the upon arriving Finally The men are daily intoxicated on a warm, flat, bitter brew which they consume in June. 21. - June. 17. - When asking directions, which I occasionally have cause to do, given the impene- about banter polite with though women, their with speak to danger potential of is It itan exchanges, and have retreated into their tribal ranks. I find this narrow-mindedness itan exchanges, and have retreated into their of rejection their fear I intelligence. low their from surmised be must it but unfathomable, them to return to their nutritionally-lacking the outside world, their “Brexit,” will cause and poor dental their sallow skin displayed in traditional diet, whose evidence is painfully this long, though they have learned to con- health. It is a wonder that they have survived such as curries and kebabs, of other shores. sume and do so in great quantities the foods, and squalor jostle side by side, and then we find ourselves at the Thread Needle street, street, Needle the Thread at ourselves find we and then side, by side jostle squalor and lane and the Monument. down to Pudding which extends is more squalid. is wide, but the quarter side.” The street or “t’other Wark, termed South in the as guide require will traveler the services whose “Riffraff,” the find we here It is and poor or Yuppies, Commuters, well-to-do with the miserably live they Here country. respectable migrant shopkeepers, Bangladeshis, and Blacks, Arabs, Bastards, Gujaratis, becomes Wark South attire, holiday their donned have people the When tradesmen. and of mirth. On work- and yields itself up to wild, frolicsome abandon picturesque, even gay, concrete are still varied, and give relief to the rain-blackened ing days, though the colours faces and badly dressed district has a dingy hue, which scowling walls, this poor man’s and a half long, and quick- the quarter is only a mile However, bodies seems to deepen. mews, clusters of elms have before us detached houses and ening our paces, we soon foliage. For about three with enormous light green domes of and old beech trees crowned width, bordered gallop along a pitch-coloured road of respectable miles one can enjoy a iris, foxglove, dogwood, daisy, hedges grow the roses, lavender, with hedges. Behind the rhubarb, plums, blackberry, diversified with patches of mallow, and clematis, gooseberry, The allotments, gently every vegetable of temperate growth. and sweetpea, and almost on which the lights and shadows play, undulating, display the variety of their vegetation, or reveals the charms of verdure. deepening, or paling as the setting sun clouds and, as we turn to regard it, are struck with the landscape lying of the roadstead and city, - the temperate trees already men the city, at our feet. Sloping away gradually towards which, to mass themselves into a thin forest, out of view, tioned seem, in the bird’s-eye building. Whatever of details of flora and man’s we can pick out clearly the however, own, for man has done little; he has but planted beauty may be in the scene, it is Nature’s Nature has nourished the root and the a root, or a seed, or a tender sapling carelessly. giants, rising one above another in hill- seed and the sapling, until they became spindly to the whole that numbing shallowness and ocks of light green verdure, and has given in the temperate zones. uniformity of colour which she only exhibits spectacularly large quantities at communal drinking holes. They watch “matches” (not to spectacularly large quantities at communal drinking holes. They watch “matches” (not be confused with fire-lighting materials) in which two groups of men identified by ritual trability of the terrain, the natives seem for the most part willing to assist. One can never trability of the terrain, the natives seem for the most part willing to assist. One can never third, of their trustworthiness, and I make it a point to ask a second or be sure, however, be important to let them see that I won’t sometimes in deliberate view of the first. It’s fooled. the weather and about the prices of goods, they seem to be open. Their men, however, watch these interactions carefully for any infringement on what they see as impropriety towards their women. I have seen groups of young males suddenly turn violent, hurling vitriolic epithets towards the outsider and towards their own women, should they be seen to be physical inability to smile, especially in the males. I have not had the opportunity to con- physical inability to smile, especially in the duct a dissection, so cannot be sure if it is, in fact, a failing of the musculature.

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 88 Allan deSouza: Through theBlackCountry upon theobservationofstranger. these moral blemishes are by their traditional excellence of breeding seldom obtruded is neverpermitted.Naturally, theyhavethevicesoftheireducation,blood,andrace,but broached beforestrangers;impertinenceishushedinstantlybytheelders,andrudeness are made. perate haters.Bloodisseldomsatisfiedwithoutblood,unlessextraordinarysacrifices out oftheunsuspectingtraveleriftheyarepermitted.Theystaunchfriendsanddes- business theyarekeentraders,andofcoursewillexactthehighestpercentageprofit no obstaclestothetraveler, butaresociable,frank,good-natured,andhospitable.In son thanthoseofScandinavia,ortheshy, reserved,bigotedfanaticsofItaly, theyoffer from othercauses,areundoubtedlythebestoftheirrace.Moreeasilyamenabletorea- Europe. who areinbettercircumstancestheinteriorthantheywouldbetheirownlandsof vengeance ofthelawforpoliticaloffences,aswellordinarycrimes.Therearemany raged creditors.Othersagainarenotmerelybankrupts,butpersonswhohavefledthe to whichtheyhavesubjectedthemselves,returningandbeingarrestedbytheiren- and moneylenders,havingfailedintheventurenowprefertoendureexclusion ing the odium of failure. Others borrowed large sums on trust from credulous politicians that therewereworseplacesonearththanEngland,preferredtoremainthere,fac- acquiring rapidfortunesbythelabourofwaitressingandshopkeeping,and,perceiving thither withthedefiniteintentionofsettling.Someweredriventhither, byfalsehopesof invaluable.” Almostallhavebeensevereintheirstricturesonthe Englishof London. dience, inperversity, annoyance,andvillainy, whichrightly directedwouldmakethem says, “Thewretchestakeatroubleanddisplayaningenuityin opposition anddisobe- affection; anotherthatheissimplythe“link”betweenfox and thehound.Another thing greatlytotheircredit.OneofthemlatelysaidthattheEnglish knowneitherlovenor come ofcarefulstudyandalongexperiencethem.Fewtravelers haverecordedany- which heandhis classpridethemselves,before he canfairlyappreciatethecapabilities fresh, and patient observation, and must forget that lofty standard of excellence upon be abletoperceivetheirworth,the travelermustbringanunprejudicedjudgment,aclear, any otherraceorclassontheface oftheglobe,inallattributesmanhood.Butto honest, industrious,docile,enterprising, braveandmoral;thattheyare,inshort,equalto nature; Iknowtoo,thattheycan be madegood,obedientfollowers,thatmanyareclever, of greatloveandaffection, possessedofgratitudeandothernobletraitshuman disposition ofalargeportionthesouthernpeoplecontinent. Ifindthemcapable otherwise shippedofftowagewarsagainstothertribesinlocationsacross theseas. battles, I believe that these are nevertheless intended to alleviate these same men being purpose. While the aftermathofthesematches can result in massrampagesandpitched colours interminablykickbackandforthaspherical pig- orcow-skin,tonoapparent rated somuchthatonthecoasttheycanscarcelybedistinguishedfromIrish. while thedescendantsofEnglishearlierHuguenotmigrationarenowdeterio- the later migrations are alreadyrapidly losing their pale colour andsallow complexions, of thosewhocallthemselves English. Bythis process ofmiscegenationtheEnglish chased negroconcubines,theresultofwhichwetracetodayinvariouscomplexions nogamists, wivesoftheirownraceaccordingtomeans,andalmostallthempur great grandmother of the present Queen, took unto themselves, after the custom of mo- The conductofanEasterngentlemanisperfect.Indelicatemattersarenever The EasternersofEurope,whetherfrommorefrequentintercoursewithArabsor July. 12. - - 12. July. - 9. July. I havecometoperceivethattheCockneyrepresentintheircharacter muchofthe - 16. July. TheGermanescapeeswhoaccompaniedtheEmpressVictoria, thegreat, Of theCockneytherewillbemuchwritteninfollowingpages, theout- None oftheEuropeanswithwhomImadeacquaintanceeverproceeded - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 Allan deSouza: Through the Black Country 89 - - The Cockney or native of London, who Being, I hope, free from prejudice of caste, colour, race, or nationality, and race, or nationality, of caste, colour, free from prejudice Being, I hope, July.24. - July.21. - endeavouring to pass what I believe to be a just judgment upon the English of London, I upon the English to be a just judgment to pass what I believe endeavouring and now thrust forcibly just emerged into the Culinary Epoch, find that they are a people of over 400 who have left them behind by the improvements under the notice of nations fixed deeply in lard, but doubt all the vices of a people still years. They possess beyond is, therefore, a duty im- full what and how low such a state is; it they understand to the of the EU, to help them science we profess, and by the official rules posed upon us by the begin to hope for the state they are now in. At any rate, before we out of the deplorable bewailing of their so long benighted, let us leave off this impotent improvement of races as men, for it must be discover some of the virtues they possess vices, and endeavor to of nutrition can ever and not by their vices, that the emissary by the aid of their virtues, throughout England, I therefore, recording my experiences hope to assist them. While, virtues of the Cockney to dilate upon both the vices and the shall have frequent occasion on the one but it will not be with a view to foster, as well as of the Brummie of the interior, absurd prejudices created by centuries of hand, the self-deception of the civilized, or the hand, to lead men astray by taking a too bright view on the other superior advantages, nor, a strong desire to enable all interested in the of things. I shall write solely and simply with powers rightly. Englishman to understand his mental and moral of the London Englishman. The traveler should not forget the origin of his own race, the his own race, origin of forget the should not The traveler London Englishman. of the rather recall but should country, da Gama visited his the Swahili Coast before condition of and surroundings original circumstances and the first state of the “traveler,” to mind the Man. of Civilized dwells at Bow, is a happy, jovial soul. He is fond of He is fond jovial soul. is a happy, dwells at Bow, therefore sociable. His vanity causes him company, suits to be ambitious of possessing several dark that and bright red ties, and since he has observed certain, his superiors carry briefcases, he is almost a red tie, if he is rich enough to own a dark suit and poor to be seen sporting a cowhide brief. The very out by est of his class hire themselves, or are hired from their wives, to carry bales, boxes, and goods, or vice the custom house to the ship, or store-room, donkeys versa, and as a general beast of burden, for and of robotic vehicles there are none. Those are few, may who prefer light work and have good characters or for obtain positions of doorkeepers, or chauffeurs, the Euro- waiting tables and personal assistants for pean merchants. Others, trained as builders, obtain a livelihood by repairing houses, manufacturing tables, sideboards, and fixtures, or by plumbing and garden- of estates small the in Cockney of class a is There ing. the river, and along the banks of the interior of the city, who prefer the wandering life offered to them by lor ry driving and long-distance routes to being subject small busi- and meanness of to the caprice, tyranny, proprietors the that complain They proprietors. ness they abuse grasping, and exacting; that are haughty, them and pay them badly; that if they seek justice at always the hands of the courts, judgment, somehow, that, hand, other the on say, They them. against goes have paid, are well they or cabs, lorries driving when abundance to eat, and comparatively but little work. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 90 Allan deSouza: Through theBlackCountry ing, and,following them,amiscellaneousrabbleof excitedmen,while,inthebackground, shovels, and tanned Hampsteadites with brollies ready to be drawn, came up threaten- nearly silentquartersclamouring forretributionandsnacks.Islingtonianswithraised wild, bloodshoteyes,bedraggled, rumpledandtornclothes,reeleduptoourorderly that ranwildlythroughallthestreets, lanes,courts,andpubs.Menwithbloodyfaces, bers, rapists,andmurderersofEurope totakepossessionoftheland,”wasrumour Barking, andthatallmyprecautionshadbeentaken. will bereadilybelievedthatIhadpreparedforthesceneswhich knewweretofollowat be wiselycircumspectinhisintercoursewiththem.Frommyexperiences ofsuchmen,it to betreatedwiththeutmostkindnessandconsideration, intendingtravelermust influence thatassailsthemwithtemptationstoreturntheflock, thesepeoplerequire the landfastreceding from them,anxious for thefuture,susceptibletofirst andevery ourselves, thattheyhadbeensohastyinundertakingtheexit,brooding overthejoysof dened bystrongdrinksanddrugs,jealousoftheirstatusinthe EU, regrettingalso,like sigh andwishthathehadnotventureduponwhatpromisestobe ahopelesstask.Mad- “skin head”willberestrained,andfinallyconquered. love anddevotion,bythemoralinfluenceoftheirsupportevenmostincorrigible erful force,attachedtotheirleaderbybondsofgood-willandrespect,even,perhaps, passed. Longbeforethisperiodisover, suchtemperateconductwillhaveenlistedapow- and unreasonable,mustbeforgivenseventytimesseven,untiltheperiodofprobationis ferociously impulsive,superstitiouslytimid,liabletofuriousdemonstrations,suspicious forbearance is absolutely necessary. The white brother, wild as a colt,chafing,restless, ally makemenofthem,wildthingsthoughtheynoware.Forthefirstfewmonths,then, just suspectthatbehindallthisthereliesthestrongunbendingforcewhichwilleventu- manipulated that,while they arelearningthenovellesson of obedience,theymayonly first. Whateverdeficiencies,weaknesses,andfoiblesthepeoplemaydevelopmustbeso our prospects,andallmeansgentle,patient,persuasive,have,therefore,tobetried cies and weaknesses. The exhibition of force, at this juncture, would be dangerous to ulation” willnot,however, commenceuntilafterastudyoftheirnatures,deficien- against failure)Ishouldbefreetorovewherediscoverieswouldfruitful.This“inoc- me, witharespectfororderanddiscipline,obediencesystem(thetrueprophylactic from whence,afterinoculatingthevariousuntamedspiritswhohadnowenlistedunder towards ituntilthelistisfullandcomplete. desirous of returning to their homes,and who, day by day, along the route, will straggle in London maybeeasilyreinforcedattheseportsbyvolunteersofmigrantworkerswhoare can missionariesfromUtah.Third.Atournotfullyrecruitedtoitsnecessarystrengthin by seaandfromthecontinent,IndiantradersboundforinterioryouthfulAmeri- normally languidandpeacefullifeinvadedstartledbythebustleofforeignersarriving the wilds.Second.Thenativesofthoseestuarinevillagesareaccustomedtohavetheir of mutualcohesion,habits,andrelativeinfluences,isdesirablebeforelaunchingoutinto elers andthenativesarestrangerstooneanother, andaslightknowledgeoftheirpower good starting-pointsfortheunexploredinterior, formanyreasons.First.Becausethetrav- packing. Andthisisunderatemperatureof7°C. you oughttopurchase,andcannotdowithout,superintending,arranging,assorting, unpurchased, gropingaboutintherecessesofahighlyexercisedimaginationforwhat a multitudeofsmallutilities,ponderingaboutyourlistsarticles,wanted,purchased,and less Hindumerchants,writingmemoranda,hagglingoverextortionateprices,packingup fro hurriedlytoreceivescouts,inspectingpurchases,bargainingwithkeen-eyed,relent constantly engaged,mindandbody;nowincastingupaccounts,travellingto August.14. - - August.14. - August.4. Within threehoursBarkingwas in aferment,“Thetravelerhasbroughtalltherob- Many thingswilltranspireduringthefirstfewweekswhich makethetraveler These, then, were the principal reasons for my selection of Barking as the initial point, It isamostsoberingemployment,theorganizingofanEnglishtour. You are East Londonvillagesonthemainlandnearriver, offerexceptionally - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 Allan deSouza: Through the Black Country 91 , for he really looked in feature, dress, and demeanour, what, had I been what, in feature, dress, and demeanour, , for he really looked “What is the matter? I asked, scarcely knowing how to begin to calm this turbulent to begin to calm this knowing how matter? I asked, scarcely “What is the The “Matter enough. the matter?” was repeated. echoed. “What is “Matter!” was down Sit patient. be and down, sit Pray terrible. shocking; is this friend, my me, “Dear enfant kutisha seethed a mob of frantic women and mischievous children. and mischievous frantic women a mob of seethed beings. mass of passionate - from the shops, break lying, robbing goods men are stealing, Your uproar. land is in an women after drawing knives on our everybody, killing our pigeons, assaulting ing plates, Matter exterminate everybody. burn down the town and and threatening to abusing them, Europe?” from rabble savage this bringing by mean you do What enough! Matter indeed! magnates of Shepherd a Riffraff of some consequence among the so fumed and sputtered Bush. soothing tones to this just talk this over like wise men,” I said in here by me, and let us an imaginative raw youth, I should have set down as the “incarnate scourge of England,” I should have set down as the “incarnate an imaginative raw youth, brandished cowhide enough with his besuited, striped sleeves, his and he looked wicked eyes, to chop off my innocent head. brief, and fierce blue Francis Alÿs Don’t Cross the Bridge Before You Get to the River 2008

Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco-Spain, 7:46min Screen grabs 93 Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco-Spain, 7:46min Screen grabs

94 Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco-Spain, 7:46min Screen grabs 95 INTO THE DETENTION CENTRES AND PLACES OF SHRINKING VISIBILITIES Robert Atanasovski Refugees near the village of Idomeni at the Greek- Macedonian border 2015-2016

97 98 99

102 103 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 104 Bishnupriya Ghosh:The RefugeeWithin:Becoming Disposable inModernIndia Modern India Disposable in Becoming Within: The Refugee Bishnupriya Ghosh disclose themakingofrefugees nationalist state in the last year. Both of dispossessionenactedbytheHindu archives ofmigrancyinvoketheviolence 1947 when15millioncrossedthenewly the bloodybirthofIndiaandPakistanin South Asianrefugeestoryhasitsrootsin and economicruin.Theapocryphal der-crossers, fleeingpoliticalviolence We areaccustomedtorefugeesasbor the boundariesofmodernnation. Two scenes from India’s burgeoning Credits: ScreenshotPurnendu Pritamvideo,Quint Fig.1 DetentionCenter, Kokrajhar, Assam(2019) within -

This essayfocusesonthemediaticpro- selves displaced, adrift, and homeless. nation’s territorysuddenlyfoundthem- possession, thosewholivedwithinthe of India,inboththesenewscenesdis- of the word. However, like the partition as refugeehistoryinthestrictestsense nation-state borders,itmightnotcount “migrant crises,”didnotinvolvecrossing tography. Sincethe2019-2020so-called story inhistories,fiction,film,andpho- made borders.Itisawell-documented the mid-20 notations oftherefugeethatstabilizedin of disposability, Iargue,expandjuridical these historicevents.Thenewhistories in” andtheimplications of documenting cesses constitutiveofthe“refugeewith- essarily whatmakes arefugee,borders times whencrossingaborderis not nec- cle toitsglobalcounterparts;we livein ters inAssamlinksthisrefugee specta- 2019. Thebuildingofsixdetention cen- the AssamNRClistswerepublished in others, too,spokeupininterviews once tion. Nessa’s storywasnotananomaly; terminate herpregnancywithaninjec- her totheGuwahatiMedicalCollege media platform, shot fromavideo posted ontheIndian they canbe. nities -whattheyhavebecomeand thought onthefutureofpoliticalcommu- phenomenon drivingmuchcontemporary bunal. clared aforeignerbytheForeignersTri- almost adecadeaftershehadbeende- Momiran Nessawhowasdetainedfor detained womenisforty-seven-year-old cost oftheirfamilies(Fig.1).Onethe extended detention,sometimesatthe Center spokeaboutbrutaltreatmentand women heldattheKorkajharDetention In PurnenduPritam’s video,several implicit targets were Muslims in India. that theHindunationalistgovernment’s ment ACT(CAA)in 2019, it became clear were followedbytheCitizenshipAmend- we shallsee,whentheNRCexercises weed outthosewhowereillegal;but,as or BJP-ledgovernment,thepointwasto According totheBharatiyaJanataParty to dosoareinstantlyrenderedstateless. uments provingcitizenship;thoseunable dia’s bordersarerequiredtofurnishdoc- registry in which all denizens within In- is thecrucibleforplannedall-Indian of Citizens(NRC)wasconducted.Assam first exercisesoftheNationalRegistry northeastern stateofAssam,wherethe at oneofthedetentioncentersin ular. Thevideofeaturesseveralwomen general, andthenewsmedia,inpartic- ment’s draconianholdoninformationin still relativelyindependentofthegovern- thequint.com/), oneofthenewssources The first photograph is a screen- 3 Allegedly, jailofficialshadmoved th C. 2 Thisexpansionisaglobal The Quint Quint The (https://www. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - - This biopolitical 6 Refugees as Expenditure The NRC exercises denationalize logic ensures a precarity that becomes deathly for those who live without any safety nets. The migrants who depend on walking meal next their for wages daily home during the lockdown can therefore be placed on a spectrum, which includes the NRC refugees. I will argue that the - making ref of media in is the role what bodies humans become data ugees? As capture, surveillance for algorithmic turning and value citizens, media sort “un- potential refugees. The some into as that citizen,” oxymoronic documented We is rendered disposable. might seem, on citizens/non- are faced with big data and a lack of citizens, on the one hand, deaths, on the data on migrant/refugee refugee vanish- As the disposable other. media - news es from sight, documentary cellphone bytes, stories, photographs, testimonies - offer footage, oral recorded state indiffer scattered traces of brutal ence. In what follows, I consider how ence. In what follows, and mediatic distributive calculations in the new processes operate together histories of disposability. Indian citizens to make them refugees the within the sovereign state. However, migrants of the COVID-19 exodus do not, at first glance, appear to fit the “refugee” as juridical category - at least as defined by the mid-20thC Refugee Convention of 1951 (and its 1967 Protocol). Their exodus was not forcible per se, but driven by prospects of starvation and homeless- ness; nor were the migrants stateless in their search for refuge. And yet, as we shall see, during a state of emergency declared by the BJP administration in March 2020, urban migrant laborers had hazardous a on embark to but choice no internal migration of mammoth propor tions. Without adequate papers necessary to demand state dispensations, they became disposable in a matter of days. One might say that this catastrophe was Nev- failure. bureaucratic massive a just ertheless, as Michel Foucault has taught us, neglect and indifference are active modes of “letting die” some populations to “make live” others. As the 5 Bishnupriya Ghosh: The Refugee Within: Becoming Disposable in Modern India 105 At the heart of both stories lies the distributive calculus of expenditure: What is the cost of offering refuge? When means are strained, who becomes dispensable? The question obviously haunts those who flee across borders, as the Syrian refugee crisis has shown. it increasingly impacts those However, displaced internally - whether that is as climate refugees or the urban poor drift- ing in and out of cities. This distributive calculus operates across the “industrialized” and “industrializing” divide, one that is more muddled than ever before in the COVID-19 crisis. In this global story, story goes, Rampukar Pandit reached home by various modes of transit - walking, train, and bicycle - once he crossed to In going “home” the Delhi-UP border. Begusarai, Pandit was not a refugee in the juridical understanding of the term. And yet, at a moment of national crisis, he had become utterly dispensable - one “gone in search of refuge,” as the French etymology of the term suggests. camera before checking on him. The photograph became instantly famous partly institutional affilia- because of Yadav’s of India (PTI), the tion at the Press Trust Like largest news agency in the country. Arko other iconic photographs such as Ansa- Qutubuddin of photograph Datta’s ri (the face of the 2002 Gujarat riots) and buried baby (from the Bhopal Raghu Rai’s snapshot Yadav 1984), disaster, Leak Gas in vertiginously circulating viral, went Indian and global news outlets. -

1 Like many others, Pandit was a 4 Credits: Screenshot Atul Yadav photo, Mojo Story photo, Mojo Story Credits: Screenshot Atul Yadav Fig.2 Rampukar Pandit’s long trek home (2020) Fig.2 Rampukar Pandit’s The second photograph became one ing the poor dispensable. The Press Trust ing the poor dispensable. The Press Trust chief photo correspondent, Atul of India’s had been driving through Delhi’s Yadav, Nizamuddin area when he came across Rampukar Pandit, the man featured in the photograph, crying into his cellphone (Fig.2). can also arise internally as denizens are denizens as internally arise also can Pro- subjects. stateless newly as hunted cesses such as NRC denationalize racial- political away peeling populations, ized rights that guarantee state protections. As we shall see, the Muslims targeted in the NRC exercises were subsequently not granted refugee status, essential- ly placing them in a suspended state of semi-permanent dispossession. of those iconic images of the 470 million migrant workers who embarked on a long trek home to their villages, following the abrupt COVID-19 lockdown announced by the Indian government on March 24, order the lockdown In retrospect, 2020. for mi- provisions transportation without grant workers from other states protect- render while class middle the Indian ed construction worker who had started on a long journey back to Begusarai, Bihar, He 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) away. was detained for three hours at the gate through which one crosses from borders Delhi (the capital) to Uttar Pradesh (the adjoining state) for three days. In that health 11-month old son’s time, Pandit’s snapped was in serious decline. Yadav the grief-struck father on his Nikon D4 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 106 Bishnupriya Ghosh:The RefugeeWithin:Becoming Disposable inModernIndia potential contributions ofrefugeeswho rious divide that deliberately overlooks es andthosewhobuildnations, aspu- yawn betweenthosewhostrainresourc - Refugees” (writteninJanuary 1943 as HannahArendtremindedusin“We cial-cultural) difference is nothing new: in politicalcommunity. nomic valueasfoundationaltoinclusion man” whoseexpendabilityexposeseco- untenable expenditure:a“disposablehu- ization or repatriation)but one whoisan awaits comingpoliticalrights(innatural- - recaststherefugeeasnotonewho nals ordeportationindetentioncenters awaiting decisionsfromForeignTribu- persecution, andnoncitizendenizens grants desperatelyfleeingviolenceand for slaughter. ing referstothesortingofwildanimals denationalization. Aviciousterm,cull- alongside the legislative processes of tions during the COVID-19 emergencies place thebiopolitical“culling”ofpopula- gee question. This is why it is revealing to overpopulation” nowdominatestherefu- that thelatter, the“materialproblemof tions holdevermoretruetoday, except organization.” ulation” andnotoneoffailed“political to bea“materialproblemofoverpop- the “refugeeproblem”wasalwaysseen of expenditureentirelysurprising,since political community. Noristhequestion the historicalconstitutionofnationsasa refugees havealwayslaidpressureon refugee spectaclesoftheearly21 are increasingly sidelined. refoulement advocatedbythe UNHCR and resources, political agreements on ropean nation-states fight over quotas the recentSyrianrefugeecrisis:asEu- tacked byagentsofthestate.Consider of refuge;orthosewhoareactivelyat- those who drown, starve, or die in search those wholanguishindetentioncenters; ing mass,permanentdispossessionin a globalphenomenon:wearewitness- is unfoldinginIndiapartandparcelof deaths are deliberately uncounted. What of deportation or the migrant poor whose that isIndianMuslimsfacingprospects populations inmodernIndia-whether for thewillful“lettingdie”ofvulnerable That therefugeeisfigureof(ra- 9 8 As such, it is appropriate Arendt’s insightfulnota- 10 Differences st C -mi 7 ), absorb them.Therefugeeisa transition intocitizenstothenationsthat expenditure within aterritory (nation-space). political community(thenation)situated rights guaranteedbybirth(nativity)into “perforates” thenaturalnessofpolitical is a“modernpoliticalcondition”that amben 114).Readthisway, therefugee newly denationalizedpopulations(Ag- be thatthosegatheringattheborderor except thepurefactofbeinghuman,” every qualityandspecificrelation franchised includesthosewhohave“lost vulnerable sections ofthepopulation. as guaranteesevaporateforthe most refugee’s futureas acitizenshrinkseven become semi-permanentspaces. The political rightsonthewane,camps have why they are often granted tions, refugeesarepurelyhuman-that’s protections. Devoidofpoliticalprotec- after all,forthosewhoarebereftofstate Political rightsturnouttobealienable, able political rights ( the refugeerevealscitizen’s inalien- amben insists that, as a limit-concept, of populations. this disposabilitythatenablestheculling of dispossessionbecomedisposable.Itis potential refugeesinsuspendedstates spectrum between human and animal, it, onceprotectedbythedivine.On “bare life,”asGiorgioAgambentermed the animalandhuman-thatzoneof subjects, placinglifeinazonebetween commitments to refugees as political a turnevacuatesallpretenseofethical ing borders,limitingpopulations.Such nations aspoliticalcommunities,form- exception. Andyet,intheearly21 which canbeunderstoodasthe stateof eign territories;hence,therefugeecamp, the humanbereftofrightswithinsover repatriation. Indeed,thereisnoplacefor always beonthewaytonaturalizationor essarily betemporary:therefugeemust refugee’s unprotectedstatusmustnec- on humanshaving Since nationalistfictionsarepremised izenship asahistoricaldispensation. the humanandcitizen,markingcit- is alsoasignificantdifferencebetween than Writing fifty years after Arendt, Ag- political whoseexclusionremakes rights.Thelistofthedisen- inalienable bios ) to be a fiction. human rights,the figure of of figure 12 rather There st , with 11 -

tion. of atipofffromthe Trump administra- killing early in the US pandemic because Consider theelitetraderswhomadea this well-knownstorytolightoncemore. health emergency has merely brought of the1%against99%.TheCOVID-19 In commonparlance,thisisthenewwar populations arewithoutrefuge/shelter. precarities, largenumbersofvarious pensations, withdeepeningeconomic ly denudingstateprotectionsanddis- drive ofneoliberalregimesconsistent- es anewreckoning.Withtheeconomic refugee, asafigureofexpenditure,forc- nized politicalcommunity. ry, makingwayforthecominghomoge- die effectivelycleansesovereignterrito- or willfulneglect.Thepoliticsofletting must beattenuatedeitherbydeportation whose existenceonsovereignterritory emerge asafigureofdifference,one nationalisms, the refugee continues to Hindu nationalism. In these populist colonialism as much as in upper-caste in whitesupremacistAmericansettler delimit political community: we see this ian regimessortpopulationsineffortsto over theworld.Contemporaryauthoritar thoritarian regimesthatareontheriseall haps justmoreblatant-inthecaseofau will to the nameof“thepeople.”Thepolitical disparities withinandbeyondnationsin of entrenchingandensuringeconomic as morethanonestateisinthebusiness guard ofanewhistoricalconsciousness. once suggested,refugeesareat the van- undocumented). Oncemore,as Arendt ing seasonalmigrantworkers,andthe citizens andnoncitizendenizens(includ- the coming disposability of vulnerable suspended dispossessionforeshadows refugees arefiguresofexpenditure:their trend. Against this backdrop, potential bilization is one dimension of this general ism all over the world. Anti-refugee mo- choice inresurgentright-wingnational- ic inclusionhasnowbecomearational In theearlytwenty-firstcentury, the The situationisevenworse-orper Disposability invokes economic 13 Onecouldmultiplysuchexamples exclusion ratherthandemocrat- Becoming Disposable - - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - BJP’s multi-pronged multi-pronged BJP’s

- aim to denational The NRC exercises ing Hindu majority. The strategy includes ing Hindu majority. the (through migration Muslim stemming Act or CAA) as Citizenship Amendment of the existing well as pruning the size (through 200 million Muslim population of Citizens or NRC) the National Registry Indian residents to by requiring current furnish documentary proof of their citizenship. Fear and confusion followed the first implementation of the NRC, conduct- in Assam of state northeastern the in ed is Bangladesh with border Assam’s 2014. one of the unsecured migration corridors in Asia (according to the U.N. Migration Report of 2020); hence, the state became the site of this political experiment. When the NRC was published in 2019, 1.9 mil- - pop lion Indian residents (6% of Assam’s migrants. declared illegal were ulation) 100+ With many petitioning for reentry, were put in place. Of Foreigner Tribunals course, such tribunals have existed since the 1960s, and detention centers for ille- - state dispen receive who should man” life, less-than-human bare, but sations, value The economic become disposable. humans into expenditures of life, turning trumps life guaranteed or contributions, by social contract. are a part of the ize Indian citizens. They Hindu-nationalist Muslim popula- strategy for culling the ensure an endur tion in India, so as to Amid 14 or the economic the most vulnerable Bishnupriya Ghosh: The Refugee Within: Becoming Disposable in Modern India 107 making die Fig.4 Assam Detention Centre, Matia, Assam Credits: Prasanth Viswanathan, Bloomberg Credits: Prasanth Viswanathan, deepening economic disparity, the delim- the disparity, economic deepening iting of the nation as political community guarantees the wealth of its elites. This means the population of 1.3 billion must be culled, either in the political project of know that at least half of India’s coal re- coal know that at least half of India’s serves, for example, have slipped into the hands of a few families; that six or seven businesses have bought up most nation- and global funds; as invested assets al that the telecommunications infrastructures that occupy pride of place for the BJP regime are a family empire. making new refugees sectors. In this new equation, the poten- hu- “pure the longer no is refugee tial one of

is not only realpolitik Fig.3 Hit by lockdown, Migrants Walk Home Walk Fig.3 Hit by lockdown, Migrants Hindustan Times Kumar, Credits: Vipin to ensure future electoral successes (as- suming all Hindus will vote for the BJP) finan- but also to consolidate the nation’s cial resources for its oligarchic elites. In exposés of BJP crony capitalism, we value (as in disposable assets) as well such As use. limited or temporary as “becoming disposable” suggests citizens who are no longer useful to the nation-state and can, therefore, be dis- carded. Such a fate extends to larger increasingly in populations larger and oligarchic states that convert national public land, resources - including energy, and financial reserves - into speculative assets, thereby emptying the national coffers. Such accumulation logically dispensa- political refuses or reverses tions. Populist authoritarian regimes present an extreme instance of the norm. Brazil, Donald Trump’s Jair Bolsanaro’s all India, America, and Narendra Modi’s represent such oligarchic formations that have successfully engineered populist fictions to ensure the wealth of a these are the nation-states Notably, few. with the highest COVID-19 infections in the world. As a Hindu nationalist state, India has made an authoritarian turn in in opposition quelling decades, recent no uncertain terms (in political murders and non-bailable imprisonment). A part of the BJP-led effort to reconstitute India as the sovereign territory for Hindus is to create a tiered model of citizenship, in which the “minorities,” notably Muslims and Dalits, are effectively second-class citizens. The cynical THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 108 Bishnupriya Ghosh:The RefugeeWithin:Becoming Disposable inModernIndia ever, onthegroundsthat neighboring “persecuted religiousminorities,” how- Muslims wereexcludedfromthis listof be fast-tracked to becoming citizens. who wereexcludedfromtheNRC could dia before2014.Refugeesofthese faiths and Bangladeshwhosoughtrefuge inIn- Jain refugeesfromAfghanistan,Pakistan du, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi, and proposed apathtocitizenshipforallHin- Passed on December 11, 2019, the bill zenship AmendmentAct(CAA)followed. be “foreigners”inIndia. comfort andproclaimedHinduscouldnot ber ofParliamentvoicedtheparty’s dis- illegal intheAssamNRC,oneBJPMem- tial numberofHinduswererecordedas the Hindumajority. Forwhenasubstan- out” Muslimmigrantssoastoincrease as onestepintheprocessof“weeding of semi-permanentdispossession. isting detentioncentersrevealedstates horrifying storiesemergingfromtheex- toward the stateless poor. Meanwhile, refugees andthecallousindifference was onfulldisplayinthemakingofnew culus attheheartofcullingpopulations cry (Fig.4). alized refugees-causedanationalout lying inwaittoswallownewlydenation- tion centers-sprawlinginfrastructures the publication of the NRC, new deten- gal migrants,since2009.However, after a ratelessthat10%. when theyfailedtodeclareforeignersat were contractuallyemployedandaxed the IndianConstitution,butofficers and libertyguaranteedbyArticle21of powers thatbypassedprotectionsoflife were thetribunalsgrantedextraordinary si-judicial ForeignerTribunals. Notonly and discriminatorynatureofthequa- suicide. Morechillingwasthearbitrary registry (includingonetwin!)committed members offamilies excluded fromthe journeys totheForeignerTribunals; some sold propertyandlivestocktomakelong not havetheproperdocuments.Several tribal communities,andwomen)whodid vulnerable (refugees,migrantworkers, burden ofproofmarginalizedthemost out tobefundamentallyanti-poor. The port (2019)goes,theNRCprocessturned the titleofAmnestyInternationalRe- The AssamdebacleexposedtheNRC 15 “DesignedtoExclude,”as 16 Theeconomiccal- 17 Thus,theCiti- back toIndiancitizenship. the NRC exercises, they had no pathway resident ofIndiawasdeclaredillegalin refuge there.Effectively, then,ifaMuslim thus, theMuslimminoritiescouldfind countries wereMuslimmajoritynations; adrift, someevicted, othersharassed migrant laborersfoundthemselves cut (for stateandmunicipalgovernments), small towns,noranytimeforpreparation to maketheirwaybackvillages and nance. Withnotransportationprovision ty reliedontheirdailyearningsfor suste- in shiftssharedspaceswhileamajori- living intemporaryshelters,orsleeping themselves without refuge. Many were wage laborersinthemajorcitiesfound those withhomeshunkereddown,daily ing constructionsites,closed.While were suspended;allworkplaces,includ- in the world. All modes of transportation or, locking down 1.3 billion - the largest on March 22. It was a massive endeav- for 21days,followinga14-hourcurfew Modi announcedanationallockdown 24, 2020,thePrimeMinister, Narendra lels inmodernIndianhistory. OnMarch - madeforadisasterwithfewparal - migrant workers in the urban centers some ofitsmostvulnerablepopulations ter inabilitytomakeanyprovisionfor of the term. Nevertheless, the state’s ut- did it make refugees in the juridical sense crisis. Itwasnotaplannedexercise;nor populations comesoutoftheCOVID-19 ject tointernationalregulation. an internalmatterthatshouldnotbesub- was thattheNRC-CAAexerciseswere Court. TheBJP-administration’s reply UNHCR petitionedtheIndianSupreme and legal recourse; with the CAA, the vide the newly stateless with legal aid Refugees (UNHCR)tourgeIndiapro- the UnitedNationsHighCommissionon eliminated. The NRC exercises prompted while Muslim citizens are potentially from surroundingstateswerewooed, ugees intopoliticalinstruments:Hindus ship. TheCAA-NRCtogetherturnedref- duced asacriterionforaccesstocitizen- nation’s history, religion has been intro- a glaring lacuna. For the first time in the include theRohingyaMuslimrefugees,in category “persecutedreligiousminority” The second aspect in the culling 18 Nordidthe 40 daysafterthelockdown were announcedaslateMay1,2020, available (the“ShramikSpecial”trains up to the necessity of making transport movements. Whenthegovernmentwoke beaten bystatepolicetodisciplinetheir bleach; onotheroccasions,theywere the migrantswerepubliclysprayedwith clear thatinstateslikeUttarPradesh, and independentnewsoutlets,itbecame graphs beingpublishedonsocialmedia journey home.Inthestoriesandphoto- for curfewviolationsontheirperilous from thestate-sanctionedBOCWfund. tity cardsrequiredforreceivingbenefits and ConstructionWorkers (BOCW)iden- hi’s constructionworkershadBuilding papers: forinstance,only18.8%ofDel- found themselves without the necessary When statedispensationscame,many were alreadyontheirwayhomefoot. while the offer was too late for millions that manywerenotabletocomplete, acies, thiswasabureaucraticprocess es andtrains.WithIndia’s varyingliter had toapplyfore-passesboardbus- quired documentation. Migrant Workmen Actof1979whichre- data” available despite the Inter-State (the LowerHouse)thattherewas“no bor andEmploymenttoldtheLokSabha mid-September, 2020,theMinistryofLa- asked abouthowmanyperished,in died ofexhaustionandstarvation.When between May25-31,2020whileothers died inroadaccidentsontheirwayhome As thetragedyunfolded,198migrants against thenational highways,cellphone carrying alltheirworldlybelongings, photographs thatframemigrants onfoot, ing economiccrisis.Fig.3isone of many came instantlydisposableamid a loom- main achievements),themigrants be- (held upasoneoftheadministration’s building the BJP’s infrastructure projects ue oftheurbanpoor:onceessentialfor manmade disaster was the negative val- ficient aidforthoseseekingnewrefuge. exhorted thegovernmenttoprovidesuf- Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) Once more,theUNOfficeofHigh disposable humanshouldleavenotrace. the emptyslatetolditsownstory: tration obsessedwithsurveillancedata, What wasstrikinginthisunfolding 21 Foranadminis- 19 ), migrants 20 -

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - The 24 - “socio-algorith Such data bodies make possible make bodies data Such 25 Here, we see the other side of docu- the Aadhar card (a state-issued identity identity (a state-issued card the Aadhar under is become ubiquitous card) that data Citizens are now the BJP regime. as Mathew of identity,” points or “flecks this in noted, has Fuller of electronic capture. mic process” capture infuses every part of daily life every part of daily capture infuses at free govern- from getting treatment bank accounts ment hospitals to opening Aadhar as and registering cellphones. citizens as documentary proof renders some individuals), than less (or ‘dividuals who can be disas- media theorists argue, as information sembled and reassembled bits. the calculability of the human. In other the calculability of the enable the words, ‘dividuals as numbers refugee into na- transformation of the though Aadhar Even expenditure. tional cards are not allowed as “proof” of citizenship, they expand surveillance infrastructures. The NRC registries in Assam required biometric capture as part of the process: in Fig.5, a woman undergoes Passport the at hearing a at scan iris an Seva Kendra in the Barpeta District, As- documentation Thus, 2019). (August sam proliferates in surveilling citizens; put through documentation one differently, enters algorithmic calculations through which one becomes expendable/disposable. Mediatic processes of electronic the software become then, transcription, for culling populations in modern India. In - ambitious social engi light of the BJP’s neering of the imagined community and its infrastructural capacity to document, it seems inconceivable that there was “no data” about migrant deaths during the COVID-19 lockdown. mentation, one which bucks state control and regulation. Against the vanishing refugee stands a fulsome documentary ar chive of disposability: a record of deaths, of refugee stories, of photographsas evidence of state violence, direct and indirect, intentional or not. The earliest accounts of migrants trekking home after the COVID-19 lockdown came in cas- cading photographs whose impact ric- ocheted around the world. Atul Yadav’s photograph went viral because of the Trust the Press chokepoint, distributive of India, enabled wide circulation. As - as guaran The scarcity 23 scarce Bishnupriya Ghosh: The Refugee Within: Becoming Disposable in Modern India 109

On the other hand, biometric doc- biometric hand, other the On of the document is all too evident in the of the document is all - Foreigner Tribu NRC exercises with the or reject proofs nals authorized to accept it also pertains of citizenship. However, when print to the COVID-19 lockdown, were coveted for or electronic passes even as they accessing transportation proved to be unreliable in some situations: in Fig.6, one migrant worker holds getting in useless proved that e-pass a up him a place on overcrowded transportation. These bureaucratic snafus and long waits for passes are dime a dozen in the sorry tale of the emergency lockdown, exacerbated by restricted literacies and unregistered family members traveling with migrant workers. In such stories, documents circulate as objects of desire that can materialize political rights and dispensations. umentation is prolific in India today via tors of access to state protections. As to state protections. tors of access in has demonstrated Lisa Gitelman’s with history of the document, her media xerox- of hectographs, the emergence culture copies in the print es, carbon and 1930s, differentiations of the1920s original document arose between the and its prolif- with restricted circulation ever more erating copies; this becomes complex in digital culture. they are eminently are eminently they

Kagaz Papers become 22 ” (“I will not show my Documents and Their Discontents Documents and Their In the NRC story, the role of docu- In the NRC story, Documents in print and electronic Fig.5 Woman takes iris scan, Barpeta, Assam takes iris scan, Barpeta, Assam Fig.5 Woman Credits: David Talukdar, AFP Credits: David Talukdar, towers, and high rises of modern India. India. rises of modern and high towers, hot of maw giant a as appears state The no electrical grid, offering concrete and nation pictures disclose a refuge. The who backs of migrant poor built on the un- deemed analysis, final the in were, lives. guarantees of their worthy of state is obvious. The ments in making refugees docu- “legacy demand exercises NRC proof of citizenship ments” that establish tenancy records, and include land and issued electoral rolls, and government ever was one If certificates. and licenses registered as a “doubtful voter” in Assam (the fate of many), one did not make the NRC. Challenging documentation, the demand to “show papers,” became the crux of the massive protests that broke out all over India between mid-Decem- the young poet, and March 2020: ber 2019 evocative poem, “ Grover’s Varun papers”) became the anthem for the anti-CAA-NRC movement. iconic of the dead state enacting violence through its document raj. mediums dominate these new histo- On the one hand, ries of disposability. Nahin Dekhaonge THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 110 Bishnupriya Ghosh:The RefugeeWithin:Becoming Disposable inModernIndia Quint was publishedinonesuchoutlet, ter atKokrajhar, Assam,forexample, the womeninAssamdetentioncen- crackdown. DavidTalukdar’s accountof forms thathavesurvivedtheBJPpress the remaining“independent”mediaplat- investigative journalism,appearedon the time-honoredtraditionsofrigorous they metontheirway. Othersfollowing made ithomeandthegoodsamaritans they celebratedtheheroicmigrantswho sympathy fordistantsuffering,evenas porters. Human interest stories elicited owned (orthreatened)byBJPsup- lockdown, especiallyinnewsoutlets ing theNRCexercisesorCOVID-19 best) orviolence(atworst)accompany- tions of governmental incompetence (at tried tocontainanydamagepercep- news media, some journalistic narratives dentialed initscirculation.WithinIndian photograph washighlyvettedandcre- investigative heft. outlet, theplatform’s historyverifiesits photos liemultiplebrokers. of newsphotos,behindsuchworldpress Zeynep Gurselnotesinherethnography lition. Predictably, as part of a concerted munications andservestheBJP-ledcoa- has astrangleholdonIndianmediacom- telecommunications empire,Reliance Industries. AstheflagshipofAmbani erate whenitwastakenoverbyReliance who lefttheNetwork18mediaconglom- founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur, digital media company, Quintillion Media, Credits: HimanshuVyas, HindustanTimes Fig.6 Nagendrawitha e-pass,walkinghome . Asexemplaryindependentmedia The Quint The 26 ispartofthe Assuch,the The The looking looking and subject. a civilcontractreopensbetweenviewer of stateprotections.Whenonestops renewing commitmentstothosebereft photographs ofinjurycanbecriticalto as spectacle,ArielleAzoulaynotesthat yond accusationsofconsumingtragedy ble, otherscollapsedonhighways.Be- with bleedingfeet,somebentoverdou- archive showsrefugeesbehindbars, state violence:thevisualandnarrative of injuryevidencedirectandindirect sure. Amongthesetraces,photographs remain afterallrefutationsanddataera- politics oftheIndianstate-tracesthat historical tracesattunedtothethanato- this inquiryonnewlymaderefugeesare chaeological method.Whatisrelevantto just ataste,andtheglimpseofanar COVID-19 migranttrek.Ihaveprovided archive ontheNRCexercisesor sible todojusticethedocumentary eos, andnarratives. possible circulations of photographs, vid- traces butalsoprobestoriesthatmake therefore, donotjustgatherscattered archaeological digintorefugeehistories, history suggests.Thoseengagedinan culling, then,isthelonggameasthis journalistic documentationofpopulation up chargesoftaxevasion.Controlling come Tax Departmentin2018ontrumped Bahl’s residencewasraidedbytheIn- attempt torepressindependentmedia, chive ofthetrekhomeandNRCrefu-

Such slowanalysismakesitimpos- and starts 27 Inthedocumentaryar watching , she argues, - - (Dilip) strandedwith30othersattheGur for humanitarianreliefefforts,whilere home. Stillothersexpressappreciation place ofworkorperishingonthejourney sees bothasequallyrisky:starvingathis walk home). Facing disposability, Dilip stay here?We’ll dieofhunger. So,wewill bhookhey mar jayengey. Hum log paidal paidal log Hum jayengey. mar bhookhey nikal jayengey nikal base). 60,000 registeredontheJanSahasdata the constructionsector (selected fromthe 3,196 migrantworkersandtheirfamiliesin of theInvisible,”basedoninterviewswith COVID-19 lockdown debacle, in “Voices conducted arapidassessmentofthe the international non-profit Freedom Fund mentioned “DesignedtoExclude”report, Much likeAmnestyInternational’s afore and theCOVID-19lockdownresponse. grist forcriticismoftheNRCexercises transcribed audio traces. These provide itized databases-someasraw, not-yet that capturedtheirperspectivesindig umentation ofmigrant/refugeestories nering relieffrom anindifferentstate. police beatings,theimpossibility ofgar ported: theevictions,starvation, the across India. unit reaches as many as 1millionpeople 24 andApril7,2020.GramVaani’s mobile that 70issuesreportedbetweenMarch neers, amongothers,thatresolvedmore activists, andtechnologyoperationsengi communications specialists,community public healthresearchers,development a partnerresponseteamthatincluded es: GramVaani, forinstance,mobilized records consolidatedbysocialenterpris second database emerges from helpline mand foronce-promiseddispensations.A calculus isresonant-ahardlook,de accounts, asenseofthestate’s economic be sustainedoverthelongtrek.Inthese maining unconvincedthatsuchreliefcan it bluntly: “ some days,withscarcefoodorwater, put gaon railwaystation(borderingDelhi)for sible forthosewhopausetodigfurther. gees, suchacivilcontractbecomespos- what investigativejournalistshave re org). Manyofthestoriescorroborate accessible database (https://gramvaani. recorded, sometranscribed,ina publicly That civilcontractunderliesthedoc 28 Amongmanystories,oneworker Yahan ruk kar kya hoga? Hum Hum hoga? kya kar ruk Yahan 29 ” (Whatwillhappenifwe Requestsforhelpwere ------THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

, - - - - ), , “Dis- Gram Vaani (Duke UP, 2014) (Duke UP, Image Brokers: Visu , September 14, 2020, Voices of the Invisible Communications of the Raw Data” is an Oxymoron The Civil Contract of Photog Paper Knowledge: Toward a The Hindu Journal of Visual Culture (U Minnesota P, 1994) and Rita and 1994) P, (U Minnesota The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveil (Princeton UP 2008) - 31, no. 5 (May 1988): 499; http://www.rog (University of California Press, 2016). https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/govt- has-no-data-of-migrant-workers-death-loss- of-job/article32600637.ece - forth Word,” 22 Bishnupriya Ghosh, “Becoming coming in the patches: Social Unrest “(2021). Gileman, Lisa 23 The New 2006), Politics P, (U Toronto of Surveillance26 Zeynep Deyrim Gursel, and Visibilityalizing World tion News in the Age of Digital Circularaphy lance Society 27 Arielle Azoulay, Azoulay, Arielle 27 erclarke.com/DV/CACM88.html; see also, David see also, erclarke.com/DV/CACM88.html; Lyon, 28 See, Freedom Fund, stranded-persons/article31481996.ece stranded-persons/article31481996.ece Migrant Crisis: “Chronic et al, Ritanjan Das 20 Lockdown,” Lon- COVID-19 and India’s Workers 2020, 8, Blogs,April Economics of School don https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2020/04/08/ chronic-crisis-migrant-workers-and-indias- covid-19-lockdown/ mi- “The Govt. has no data on 21 Damini Nath, grant deaths,” 24 See, Roger Clarke, “Information Technology Technology 24 See, Roger Clarke, “Information and Dataveillance,” ACM Media History of Documents https://www.theindiaforum.in/tags/gram-vaani https://www.theindiaforum.in/tags/gram-vaani April 2020, https://freedomfund.org/wp-content/ uploads/Voices-of-Invisible-Citizens.pdf - “Voic Viswanathan, 29 Aaditeshwar Seth, Vani es from the Indian Hinterland” ( (MIT 2013), 121-146. Ericson, V. and Richard Haggerty D. Kevin 25 Raley, “Dataveillance and Countervailance,” in Raley, Lisa Gittelman ed. “ - - - - (U , April , March India To Designed to Social Engineer , October 17, 2020, 17, October , , July 29, 2020, https:// (Columbia UP), 57-70. The India Forum Moving Images: Medi (Tim Duggan Books, 2019). (Tim Challenging Boundaries The Wire , September 17, 2019, https://www. The New Indian Express Bishnupriya Ghosh: The Refugee Within: Becoming Disposable in Modern India 111 The New York Times Vox , April 2019, 5, https://amnesty.org.in/ The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through In August 31, 2019, https://www.indiatoday. 90-95 17, 2020, https://www.newindianexpress.com/ nation/2020/mar/17/six-detention-centres-in- assam-with-capacity-of-3331-persons-home- ministry-tells-lok-sabha-2117882.html 16 See Amnesty International, Exclude vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/17/20861427/ india-assam-citizenship-muslim-detention-camps P.5 17 Manogya Loiwal, “NRC Final List,” 15 Express News Service, “‘Six detention centers in Assam with with capacity of 3,331 persons,” thewire.in/political-economy/crony-capitalism- on-modis-watch-means-invisible-hands-en- and James Crab- sure-you-never-go-bankrupt tree’s - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/us/poli tics/stock-market-coronavirus-trump.html on Capitalism “Crony Rajshekhar, M. See, 14 Watch,” Modi’s day, dia’s New Gilded Age ing ating Migrations as Crisis 12 Nicholas Xenos, “Refugees: the modern modern the Xenos, “Refugees: Nicholas 12 J. Shapiro & political condition,” in Michael Hayward Alker eds., in/india/story/nrc-final-list-bjp-worried-over- exclusion-of-hindus-inclusion-of-illegal-bangladeshi-muslims-1593966-2019-08-31 according million 195 India are Muslims in 18 to the 2011 census (14.2% of the population). Inheritors of are the True See Asim Ali, “We the Nationalist Legacy!” 9 Culling refers to an effort to reduce the control effort to reduce refers to an 9 Culling the (like a herd) through the size of something members. sickest or weakest the of removal - subjects of such process Animals are classic hand- can suggest selection, es. The verb form noun the but choosing, and preferring, picking, or in valence (a rejection is usually negative discarding). responses 10 For a discussion of European Bishnupriya see, crisis, migrant Syrian the to Politics: Image Op- Ghosh (2020), “A Sensible Crisis,” in Krista Refugee erations of Europe’s et al, Geneviève Lynes wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Assam-Foreign- see also, Sigal ers-Tribunals-Report-1.pdf: new detention massive, scary “India’s Samuel, camps,” 11 “Beyond Human Rights” (1995 Symposium) 11 “Beyond Human Rights” 15/ 2008/No. Open republished Minnesota P, 1996): 231-246 Minnesota P, 13 Elite traders had access to information from the administration that helped them gain three a chaotic during advantage financial days when global markets were teetering. See, Kate Kellery and Mark Mazzertti, “As the Virus Spread,” 17, 2020, https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/ 2020, 17, meaning-anti-caa-protests Bhargava, “Coronavirus Lockdown,” 19 Yuthika The Hindu, May 10, 2020 https://www.thehindu. com/news/national/railways-to-run-shramikspecial-trains-to-move-migrant-workers-other-

- - - The Menorah The Society Must Be . photo gallery (https:// Origins of Totalitarianism video at https://www.youtube. at video , 28, Jan, 2020, https://www.thequint. Jan, 2020, , 28, , trans. David Macey (Picador, 2003). , trans. David Macey (Picador, , May 15, 2020, https://www.firstpost. Outlook India (January 1943): see, online reprint, Mojo Story , August 2016 (https://img.theweek.in/con- com/watch?v=kFyZBa6-RXM 2 Refugees as a mass phenomenon emerge I, with the breakup War in the wake of World of several empires, and the first international is the But it crystallize. begin to agreements 1951 Refugee Convention that set the terms of agreements dominating the rest of the century. Central to these is preventing “refoulment” or return to the place of persecution: see, “The Refugee Convention, 1951,” https://www.unhcr. org/4ca34be29.pdf. account published in 3 See, Poonam Agarwal’s com/india/coronavirus-outbreak-cant-plan- for-this-sort-of-photography-ptis-atul-yadav- on-the-migrant-crisis-most-defining-image-so- far-8370591.html “Qutubuddin see photograph, For Datta’s 5 Ansai,” Journal Week First Post The Quint References: See 1 tent/dam/week/webworld/feature/society/2016/ august/images/bhopal-gas-tragedy.jpg). ex- notion most this develops 6 Michel Foucault tensively in Chapter 11 of “ https://www.jus.uio.no/smr/om/aktuelt/ar rangementer/2015/arendt-we-refugees.pdf Hannah Arendt, 8 7 Hannah Arendt, “We Refugees,” “We Hannah Arendt, 7 - lie. At their cen The pictures don’t (Harcourt, Brace, and the World, 1966): 293-94. (Harcourt, Brace, and the World, - www.outlookindia.com/photos/people/qutu see, buddin-ansari/14576) and for the Rai’s, com/news/india/nrc-assam-detention-centre-story-of-former-detainee is a photographer at the Press Trust 4 Atul Yadav of India (PTI), the largest news agency in India, a non-profit cooperative of 500 newspapers that owns its own communications satellite (IN- spoke extensively about taking the Yadav SAT). photograph: see, for instance, Karan Pradhan, of photography,” sort this plan for no “There’s Defended”: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976 tives, a strong sense of betrayal emerges sense of betrayal emerges tives, a strong within from the refugee dio, visual, and print traces index a keen a index traces print and visual, dio, are no of disposability: there awareness only dispensations, about state illusions mistrust. From these perspec anger and Together, the electronically-archived au electronically-archived the Together, ter is the one who has gone in search of ter is the one who has figure this states, oligarchic For refuge. those invested in spells expenditure. For on difference open communities based the refugee is rather than commonality, light in the darkest once more a guiding hour of the Indian democracy. MINIPOGON

Minipogon is an experimental production and recycling collective, dedicated to processing and transforming residual aspects of the capitalist system into useful and beautiful objects, and lively environments with more acceptable economic relationships. The collective was formed in 2017 in Belgrade by a group of artists, scientists and activists. In order to counter dominant capitalist trends of exploitation , in Minipogon, we took up the challenge of devising and employing different kinds of relations of production that would be more respectful towards materials and social surroundings. For this reason, we chose to operate from the margins of the dominant society by placing our first working studio in the Krnjača refugee camp on the outskirts of Belgrade.. Here, we started building our own means of production (machines for processing waste plastic) and working with the rejected by-products of capitalist production, both in material terms (plastic, a crude oil derivative, today’s most exploited element in nature), and in social terms (people excluded from or highly precarious within the dominant society/labour market such as immigrants, the unemployed and the infor- mally employed, etc). In administrating this process, Minipogon explores alternative methods of production, cooperative relationships and self-management. By jointly directing the manufacturing of newly designed objects (recycled plastic bowls, clipboards, a replica of the refugee camp/barracks in the shape of a gold bar), we are trying to create a space for the production of new values and supportive environments while we also aim to create a space where the politicisation of the relations of production is possible. For over a year, Minipogon’s workspace was installed in Krnjača refugee camp, which was built in Yugoslav socialist times, as a part of the industrial compound of the giant infrastructure factor,y Ivan Milutinović. Like other socially owned proper- ties, it had been subject to decay and the company went bankrupt during the 1990’s ‘transition’. The same accommodation unit for temporary workers (popularly called ‘barracks’) was curiously used for accommodating refugees from the Yugoslav wars during the 90’s. With the outbreak of the ‘migrant crisis’ in 2015 the camp was ‘adapt- ed’ with the help of EU funds - that is to say, reinforced with walls and system of control - to house Middle Eastern refugees. Adjacent to the camp are informal Roma settlements, which lack basic living infrastructure such as water, and electricity. Its inhabitants, similar to most of the Roma population in Serbia, base the majority of their economy on informal waste collection. During a one year period (Nov 2018 - Dec 2019), Minipogon developed a continuous work dynamic in the camp with a regular time-table, working three full days a week. Throughout this process, various groups of young inmates (Krnjača camp is ostensibly designed to house underage refugees and to a lesser extent families, in reality, the average age is around 20) engaged in our work processes and received economic compensation for it, generated from the sales of products. Furthermore, a channel for sourcing raw materials (recyclable plastic waste) was established with the neighbouring Roma community. The project was not limited only to the aspect of monetary economy. Over time, our workshop became a dynamic space for encounters and meetings, hosting visits from art and design students, activists, artists, and others who were attracted by Minipogon’s work.

112 113 114 115 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 116 Laurent GutierrezandValérie Portefaix (MAPOffice): The Islandofthe Misfits These includethe rapidlydisappearing visible islandsandhiddencommunities. shifted ourexplorationtotheregion’s in- ban lifeandinfrastructure,wegradually its mostrecognisabledensities of ur approaching theterritoryatlarge through Delta regionofMainlandChina. Atfirst Hong KongandtheextendedPearlRiver the developmentofcomplexarea practice thathascriticallyobserved we have developed a research-based island toanother. Overthepast25years, context toanother, ordeliberately, one and mediathatslipboundlesslyfromone Office combinesadiversityofsubjects the Misfits The Islandof Laurent GutierrezandValérie Portefaix(MAPOffice) D. Geoffrey Hayward, same asone’s behaviorallife.” ical lifewhichmayornotbethe refer totherootsofone’s psycholog- “my realhome.”…”Home”mayalso of ashomeandevenreferredto or countriesmayalsobethought other houses, neighborhoods, towns, one, home.Parents’dwellingsand [or herself]ashavingone,andonly Not every person thinks of himself tion ofwhereaperson’s homeis. even asimpleanswertotheques- no universalanswer, noristhere sessions? Afeelingstate?Thereis set ofrelationships?Agrouppos- “[W]hat is a home? Is it a place? A Enviromental and Psychological Con Psychological and Enviromental die.” \ChrisMarker, nese, butwereJapaneseenoughto “The islandersweren’t trueJapa - cept The contemporarypracticeofMAP , 1975 Level Five Level Home as an an as Home , 1997 - - cluding numerous multi-mediainstallations,in- and theircommunitieshavemotivated inal benefitsofseaweed.Theseislands knowledge abouttheedibleandmedic- fisherman culture and their remarkable and sential characteristicsofIshigakiIsland. of presentinganinterpretationthees works undertheseheadlineswiththeaim and TheResilientIsland,weavingourart The DisputedIsland,SlaveryIsland Protective Island,ThePandemic through aseriesofislandnarratives,The selection ofMAPOfficerecentartworks ‘misfit’. We haveselectedtopresenta Ishigaki throughtheconstruct/ideaof of ourshiftfocus,fromHongKongto ocean. Thisessaynarratesthetransition practice andartisticretreatbasedonthe ademic researchtocreateacentreof we willshiftourfocusfromalifeofac Yaeyama ArchipelagoofJapan,where one of the southernmost islands in the Office’s new base willbe Ishigaki Island, influenced ourrelocationtoJapan.MAP associated with global climate change, cal shiftsinHongKong,aswellrisks to thesearchipelagic territoriesinwhich discourses andinformedourapproach societies hasshapedbroad-minded local pelago, themulticulturalnature of these From HongKongtotheYaeyama Archi- we can fit into the‘Island ofthe Misfits’. fundamental for us to make sure that practice andas‘foreverforeign’,itis tion ofsocialidentityarecentraltoour Islands, Ghost Islands, Disputed Islands Disputed Islands, Ghost Islands, After 25 years, recent radical politi The figureofthemisfitandques- Liquid Land Land Liquid Hong Kong Is Land, The Invisible Invisible The Land, Is Kong Hong | Solid Sea Solid . - - - -

, of Relation of concept fromhistext for thehumanities.FollowingaDeleuzian the roleplayedbyislandsaslaboratories of work“IslandIsLand”thatquestioned In 2008,MAPOfficebegananewbody Caribbean to Nauru in the Pacific Ocean. to culturallysignificantislands,fromthe analytical processesasaglobalguide Influenced byEdouardGlissant’s the mainstreamingofmulticulturalism. foreign territorieshasbeenessentialto tural diversity and a sense of belonging in your practice.Theefforttorecognisecul- we placeculturaldiversityattheheartof about coastalecosystems. nity valuesandtraditionalknowledge rich backdroponwhichtomap commu- specific methodsofsubsistence forma The islands’resilienceandthemigrants’ of peoplewhowereseekingnew homes. routes thatweretakenbydiverse groups begin bypresentingsomeofthemaritime artworks andtheirfutureextensions.We through adiscussionofseriesrecent tural constituentsofthetwoterritories together theprincipalsocialandcul- positioning, inthisessay, wewillweave Archipelago. Alongwiththisspatial re- territory ofHongKongtotheYaeyama new mapwhichconnectsthemaritime ‘The IslandoftheMisfits’,delineatesa migration across the seas, this essay, fect ofenvironmentalchangeandhuman their newislandhomes. skills inordertosustainthemselves sources requiredthemtodevelopnew seafarers onto small islands with few re- the sameway, thedispersionoffirst the newdomainorotherwiseperish.In any case,thecastawaymustdominate of originordevelopinganewutopia,in achieved by re-constructing the place to domesticate the island. This can be In thissituation,thecastawayisforced for thedurationofanunfortunateexile. later becomes both a home and prison takes possession of a new land, which an involuntarilydiscovery, thecastaway the second temporal. Spatially, through in twodimensions;thefirstisspatial, the figureofcastaway, thatunfolds to theorigin.The‘re’-isembeddedin saw thepossibilityof‘re-‘,areturn Taking as a point of departure the ef- , 1 wehavedevelopedmultiple Desert Islands Desert Poetics Poetics , 2 we THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 project de- The Invisible Islands The installation Desert Island gave The installation Desert tails the specific positions and strategic importance of 33 islands found in Hong appropriation of small isolated pieces pieces small isolated of appropriation bases American military of land. From paradises Ocean, to fiscal in the Pacific to pirates hideaways in the Caribbean, valuable treasures and in various times, refuge have found an ideal components a com- they form Together, on islands. for various plex network of possibilities a new point of communities to develop Deuleuzian ‘re-‘. departure, back to the they are because Perceived as invisible, have played remote and isolated, islands role in play an important and continue to world geopolitical strategies. on a new map us a framework to develop the question of of Hong Kong to address rel- particularly identity that has been evant since the 1997 handover of Hong Kong back to Mainland China. Started in 2013, or the 5 Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix (MAP Office): The Island of the Misfits 117 Portefaix Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Identifying islands as an invisible an as islands Identifying 6 Returning to the Deleuzian concept, the Deleuzian concept, Returning to annexing of Mayotte by France the same annexing of Mayotte by year. arena for geopolitics, the island research arena for geopolitics, the remote and of emphasized the idea of deterritorialization as a condition developed and mastered from the time of early island migration. Besides the visible geopolitics, there exists also an invisible one in the form of remote, sometimes secret, we asked ourselves what can islands we asked ourselves a re- started Office MAP re-do? and do a world map of search project on the of producing a islands with the intention for example one new map to understand of the finan- of the hidden mechanisms in 2008 cial crisis striking the world islands, stretched along an arc of 1200 arc of 1200 along an stretched islands, Island and Kyushu Taiwan kms between some of that, as suggests in Japan. This one to are visible from the larger islands nav- chain could have been the next, the easily. igated relatively

4 and 3 The Protective Island The Protective The Ryukyu Arc defined a dotted Arc defined a dotted The Ryukyu Humans first reached these wind frontier between seas for early maritime seas for early maritime frontier between - Tai northeast from travellers. Stretching a spe- the islands define wan to Kyushu, is some- which territory, cific maritime East China Sea times referred as the a system of history, Network. In medieval and subsequent multiple sea trade lanes ports defined the specific economies and of the archipelago. many diverse cultures of whether the Therefore, the discussion or Japanese Ryukyu has more Chinese because it characteristics is irrelevant historical maritime ignores the intense through the area. trade and human flow of the Ryukyu In 1609, the island kingdom was incorporated into Japan and re- named Okinawa. The inclusion happened in a century where sea conflicts with - Portuguese and Dutch merchants, Viet namese and Chinese traders, and Span- weaved Philippines, the in colonizers ish peaceful the around narratives many archipelago. The multicultural foundation of the Ryukyu Islands is also influenced by the cultures of Austronesia, and Micronesia, to which it is connected through the many routes that the earliest East- the to China from took inhabitants ern Pacific Ocean. swept islands in the Neolithic period. Crossing extremely rough seas and bat- tling strong ocean currents, they found shelter in the protected waters of the atoll reef. Maritime adaptation and advanced fishing technology allowed people to subsist on islands that had few natural resources. Human bones dating back to 35,000-30,000 years ago have been un- Cave Sakitari Okinawa in covered were used for early maritime migration is taking into still considered a possibility, approxi- was level sea the that account The mately 80 meters lower than today. geography of the Ryukyu Islands is com- smaller and large 150 than more of prised at the Shiraho Saonetabaru limestone to them, the relics cave in Ishigaki. Next of their subsistence include the world’s oldest known fishing tools, beads, and seashell artefacts and tools shaped from bones. The hypothesis that bamboo rafts

THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 120 Laurent GutierrezandValérie Portefaix (MAPOffice): The Islandofthe Misfits land inVictoria Harbour, SunshineIsland, simply swimming.Asaresult,smallis- who oftenarrivedinfragileboatsorby Hong Kongreceived670,000refugees, na orVietnam. Between1949 and1951, points forwavesofmigrantsfromChi- islands havebeenimportantlanding ing andfishingontheseislands.Other migrated fromGuangdongtostartfarm- 1820. Inthepre-colonialperiod,families role during the OpiumWar from 1804 to colonization andplayedanimportant were occupiedlongbeforetheBritish sibilities andtrajectories.Manyislands nities -asanarchipelagoofmultiplepos derstood initspluralityofislandcommu- escapees). HongKongcanonlybeun- gee communities(e.g.drugaddictsand aquaculture and agriculture; and refu- of allsorts(e.g.opium,guns,andgold); defence (fromChinatotheUK);storage the islandsinclude:surveillanceandport Kong territorialwaters. The functionsof as ifnothingwastherebefore1841. the colonialoccupationofterritory, the focusofhistoricalaccountshasbeen a stateofperpetualtransition,andoften will become part of China. It has been in Hong Kongisanisland,whichwasand tive memoryofthearchipelagicterritory. apt metaphorwhichinformsthecollec- China throughashark-infestedsea,isan mer, escapingthenearbycoastlinein complex society. Thefigureoftheswim- archipelago framesanarrativeofthis the composite history of the Hong Kong sourceful self-support.Lookingbackinto families whoweretaughttheskillsofre- tle utopia sustained the life of a hundred leased theislandforHK$180/year, thislit- Quaker philosophyofGusBorgeest,who ductive capability. Fully embedded inthe to enhancetheirself-respectandpro- refugees whofoundauniqueopportunity became a model for the resettlement of What kindofcountryisHongKong? 7 In by OscarH.Hobased onnewarcheolog- in 1997aseriesofexhibitions curated re-emerged symbolically800years later coastline until1197.Themythof LoTing these creaturespopulatedHong Kong’s punishment and/orrevengefrom gods, the baysofLantau;and,asa form of emerged inthemythologicalagearound Half-man half-fish, the figureof Lo Ting the foundationalmythsofHongKong. Hakka andTanka seacommunities islands wassettled.Thelaterinfluxofthe the spacebetweenmainlandand water, toseasrichinshellfishandfish, tile valleysirrigatedwithfreshmountain district andLantauIsland.Fromsmallfer have beenfoundmainlyaroundSaiKung tlements datingbacktoNeolithictimes relation tothis,tracesofthefirstset- ical creaturesforthe a place. When assembling various myth- significant componentofthemaking legendary creaturesandheroes,area territory. Myths and legends, along with events haveleftmultipletracesonthe islands. Thesetraumatichuman-related gious diseasesonthesearchipelagic current andhistoricalimpactofconta- demic, itisfascinatingtoobservethe In themidst of thecurrentCovid-19pan- voluntary re-locationofthepopulation. lands asdestinationsfortheforcedor recurrent conditionoftheisolatedis- into ourwork. perspectives fromanthropologyandart approach whenwestartedtoinclude they alsorepresentaturningpointinour light ontheseinvisiblecommunitiesand we encounteredLoTing, Invisible Islands Invisible administrative rules oftheterritory. The gradually observed and integrated the developed auniqueculturalmodelthat their intendeduse.Overtheyears,they boats, orsmallsampansdependingon of boats included sailing junks, shrimp strong windsandcurrents.Theflotilla the shallowwatersareprotectedfrom north-eastern partoftheterritorywhere Kong. Floatingvillagesmultiplied in the enced thefurtherdevelopmentofHong The PandemicIslandaddressesa projectaimedtoshed The PandemicIsland Invisible Islands Invisible 9 whoispartof 8 influ- - , THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 , - the 15 Disputed The Disputed Island responded to numer to responded , these islands are much more 2 Disputed [25°56’N - 123°41’E] made up of new military bases 14 Our artistic practice is embedded Our artistic practice Geopolitical strategies to claim con- an independent platform sharing the sharing platform an independent of the figure with above them. Yet, sky the en- Zombie” overlooking the “SARS escape offer an inadequate claves, they of the and uncertainty from the anxiety come. dangers to but is also within specific territories cycle and the rich shaped by the news crises. With canvas of contemporary oil and gas, the rich fisheries and natural geographical enti- islands are attractive where in crowded regions ties, especially for them in their countries are competing own national interests. In 2014, ous escalations in island disputes around the world, and especially in the South the territorial China Sea. Six years later, dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands is still making headlines. The increasing number of intrusions into these island’s disputed waters by Chinese fishing boats and Japanese surveillance drones and submarines, became a tenuous diplo- matic issue between the two countries. A major shift happened in the summer of defence agency built when Japan’s 2019, a ‘wall’ disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands have become sites where multiple forms of the including are enacted, nationalism planting of national flags by Japan, Chi- With the multiplication na, and Taiwan. of coast guard patrols and military naval become have islands small these forces, critical pivot points in the region. Borrow- activists sovereign by used tactics ing from competing countries, MAP Office created [25°56’N - 123°41’E] than small, uninhabited rocks lost in the ocean. As well as being a source for the extraction of natural resources, these waters are becoming a precious extension of land, explaining countries’, often violent, conflicts to claim them. tested areas are fostering strong nationalist sentiments and xenophobia toward neighbouring countries. Since 1971, built on the Ryuku Islands. With an area of 1.08 km

- 13 and 12 Hong Kong was found was The Island of the Possible Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix (MAP Office): The Island of the Misfits 121 Portefaix Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie on, and between, these ar on, and between, these 11 Anopheles minimus , a new commission by MoMA, , addressed the hope for a possi- In the history of pandemics, islands pandemics, of history the In The Yaeyama islands also suffered islands The Yaeyama Escape ble recovery and reconstruction during reconstruction and recovery ble urban from Disconnected pandemic. a a new archipelago of a hun- density, dred spongy islands proposed a setting where humans and animals would live Each island was depicted harmoniously. as self-sufficient, and a miniature version located of a perfect environment. Being they did reasonably far from one another, not propose any sense of neighbourhood aspect of One fascinating or community. this voluntary isolation - not quarantine - landscape an idyllic it transformed that is To into a theatre of permanent anxiety. threat by contamination potential contain or conflict - such as a virus or other form of attack - each island took the form of projected a series of new islands with islands new of series a projected eight scenarios to address the future of Hong Kong in 2047. In this series, the fifth drawing, is Land have been both vulnerable and also ide- also and vulnerable both been have al places for quarantine. Hong Kong is with the Hong prominent epidemic zone Kong Flu of 1968 and 1969 killing an esti- mated 1 to 4 million people globally on the humid slopes of the tropical forest, on the humid slopes of village land which neighboured arable rice growing. that was used for paddy of malaria epi- the multiple waves Today, defence a as interpreted be could demics to protect its system set up by the island de- agricultural against forest primeval the altered deeply Malaria velopment. geographical structure of the islands, and reflects the brutal taxation policy of the government of the Ryukyu Kingdom, which forced a nonstop flow of new migrants to carry out farm work. chipelagic islands. The malaria-carrying chipelagic islands. The mosquito her lover Kanimui still lived. On reaching reaching On lived. still Kanimui lover her that heartbroken so was she summit, the horizon, be seen on the no boats could turned her into stone. that her tears ma- of endemic tropical a long period of the the distribution laria that shaped population it had 1750 cases in the SARS epidemic of 2003, which had a massive psychologi- In 2012, cal impact on society.

------. ) forced The myth The 10 mise-en-scène shimabagari While the Neolithic account of Hong account of Hong While the Neolithic As a parallel to processes in Hong has also become popular amongst artists popular amongst has also become to official a counter-narrative recently as historical accounts. posed constructed narratives intended to solidify colonial or Chinese power nition of the territory as one based on geographical realities, rather than on im cies to represent the original occupants. Here, again, the opposition between the land and the sea served to counter the Hong of future the of narratives orthodox Kong. It also advocated for the re-defi ing to the Motherland (i.e. Mainland Chi in figure a key as appeared Ting Lo na), This the search of a post-colonial identity. identity is defined through an amphibious way of life, and manifested as a new spe bolic. The various narratives illuminated bolic. The various narratives artists other invited by Oscar Ho, and the shows questioned in three consecutive Hong Kong as a the sense of origin of surrounding impregnated by its territory figure of an waters. Besides the surreal the and mermaid inverted ical finds on Lantau Island. on Lantau ical finds half of the population of Kuroshima to relocate to the Ishigaki Nosoko district. The legend of Maapee tells the story of a young girl from Kuroshima, forced to leave her relatives and relocate to Ishi- gaki to break up an on-going contagion. Maapee climbed the district’s Everyday, where island home her see to mountain of ‘pretend’ archaeological artefacts, the of ‘pretend’ archaeological distance from the question of identity and was the main dominant Han ethnic group narratives. In motivation of the various opposition to the official story of return Kong, in Ishigaki, the traumatic displacement of the population is embedded within the toponymy of an epic mountain. Sitting at 285 meters above sea level, with a stunning panoramic view of the Hirabuko Peninsula and the sur rounding sea, Mount Nosoko or coinci- dentally Mount Mape, is a testimonial of troubled pandemic times. The legend of Ishigaki Nosoko Maapee is indeed a During the Ryukyu King- sad love story. dom, a new decree known as ‘Michigiri’ or ‘Island-splitting’ ( Kong’s origins should not be ignored, the origins should not be Kong’s is more than sym Lo Ting revival of the THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 122 Laurent GutierrezandValérie Portefaix (MAPOffice): The Islandofthe Misfits from Taiwan. Islands withgroupsofactivistsdeparting journeys tolandontheDiaoyu/Senkaku James T. Hong’s many unsuccessful re-enactment ofanislandclaim echoed lete) andswimtowardanisland.This al, somefictional,oldandobso- they couldchooseaflag(somenation- formers embarkedonaboattripwhere foraging seaweediskeytounderstand Kong. Aspartoftheexhibition, to the island of Tung Lung Chau in Hong James T. Hong tosetupafictionalclaim fice collaboratedwith Taiwanese artist rality ofeconomies andculturalpractices the decentralisedarchipelago, the plu tion ofboththepeopleand land.In analysed todayasaviolentdomestica The expansionofricecultivation canbe fields replacedtheprimarycoastal forest. duction ofrice;therefore,manynew rice heavy landtaxsystem,basedonthepro 1609, theislandswereincorporatedintoa government oftheRyukyuKingdom.From forced relocationofpeoplebytheroyal migration cameto the islands with the these islands. The first wave of economic ded in the social and economic history of new communities,isaprocessembed one islandtoanother, and theplanningof lands. Therelocationofpopulations,from labour powerinpopulation-depleted agriculture alsorequiresconsiderable duction becamedestructive.Intensive sugarcane, theeconomyoffoodpro with theintroductionofricefirst,then of whattheislandswereinpast,but Islands. Thissoundsalogicalassertion ing the promising future of the Yaeyama of theclaims. puted territory underlines the paradoxes tence ofthreenationalflagsononedis- player canreachtheisland,coexis- conquering anisland.Asmorethanone which countrytheywanttorepresentin experienced bytheplayers,whochoose territories. The competition is, therefore, claimants to‘conquer’thosedisputed a dartgamedesignedtoallowdifferent the Shore of Asia of Shore the Sustenance, throughfishingand When developing , the participating per The SlaveryIsland Disputed , MAP Of- Island Off Off Island ------of the sea’. As an extension of a “Zomia comprise whatwehavenameda‘Zomia anarchy, andnomadiclife.Thesetopics coastal ecologies,matriarchalsociety, on seaweed,subsistenceeconomies, and influencedMAPOffice’s research in Mie Prefecture. Their stories aligned along theshorelineofToba andShima, temporary ama-san(womanofthesea) lished adirectconnectionwiththecon- research onislandsaroundJapanestab- to interrogatethecoastlinecultures.Our self-sufficiency, areoftenthebestways production practices,beginningwith of theislands.Self-sufficiency andfood 12,000, whichwashalfofthepopulation in 1771, causing a tsunami that killed maxed withtheYaeyama Earthquake and desolation.Thisdarkperiodcli- provoked frequentfamines,infanticides, the marinewindsandrepetitivetyphoons and thesalinizationofsoilthrough islands. Theimpositionofamonoculture hibited themigrationofislanderstoother economic imperatives, the kingdom proof nationaltaxesanduniformcultivation has beenhomogenisedbytheimposition As aconsequenceofthesesevere . van SchendelandJamesC.Scott. state regulations,asdefinedbyWillem with aneconomyofsubsistenceoutside to thetraditionalstoryaboutmodernity nic cultures provide a counter-narrative stood todescribeaterritorywhereeth- of thehighland”,thistermcanbeunder nique, especially began bydocumentinghisfishingtech- and publicfigure,Shokichi Taira. We the lifestyleofcharismaticfisherman local islandcultureledustoinvestigate responds toamomentwhenOkinawans into sugarcaneplantations.Italsocor when farmersconvertedtheirricefields rice agriculture,therewasaperiod the impositionofharshtaxationand Subsequent tothedisastersfollowing to work on the sugar cane plantation. the ageof11yearsold,asachildslave, arrived ontheislandinlate1930sat the lifeofhisfatherShoichiTaira who ty Taira andhisroleinthelocalcommuni- sea andcoastline.ThestoryofShokichi and hisrareknowledgeofthenear-shore cient nighttimespearfishingtechnique, 17 ofIbarumaisstronglyconnectedto In Ishigaki,thefirstexplorationof dentou-moguri , an- 16

- - THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 ------. , Par The Poetics of Relation Gilles Deleuze, Desert Islands, in Desert Is References: 1 Edouard Glissant, is, Gallimard, 1990. 2 This recent attractiveness to outsid- This recent attractiveness MAP Office is a multidisciplinary platform devised by Laurent Gutier rez (1966, Casablanca, Morocco) and Portefaix (1969, Saint-Étienne, Valérie This duo of artists/architects France). has been based in Hong Kong since 1996, working on physical and imagi nary territories using varied means of expression including drawing, pho video, installations, perfor tography, and theoretical and literary mance, texts. Their entire project forms a critique of spatio-temporal anoma lies and documents how human be ings subvert and appropriate space. games, and fiction are also Humour, part of their approach, in the form of small publications providing a further format for disseminating their work - cultural arte food and healthy moting far the island. Remote, lonely, facts from and the world, as described from Japan - Yae the Fuyu, Iha scholar, Okinawan by a newly has become yama Archipelago dispir many where paradise established ited urban individuals have moved to find have moved ited urban individuals among to be forward look We refuge. our 25-year old them soon, relocating platform, Hong Kong based research MAP Ocean mul- MAP Office to the new tidisciplinary laboratory. the ex- a new home underlines ers as the islands. Yet, treme resilience of these idyllic island has history of the apparently in Asia. As- been one of the most chaotic the human occu- sembled on a timeline, pation of this archipelagic region shows an on-going succession of disasters that successively depleted the islands. Ma- laria pandemics, tsunamis, food shortag- es, and extreme poverty have eradicated and displaced many populations, draw- settlers. new of flow continuous a in ing The complicated weaving of the complex history of Ishigaki is calling us to move to to and island, new a to country, foreign a begin a new artistic practice.

------at the 21 has 22 , satoumi based in . Instagram that connects is defined by the satoumi satoyama, satoumi has allowed MAP Our Ocean Guide satoumi the concept of concept the satoyama Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix (MAP Office): The Island of the Misfits 123 Portefaix Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie satoumi in situ Today, while most of the dense urban Today, To set up MAP Ocean, we studied To First labelled in rural Japan in 1972, First labelled in rural Ago Bay, which aims to create a sustain Ago Bay, Office to be in dialogue with marine ac uniquely human-shaped rural environ uniquely human-shaped portunity to develop new marine labo ratories here, combined with our artist research and practice, and to share this accumulated knowledge with an expand ing multi-disciplinary community. land. Published in ademics, government officials, and sea foragers and document their work. In Ishigaki, the world largest blue coral reef is the heart of the eco-system, both in terms of biodiversity and marine resource can see a unique op management. We scape, and especially the border zone scape, and especially and the arable flat between the foothills of analogy an As land. Yanagi Tetsuo veloped by Professor tegrated coastal management around the theme of creating a new able symbiosis between local industry and the coastal environment ment and its mosaic of ecosystems. It has ment and its mosaic of land mountaneous traditional the shaped as a key way to respond to the on-going to respond to the on-going as a key way of climate change. global crisis become a new communication system, to a younger community giving visibility who turned their back on urban Japan. Designers, artists, and cooks, they have transformed their lifestyle and are pro- is the extension of this concept to the sea. is the extension of this recent and was de This principle is quite world is being paralysed by a pandemic, a by paralysed being is world life in Ishigaki appears to be as peace- first visited the island. ful as when we With travel restrictions, another form of the concept of fishermen and seaweed producers to the Okinawa Institute of Science and main is in Onna, Okinawa’s Technology - the future de integral to which is search, of the planet. One important velopment Office MAP transforming behind motive is and moving to Ishigaki into MAP Ocean explore to Kyushu University and oyster pearl and nori seaweed producer Seiya Harajo. they established a system of in Together, research on

- 20 from 19 . and medicine satoumi The Resilient Island , we need to briefly , we need to briefly nuchi is cultivated all around the satoumi This rare seaweed is low in 18 . mozuku , and is, therefore, the primary site the primary therefore, is, and , With a reputation for enhancing In the age of climate change, the However, before introducing the before However, introduce MAP Office’s extensive re- introduce MAP Office’s between search into the relationship communities in the life of the coastline the Pacific Ocean and the abundance of seaweed found in those areas. Learning from the cultivation of algae in the region, we developed a perspective about how humans have sustained themselves in a nature and between exchange dynamic culture, sea and soil, subsistence and production. An important medical and dietary product, seaweed has fed and protected most sea life, fish and shell- fish - as well as their surrounding human communities. the Okinawan diet is human longevity, recognised as a unique combination of cuisine traditional tropical coastline and harvested from boats with a unique vacuum technique. Extensive research on seaweed, gusui mozuku were migrating to the mainland to work to work to the mainland migrating were short of leaving the islands in factories, and young As a result, children labour. fam- rural poor by sold were teenagers in the North to participate ilies from the Is- economy of the Southern new sugar post- youth labour rebuilt the lands. This recreating a sub- war island economy by sea and land. This sistence economy on in Ibaruma by the heritage was revived the poten- family and demonstrates Taira the future ecology tial of the old port and or of the sea community, for our research. One important element of this diet is found in the local seaweed especially as a way to protect poor and endangered communities. ocean is an important aspect of re- Hong Kong to Okinawa, is required so as to re-introduce a primary source of Ome- diet, human the into back acid fatty ga-3 concept of food’, calories, and rich in fucoidan, a molecule a fucoidan, in rich and calories, known to help reduce the risk of stomach Celebrated as ‘super ulcers and cancer. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 124 Laurent GutierrezandValérie Portefaix (MAPOffice): The Islandofthe Misfits curator PedroGadhano,fortheexhibition 13 “HongKongIsLand”wascommissionedby 12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_flu the Yaeyama Islands,Okinawa,Japan 11 Tokuji Chiba, Malaria and theInhabitants of 10 Hoetal,1997;1998,1999. tion. soldiers asawaytotakeoverthesaltproduc- Lo Ting wasmassacredin1197bySongDynasty 9 Accordingtothestory, thecommunityof River coastlineduringtheearlyQingdynasty. Hakka andTanka populatedtheChina’s Pearl 8 Sometimesreferredtoas“SeaGypsies”,the ceded totheBritishCrown. 20th 1841,HongKongIslandanditsharborwere 7 Following5yearsoftheopiumwar, January sovereign territorialwaters. became thesecondlargestcountryincluding its Department. Withthisadditionalisland,France ly annexedin2009 to becomethe101stFrench 6 SplitfromtheComoros,Mayottewasformal- man Islands,IsleofMan,etc. include Bermuda,BritishVirgin Islands,Cay- transformed intofiscalparadises. Tax havens put inevidencethedecisiveroleofislands 5 The global financial crisis that struck in 2008 9273AA3364B8055/core-reader boo-raft-hypothesis/0A30DF8514DF32E0E faring-in-east-asia-testing-the-bam- nals/antiquity/article/palaeolithic-sea- 4 https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour 1982. and Sustainable and 20 OleMouritsen, October 2016. 3 HisashiSuzuki,KazuroHanihara, LA: Semiotext(e),2004,9-14 Michael Taormina, editedbyDavidLapoujade, A SeaweedArchipelago, 19 MAPOffice,FloatingLives,Eastern Clouds, 14, 2019 al incursions”, to counterChina’s intensifyingmilitary, territori- 14 Simon Denyer, “Japan builds an island ‘wall’ togawa Man togawa Texts Other and lands even Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Expanding for Urbanisms Tactical Growth: even seaweed, ito-mozuku”, ogy, “Scientistscrackgenomeofsuperfood 18 OkinawaInstituteofScienceandTechnol- songs aretypical musician, withhiswifeandchildren,their es) tobeachcleaning.Heisalsoasingerand Press, 2013 of events,from 17 Taira isalsoaneducatorandactivemanager erned, Yale, Yale UniversityPress,2009 16 JamesC.Scott,TheArtofNotBeingGov- protests inTaiwan. This signaturetriggeredthefirstanti-Japanese returning the island to Japanese administration. signed betweenJapanandtheUnitedStates, 15 The17th of June1971, an agreementwas 2019. Megacities , MoMA2012. , Tokyo, UniversityofTokyo Press, The Washington Post Washington The haarii , Chicago,University of Chicago Seaweeds: Edible, Available, Available, Edible, Seaweeds: festival(dragonboatrac- , 1953-1974,translatedby Science Daily Science LEAP 41 LEAP , Shanghai, , 21August The Mina The , March Un - - - - guide Publishers,2017. Coastal Seas Coastal 22 MAPOffice, 21 Tetsuo Yanagi, , Springer, Tokyo, 2013 My Ocean Guide Ocean My Japanese Commons in the the in Commons Japanese , Venice, MyArt THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020

Interview with Franco Berardi by Tihomir Topuzovski 125 Topuzovski Interview with Franco Berardi by Tihomir Democracy has been cancelled by the inexorability of These destructive features of late capitalism are not the But at a certain point, in the 70s, 80s, it became apparent laration that “there is no such thing as society, only individu- only laration that “there is no such thing as society, als, families and nation fighting for competition.” the techno-financial automatisms, and progress has been re- placed by boundless pursuit of profit. effect of ideological or political decisions, even if leaders like Thatcher and Reagan and Blair and Clinton were actively engaged in destroying social welfare and any hope of social jus- as it is the symp- tice. Capitalist destructiveness runs deeper, tom of the end of expansion. Expansion was the keyword of age. and of capitalism in the industrial modernity, - -

Your writing, to a large extent, reflects Your Topuzovski: Tihomir The defeat of the worker’s movement in Franco Berardi: The defeat of the worker’s

Interview with Franco “Bifo” Berardi by Tihomir Topuzovski by Tihomir “Bifo” Berardi with Franco Interview Communism or extinction: Communism your activism and participation in important historical events and various political organizations, such as the Italian Com- Federation, events of May ‘68, the Potere Op- munist Youth Power group, and the Italian movement, Au- eraio - Worker’s tonomia, etc. What events that you have witnessed informed the idea of ‘No Future’ or what temporal collision points over turned the vision for societal transformation and expectations that marked XX century? the ‘80s and the neoliberal offensive in the ‘80s were not sim ply another political defeat among many but also destroyed the core of the ‘Modern promise’. The promise of democracy and dec- social progress, which was declared dead by Thatcher’s June 4, 2020 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 126 Interview withFrancoBerardi byTihomir Topuzovski products thatarecommodifiedbythemarket.Italsoencom those flows,an inability tofollowthoseflowswithout panic the meaningofthoseflows,aninability toemotionallyprocess speed oftheflowsinfo-stimulation, aninabilitytodecipher currently name,‘theworld’. tween thebodyandsurrounding flowsofsemiosis,thatwe tion thatimaginesadifferentrhythmintherelationshipbe- in thisbook.WhenIsaypoetry, Imeanexactlythekindofac- political mobilization? that poetrycanenforcesomenewsocietalimaginationand In thisescapebeyondthelimitsofworld,canweexpect genstain’s ‘Tractatus’ and‘languageasapictureofthe world.’ guage andthelimitsofworlditself,itrelatestoWitt- ‘chaosmosis’, ortheprocessthatgoesbeyondlimitsoflan- odology ofthought; You refertoGuattariand what he named limit, escapemeasure andcreatea premisetoanewmeth- ist cycle,andtheelaborationofstrategiesforinsurrection. passes thecreationofspacesautonomyfromconsumer it isdifficultformetoanswerthequestion. the conceptof“culturalproduction”issodifficulttoframethat subsumed andintegratedintothosedynamics.Butyouknow, ety asawhole.Obviously, culturalproductionhasbeenlargely tion ofthenervousenergyandcognitiveabilitysoci- italist dynamics? semiotic regimeinstrumentalizedculturalproductionintocap- recognizable andsociallycompatible;To whatextent hasthis addresses thecirculationofsignswhereonemustbecome integration oflinguisticlabourwithcapitalvalorization,and suggested theconceptofsemio-capitalwhichexplainsfull the humanbrainitself. devastation ofthehumanenvironment,life,and the lastfourdecadessurvivalofcapitalismhasimplied petition. Butcapitalismisunabletogointhisdirection,so ferent principles;namely, socialequality, frugalityandnocom- ing theneedtore-organizesociallifeandtechnologyondif- nouncing theendofageExpansion,andencompass- man race. resources oftheplanetandnervousenergieshu- gage inaprocessofactivedestructiontheenvironmental not happenonaplanetwithfiniteresourcesunlessween- anticipated whattodayiscrystalclear;unlimitedgrowthcan- that themarginsforexpansionwereshrinkingandshrinking. Poetry Tihomir Topuzovski: Inyourbook ‘ I meanthatculturalproductionismorethanthesumof We areclearly traversinganageofchaoswithexcessive Franco Berardi:Well, thisisthebasicthesisthatIadvance Franco Berardi:Semio-capitalismisbasedontheexploita- Tihomir Topuzovski: Intheanalysisofcapitalism,you’ve This isthemeaningof‘NoFuture’movement:an- The Reportonthe‘LimitsofGrowth’(ClubRome,1971) ’ you pointoutthatpoetrycan overcomeand breakthe Breathing: Chaos and and Chaos Breathing: -

- named ‘ of themostremarkableworldarteventstoday. Thepoemis prepared apoemtoreciteaspartofDocumenta14, one countries wheredevastating,miseryandwarareraging,you sis andwavesofrefugeesfromtheMediterraneanSea, of rebellionthatismountingeverywhere. synthesis ofthecurrentdistress.‘Ican’t breathe’isthescream lence eruptseverywhere. cal andsemioticenvironment.Thisharmonyisbroken,vio- ony oftheindividualorganismandsurroundingphysi- and distress.Breathingisatstake,asbreathingmeanssynt- Here, itisnotmy freedomofexpressionthatisat stake,but humans everawakefromthepresent nightmare. ing, ofcourse,thathistoriansstill existinthefuture,andthat Holocaust hasmarkedtheGerman historicalmemory, provid- tions tocome.Thisstainwillmark theEuropeanpeoplelike ing intheMediterraneanwillbe a permanentstainforgenera- on theartistry. focused onthemessagethatIintendedtospreadaround,not not true. plainly, ‘Let’scanceltheperformance’. ticed acertainunderstandableanxietyinhisvoice,Itoldhim memory oftheShoah. the wholeofnationalpressaccusingmetrashing ed withpoliticalauthorities,someJewishculturalcentres,and reaction thatIgotwasmuchlargerandharsherthanexpect- pecting areactiontotheintentionallyprovocativetitle,but imagination resoundingofWilsonandGlass.Ihadbeenex- expecting areactionsincewhenthattitlefirstcametomy righteous journalistsandtheirreaders.Obviously, Ihadbeen raised sentimentsofdisgust,guiltandrejectionamongthe Mentioning Auschwitzinthefrivolouscontextofbeach, the title,andlinkhorriblepasttopresent. ally was,buteverybodycouldeasilyinterpretthemeaningof Nobody knewandnobodyknowswhattheperformanceactu- “Auschwitz onthebeach”.Notperformance,buttitle. German presswasharshlycriticizing(actuallyassaulting) office ofdocumenta14,thenaphonecallfromPreciado.The before theevent,Ireceivedsomemessagesfrompress gust 24th,2017intheFridericianumbuilding.Justafewdays could youprovidemoredetailsaboutthisproject? poem wasnotperformedbecausethiseventcancelled, the EuropeanborderregimeandHolocaust. Inend, Tihomir Topuzovski: Bylinkingpoetrywiththemigrantcri- ‘I can’t breathe’isthemetaphoricalandnon-metaphorical And themessageis:“Beware.What theEuropeansaredo- When Irealizedthattheperformancewasunderattack, Some friendsthinkthatIbenttoanactofcensorship.Itis When IreceivedasecondcallfromPaulPreciado,andno- The mainallegationwasrelativizationoftheholocaust. Franco Berardi:TheperformancewasscheduledonAu- Auschwitz on the Beach the on Auschwitz ’ with aclearanalogybetween THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 - - . Three of them actually came, and . Three of them actually Interview with Franco Berardi by Tihomir Topuzovski 127 Topuzovski Interview with Franco Berardi by Tihomir ‘Shame on us’ Speaking on the current coronavirus Speaking on the current Topuzovski: Tihomir Franco Berardi: The pandemic, and the lockdown that has - Then, as the bio-info-virus has triggered a psychopatho Communism or extinction. “I avow that I have not the right to provoke the suffering of the suffering right to provoke not the that I have “I avow tonight, I may be pronouncing those words If I insist in we left the room in friendship, The meeting closed, and their presence during the discussion was overwhelmingly im- their presence during portant, even crucial. world, you’ve dis crisis that is continuing to spread across the when the biologi- cussed recently that we are in the situation How do you think cal reality is back as a contagion, as a fear; the world? that this pandemic will reorder or re-semiotize the age of extinc- resulted from it, has officially inaugurated that has par tion. The bio-virus has put in motion an info-virus alyzed the economic cycle of capitalism. ‘Unconscious’, logical mutation of social life and of the very that the normal cycle of the economy can or will think I don’t expansive age of Therefore, I assert that the ever recover. we must choose; either and, now, capitalism is definitely over, redistribution of an egalitarian transformation of social life, a with nature, or wealth, and a frugal and respectful relationship the extinc- and, finally, environmental collapse, a cycle of war, tion of the human race. people who have already suffered so much, no matter what my so much, no matter have already suffered people who be. reason may but I point of view, political and philosophical right from a from point of view, from a psychoanalytical would be wrong Therefore I will not read my text the point of view of sensibility. and I will delete that text from at the forthcoming conference, the memory of my computer.” to stay in contact. Paul and Adam invited promising each other Nussbaum Centre to come to the eve- the members of the Sara ning event, - - - . - We, . - writes about the possibility of a return of Then, I quoted the words of Gunther Anders who, in ‘ The first thing I did as soon as I arrived in Kassel was to go arrived in Kassel was I did as soon as I The first thing - table: six representa around a long rectangular sat We decision to host the performance First, we discussed the insisted on the point that their in- As a reply Paul ad Adam At that point, I stated that my decision of pronouncing At that point, I stated that my decision of pronouncing At that point, the person who is in charge of the assistance I asked to speak again, and I said: My intention was to use Auschwitz as a shield, as a protec Eva Schulz-Jander, coordinator of the centre Ge coordinator of the Eva Schulz-Jander, sons of Eichmann’, tion against the danger of a return of the horrors of Auschwitz pean authorities. Numerous Jews eventually died in the Nazis pean authorities. Numerous Jews eventually rejected concentration camps because the Anglo-Americans governments them in 1938 for the same reasons that European Nigeria are now rejecting people from Syria and from ty to our critique of the European rejection of migration, she re ty to our critique of the European rejection of to migrate to the minded us that, in 1938, German Jews trying the same United Kingdom and to the United States experienced from the Euro rejection that migrants of today are receiving sellschaften fur Christlich- Judische Zusmmenarbeit, said that sellschaften fur Christlich- Judische Zusmmenarbeit, by antisemitic she was conscious that we were not motivated Auschwitz belongs intentions, but reaffirmed that the name of Then, in order to emphasize her proximi to the Jewish memory. the life of millions of women and men that European cynicism cynicism that European and men of women of millions the life to extreme danger. is exposing cen- main Jewish cultural Nussbaum Centre, the to the Sara tre in town. Paul and Adam. The discussion was tives of the centre, me, and friendly and there was a samovar extremely meaningful, table. was at the centre of the One of the members of the centre told taken by documenta14. artworks, but the po- don’t absolutely intend to censor us: “We the performance is wrong, because the litical decision to host has a character of specificity and of memory of Auschwitz relativised.” unicity that cannot be of the memory of tention was absolutely not the trivialization an attempt to emphasize that Auschwitz, but the contrary, only to the Jews, memory as something that does not belong a whole. belongs to human race as but rather, those words was not frivolous, but dramatic. My intention was those words was not frivolous, but dramatic. day something to provoke, to call forth, to put in the light of concealed in the dark. Nazism in a society in which technique holds the upper hand over human beings. Auschwitz was the first experiment of an industrialized management of extermination so beware of the conjoined forces of technique and racism, today. to the Auschwitz survivors spoke, and, with voice stricken with emotion, she described the suffering that my “artistic” use of the word had provoked to them. THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 128 MoCA’s Exhibition popular culture and mentalstatesofmodern-day society, proof uncertainty. together innewformsofpolitical actioningeneralconditions tion, as well as imagining a “new labour” in which artists work ductivity ofglobalcapitalism,the economyofartisticproduc- cariat, theexpandedandhybridnatureofcontemporarypro- as workers. struggles, aswellreflectingtheartists’ownpositions vulnerability ofprecariouslivesinthecontextgeopolitical inequalities insociety, supportworkers’rightsandexposethe large number of the works exhibited aim to highlight the radical at theedgebetweenself-actualizationand(self)exploitation.A dimension of labourtoday, often forcingthe worker tofunction activities, focusontheambivalent,flexibleandunsustainable which labourbecomesbiopolitics-alifemanagementtool. egories whichcharacterizemodernglobalcapitalism,under reproduction ofcapitalbeyondthefixedhierarchiesandcat- intellectual, emotional and communication processes into the labour changes through a complex and diverse set of social, hibition is the practices and actions treating the contemporary enfranchised and the marginalized. The starting point of the ex- unwavering intheirsupportfortherich,whileignoringdis- tion. Moreover, thepowermanipulationsofthissystemseem a worldlacksthepoliciesandstrategiesforsocialtransforma- erates aworldofauthoritarianandbureaucraticpolicies.Such course of a history, which moves in a single direction, and gen- of obstructionismandimmobilization,implicitlyfollowingthe the precariatanditsmanifestations. and practices to reveal socially/critically produced discourse of italist realism.Thisworkaimstoanalysespecificworksofart which hasbeenputtogetheratatimeofuncertaintyinthecap- the collectiveChtoDelat,AntonVidokle, Hristina Ivanovska,NadaPrljaandGjorgjeJovanovic. Artists: HitoSteyerl,Tania Bruguera,ArturŻmijewski,JulietaAranda,AdrianPaci,DanielGarciaAndujar, SanjaIvekovic, Mira GakjinaandJovankaPopova December 2019-March2020 Common All thatWe Havein The MoCA’s Exhibition If thisgeneraluncertainty, reflectedinthework,education, Therefore, theexhibitiondealswithtopicssuchaspre- Artists, whopositionlabourwithinthewiderarenaofsocial Capitalism, ofcourse,structuresanddictatesthismodel All that We Have in Common Common in Have We that All is a collective work of art, not happen with us yet revolves around the video, ways inwhichartandculturecancontributetothis? the socialformsofactionsandassociationswhatare Are therepossiblewaysofreinstitutingthecontemporaneity incorporating art-specificelementsorshouldwepoliticizeart? plement topoliticsinthesensethatmaybenefitfrom ering itsexcitementandusefulnessagain?Shouldartbeasup- of actionandorganizationthatmaycontributetoartrediscov- from the dominant methods of production?What are theforms artists imagine andwhatis their potential to detachthemselves transformations ofcapitalism?Whatformseconomycanthe raised: Howmuchdoartisticpracticesdependonthecurrent duces conservatisminculture,thenthefollowingquestionsare by theutopianideas ofaclasslesssocietyand unityinthe and workersintheZamehfactory inElblagthe‘60s,inspired according toamodelofsimilarcooperation betweentheartists creation ofpublicsculptures.The projectwasconceptualized tory andcontemporaryPolishartists throughaprocessofjoint ments aprojectofcooperationbetween workersinashoefac- privilege ofshelter. while alsoremindingusofthenumerouspeopledeprived could point to the future of Chto Delat or of many other artists, art and what are the limits to what art can achieve? The story unsafe spacearechanging.Howdoesthisimpacttheworldof ally better-tostayorgo?Theboundariesbetweensafeand and hazards.Thisraisesthequestionofwhichoptionisactu- normal, peacefullifeandtheideaofgoingbacktorealstruggle picts theconflictbetweenpossibilityofartistlivinga let theserefugeesbeatpeacewiththemselves.Thefilmde- or gobacktotheircountryofbirth.Yet, somethingjustwon’t to decideon the nextstepsdestiny - apply for political asylum man dignity are underthreat. In theseresidences, they have workers livingincountrieswheretheirlives,freedomandhu- Safe Heavenisthenameofanetworkresidencesforcultural The art collective Chto Delat’s installation In hisvideo,Plein-air. Świecie,ArturŻmijewski docu- Safe Haven. It did Safe Heaven Safe . Julieta Aranda, Swimming in Rivers of Glue, Installation, 2016-2017 Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje

129 THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 130 MoCA’s Exhibition Capital Capital that We Have in Common in Have We that average mediaconsumer - is supplemented byatext introduc- famous models.Thephotograph -recognizedasanadbyany kovic portraystextualinterventions on advertisingphotosof one needstoexperienceit. nomic situation of the other, one needs to know it; to know it, signed “Agreement”comesinto force.To understand theeco- to thispiece,becomingvalidasfromthemomentatwhich attempt toexperienceit?Thispartisofessentialsignificance see andhear?Andcanweknowsomethingwithoutmakingan faced withthequestion:Howdoweunderstandwhatread, ated andunsanctionedbythestateinstitutions.Theauthoris exploitation bytheiremployers,whichgoesonignored,toler are subjectedtocontinuousandsystematicmanipulation highest percentage(asmuchas90%)ofemployedwomen,who eral capitalism,includinginthetextileindustry, whichhas the it experiencesallthedisadvantagesandcrueltiesofneo-lib- exploitation. On the contrary - being a “country in transition”, containing complexrelationshipsofhierarchypowerand present-day ruthlessnessoftheraceforcapitalaccumulation and aneconomictheorist.Macedoniaisnotexcludedfromthe Contemporary ArtinSkopje,aspartoftheexhibitionentitled a six8-hourbusinessdaysatthepremisesofMuseum tive pieceofworkbyHristinaIvanovska,whichwasmadeover ongoing socialchanges. because politicslackstheknowledgeofhowtointerpret into whattheyareandnot,failingtointegrate - evenwhencrossinggeographicborders–remainanchored there, isidenticaltothepositionofamyriadmigrantswho ported somewhereelse-onthestaircaseofaplanethatisnot never arrive.Thepositionoftheworkerswaitingtobetrans- bile staircase onanairport runway, waiting fora flight thatwill Paci, portrayingagroupofpotentialworkersclimbingupmo- dering whetheritispossibletoeverleveloutsuchdifferences. the present-daysocialandpoliticalrealitiesofdivision,wan- between theworkingandprivilegedclass,heunderscores the original idea of the project is aimed at overcoming divisions which islostwhentheideologybecomesutopianitself.While investigating theideologyofutopiaandnotionequality, moment in Poland’s artistic and political history, with the aim of to. HetakesusbacktoPoland’s communistpast,aparticular of thedivisionideologiessocialclasstheybelong tween theproletariatandintelligentsia,asaconsequence moting theutopiandreamofdismantlingclassbarriersbe- creation ofindustrialartandtechnology. Żmijewski is notpro- The projecttitlewaspartiallyinspiredbythe socially engagedresearchprojectscarriedoutbywomen. donation forthecreationofa“ParticipatoryFund”supporting donia, 30%ofwhichwasgivenbacktotheMuseumasaninitial the LawonMinimumWage intheRepublic ofNorthMace- the author was paid ¼ ofthe minimum wage in accordance with In herseriesofphotographsentitled GenXX,SanjaIve- Lilght_Accumulation ofCapitalisaresearchandinforma- Centro diPermanenzaTemporanea isavideobyAdrian by RosaLuxemburg,therevolutionaryGermansocialist . Pursuant to a Single Service Contract, Accumulation of of Accumulation All All - the complexanddivergent realities ofthe21 Daniel GarciaAndujarconstitutesanendeavourinreading they doanywaythroughtheformofartworkitself. sage thatsocietyissilent,allowingthemediatodotheirjob power asanartist,Ivekovicentersthemediatosendmes- the properdomainsforwomen.Withhelpofhersymbolic atia, whenfamilyvaluesandmotherhoodwereemphasizedas polities forwomen,unlikethegeneralpositionin‘90sCro- ines, valuesincludingequalparticipationinpublicissuesand work promotesthevaluesadvocatedbythesenationalhero- World War IIandincludesherageatthetimeofdeath.This ing themodelbynameofanationalanti-fascistheroin loci ofpower. formations ofcapitalistsocietiesandtheshiftsintheirurban tember 11,2001attacks.Theprojectalsoexploresthetrans- emblematized bythefallofBerlinWall in1989 andtheSep- ical, economicandculturalarenasoverthelasttwodecades, long-lasting changeshaveemergedworldwideinsocial,polit- turn intodriversofsocialchange? Can theirrolebechangedfrom frozenframesofidentityand pect -turnedfrommerereminders ofhistoryintopublicaction. which themonumentsmaybe- oftenfromanationalisticas- these monuments,theirre-contextualization, andthemannerin lic spacesandoffersadifferentreadingof,potentialfor, Protest Monument.Theworkre-examinestheroleofartinpub- These areonlysomeofthequestionshedealswithinhiswork How canamonumentbecomesubversiveandadvocative? leave their“fixed”positionandbemoredynamicinuse? gles? Whatwouldhappenifthemonumentswereallowedto were to become an inseparable part of our continuous strug- public spaceswerenotonlyamanifestationofpower, butalso happen ifthecommemorativemonumentsthatarefoundinour act, isrelevantintheworkofGjorgjeJovanovic.Whatwould and photoarchive. of certainperiodsviamultidirectionallinksthroughthevirtual build asystemthathelpstheviewer/usertolinkincidents stacked inanenormousandchaoticpile. His intentionisto to establishreasonablelinksbetweenthemediationpictures and realities.Heindexesourcognitivemechanismstries cultural, economic,socialandeventechnologicalconditions veal omissionsinourperceptionandexplanationofpolitical, and realitiesbehindthem.Concerningthese,thearchivesre- to thepictures,whatisalsoofimportanceareideologies the Internetovercourseofpastdecade.Inaddition es adigitalarchivecontainingover2,500files,gatheredfrom networks andinterpretinginformation.Theprojectcompris- obtained byresearchingarchives,butactuallylivingin era ofnetworkedinformation. ing allwalksoflife,beingbroughttolifeandexpandedoutthe utopias ofadefeatedcapitalismasitdoestotheeventsaffect- phy” ofaBoeing 707planefromthemomentofits purchaseby The installation entitled In his video In Free Fall, The conceptofcommemoration, as apoliticallysignificant According totheartist’s theory, knowledgeisnolonger Postcapital Postcapital makes notsomuchanallusiontothe Postcapital. Archive 1989-2001 by Hito Steyerl follows the “biogra- st century. Such Anton Vidokle, Immortality for All: a film trilogy on Russian Cosmism, Video, 2014 - 2017 Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje

131 Tania Bruguera, Self-sabotage, Video, 2009 Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje Daniel García Andújar, Postcapital. Archive, 1989-2001, Installation, 2006 Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje THE LARGE GLASS No. 29/30, 2020 134 MoCA’s Exhibition trilogy need, inequality-suchascommunism.”Thesecondpartofthe ing newreality, onewithoutfamine,diseases,violence,death, Day, but also through science, with the ultimate goal of “build- when peopledefeatdeath-notontheChristianLastJudgment dorov. AccordingtoFyodorov, evolutionwillbecompleteonly movement, includingthephilosopherandfounderNikolayFyo- compasses a collage of ideas of various protagonists of the a product.The1929essayentitled artist follows the entangled economies through the lifecycle of jave DesertanditsrecyclingprocesstotheDVDsinChina.The picture “Speed”(1994),uptoits“afterlife”aswasteintheMo- and itssubsequentstatusofamoviestar, asintheHollywood the airlineTWA, throughitsroleinmilitaryoperationsIsrael ism of21 social neurosesandtheoccupationaldiseasesofcapital- the socialrelationsbehinditsproductionandconsumption, less tangiblegoods.Theverybiographyoftheplanemanifests Jet -maybethesubjectofshiftinitsmeaningjustasmuch even thisarchetypalsymbolofglobalcapitalism-theJumbo remains intheMojaveDesert.Shedemonstratestousthat investigates the 2008financialmisfortunethroughairplane mass producedobjects,isthereferencethroughwhichSteyerl should notrefertothehumanbiography, buttothelifecyclesof by theRussian critic Sergey Tretyakov, who claimed thatart tary hopeforan economic system,which-saturated bygoods, ture mightlooklike.“Conquering spaceisapartoftheplane- its destruction, and as a vision of what the post-planetary fu- planet andthevalueweascribe toit,aswellawarningof such difficulttimes.Thevideo actsasacontemplationonthe examines thepossibilityofcreating a“roadtoelopement”in the consequence of scientific and technological advances and plores thecontemporaryexistentialconditionsemergingas in the work of garde artists. central ideaofnumerouscosmicthinkers,scientistsandavant a mediationonthemuseumasplaceofresurrection- last partofhistrilogy, gle ofhumanityagainstthelimitationslifeonEarth.The so muchatechnologicaladvanceasitwascommonstrug- discoveries intheirattemptstoconquerthecosmoswasnot tics andeconomy, tounderlinethatthegoalofearlySoviet effects ofsolarradiationonhumansociology, psychology, poli- et bio-physicistAlexanderChizewskiandhisresearchonthe with thepoeticdimensionofsolarcosmologySovi- of the entire previous life. The first part, achieving immortalityasafirststep,followedbyresurrection tion ofresources,aswellthemainobjectivesCosmism: between CosmismandMarxismconcerningtheequaldistribu- urrection forAll”.Thisisanideaarticulatingtherelationships up Russiancosmisminthestatement:“ImmortalityandRes- All: a film trilogy on Russian Cosmism, Andon Vidokle terror andglobalization. The conceptoftransformationisalsokeyimportance In hisfilmprojectcomposed ofthreeworks, The Communist Revolution Was Caused by the Sun Sun the by Caused Was Revolution Communist The st century, fullofcatastrophes,economicdepression, Julieta Aranda. Stealing One’s Aranda. Julieta Own Corpse Immortality and Resurrection for All! All! for Resurrection and Immortality The Biography of the Object the of Biography The This is Cosmos, is This Immortality for deals sums en- ex- is

includes practice, asawayofindirectlyinfluencingreality. Theproject troducing subversivequalities and playfulness into theartistic order tomakethemmorerelevantmodern-daysocietybyin- postulates ofMarxisttheoryandleftistthoughtarereread,in of motivationintoday’s society. Theprojectproposesthatthe turn of“forgotten”ideasonidealismandideology, asaform digital infrastructuredemonstrates“oxygendeprivedpolitics”. scape. Ifpowerisaformofarchitecture,thenthepresent-day their ownbehaviourandhowthisimpactsherpoliticalland- explores thewayinwhichdigitalinfrastructuresstartshaping ourselves inthesearchforspeed.Insuchaworld,artist ited extractionhaveledusintoaworldinwhichweovertake into afuturistic narrative depictinghow the practicesofunlim- speed, theWildWest, power, progressandarroganceoverlap to thiswork.Theconceptsofcolonialism,space,escape,full by theVenezuelan thinkerEduardoRotheistheintroduction the endofloopitslandcontroversies”.Thisstatement glasses andpower-ejaculatesintospaceuponitsarrivalat we livein.Italsoincludes in asearchforalternativeconditionsthe“interestingtimes” rent conditionsofsocialuncertainty, exploitationandviolence, together inacommonsearchforexitstrategiesfromthecur the participation of contemporary thinkers and curators joined on theideaofsolidarity. rary ArtSkopje,anartisticcollectionandamuseumfounded works comefromthecollectionofMuseumContempo- cialist realismthroughtheirmodernistapproach.Theselected the ‘60s, which had tried to escape from the strict frames of so- redefining aseriesofhistoricallysignificantworksartfrom sequences. sion, asortofcalltopoliticalart, broughttoitsultimatecon- and context.ThisisanexerciseinBehaviorartviaself-aggres- values, whichshouldbeestablishedbytheartistsintheirworks rifice asapossibilityofmaintainingthededicationtoethical gesture istheexperienceofatotalvictim,itillustratesself-sac- for truthfulnessintheiractionsastransformersofreality. The ture illustrates the function of artists in society and the need the gun to her temple and squeezes the trigger. This eerie ges- a boxwithgunandbullets.Ateachbreak,theartistplaces the contextofart,institutionsandsociety. To herright,thereis her ownreflectionsonpoliticalartandthefunctionofartistsin lecture/performance inwhichsheissittingatatable,reading the worksofTania Bruguera.ThevideoSelf-sabotageshowsa merged. approach fosteringtheideathateverythingisconnectedand come throughartisticactionsand subversion of theories -an radical revolution;instead,itproposesthatthechangeshould Nada Prlja’s projectSubversiontoRedencouragesthere- The relationbetweenartandrealityisanimportantissuein Red Discussion II, II, Discussion Red Subversion to Red to Subversion an experimental performance with Subtle Subversion, Subversion, Subtle doesnotsupporta an installation - Chto Delat, Safe Haven. It did not happen with us yet, Installation, 2019 Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje

135 CONTRIBUTORS

Maggie O’Neill is Professor and Head of the Department at the Jeu de Paume (Paris, 2019-2020), and at Calouste Gulben- of Sociology & Criminology at University College Cork. She kian Museum, (Lisbone, Portugal, 2020). has a long history of doing critical theory as arts based research on the themes of borders, refugees and artistic practices. Her Allan deSouza is a photographer and multi-media artist, and latest book with Brian Roberts Walking Research:Methods on the Chair of the Department of Art Practice at University of Cal- the Move was published by Routledge in 2019. ifornia, Berkeley. Allan deSouza’s cross-media works re-stage colonial legacies through counter-strategies of humor, fiction, John Perivolaris works as a photographer, writer, and and (mis)translation. As an example, a recent project, Through teacher of photography. Often collaborative, his projects use the Black Country, transposes Henry Stanley’s 1870s East Afri- photography, text, and related media to reflect on diasporic can expedition journals to England during the 2016 Brexit vote. states of being. Revealing how places are layered by time, his deSouza’s books include Ark of Martyrs: An Autobiography of work is concerned with how meaning is formed through migra- V (Sming Sming Books, 2020), and How Art Can Be Thought: A tion, travel and our attachment to specific locations. Handbook for Change (Duke University Press, 2018). deSouza re-ceived an MFA in Photography from UCLA, a BA(Hons) Fine Thomas Nail is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Art from Bath Academy of Art, England, and participated in the Denver and author of eight books, including The Figure of the Critical Studies program of the Whitney Independent Studies Migrant, Theory of the Border, Marx in Motion, Returning to Program. Revolution, and Being and Motion. His work on the philosophy of movement has application across numerous fields of study. Stefan Jonsson is professor at the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO), Linköping Universi- Bishnupriya Ghosh teaches global media studies at the Uni- ty, Sweden, and cultural critic a at Sweden’s major newspaper versity of California, Santa Barbara. While publishing on liter- Dagens Nyheter. He has written widely on European modern- ary, cinematic, and visual cultures in boundary 2, Public Culture, ism and modernity, focusing especially on representations and Screen, and Representations, her first two books, When Borne fantasies of crowds and collectivities, as well as on European Across: Literary Cosmopolitics in the Contemporary Indian Nov- racism and colonialism. Writings include Subject Without Na- el (Rutgers UP, 2004) and Global Icons: Apertures to the Popular tion (2000); A Brief History of the Masses (2008); Crowds and (Duke UP, 2011) were devoted to the cultures of globalization. Democracy (2013); Eurafrica (with Peo Hansen; 2013); and Aus- In the last decade, Ghosh turned to analyzing media, risk, and tere Histories in European Societies (with Julia Willén; 2016). globalization: in the co-edited The Routledge Companion to Me- He is currently completing a book on aesthetic knowledge and dia and Risk (Routledge 2020) and a new monograph on viral the art of protest. emergence, The Virus Touch: Theorizing Epidemic Media (in progress). Nishat Awan is Senior Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Gold- smiths, University of London based at the Centre for Research Zineb Sedira works between Algiers, Paris and London. Architecture. Her work focuses on the intersection of geopol- Over the fifteen years of her practice, Sedira has enriched the itics and space, in-cluding questions related to diasporas, mi- debate around the concepts of modernism, modernity and its gration and border regimes. She is interested in modes of visual manifestations in an inclusive way. She has also raised aware- and spatial representation and ethical forms of engagements ness of artistic expression and the contemporary experience with places at a distance. Currently, she leads the ERC funded in North Africa. She found inspiration initially in researching project, Topological Atlas, focused on the spatial analysis of her identity as a woman with a singular personal geography. borderscapes. From these autobiographical concerns she gradually shifted her interest to more universal ideas of mobility, memory and Krista Lynes is Canada Research Chair in Feminist Media transmission. Her work was shown in several solo exhibitions Studies and Associate Professor in Communication Studies at including at the Photographer’s Gallery (London, 2006), New Concordia University. She also directs the Feminist Media Stu- Art Exchange (Nottingham, 2009), BildMuseets (Sweden, 2010), dio, a research and research-creation lab on campus which Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2010), Musée d’Art contemporain of examines and supports the political potency of feminist media Marseille (2010), Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, practice. She is the author of Prismatic Media, Transnational Institute of Contemporary Art (Toronto, 2010), Charles H. Scott Circuits: Feminism in a Globalized Present (2012) and co-editor Gallery in Vancouver (2013), Art On the Underground, London, of Moving Images: Mediating Migration as Crisis (2020), as well (2016), Al Shuwaiheen, UAE, (2018), and lately at the Beirut Art as numerous articles in academic and art contexts. Center (Beirut, Lebanon, 2018). Zineb Sedira has been celebrated at IVAM (The Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Espagne, 2019), Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi is a writer, philosopher, media- the- Laurent Gutierrez is co-founder of MAP Office. He earned orist and activist. He founded the magazine A/traverso (1975– a Ph.D. of Architecture from RMIT. He is a Professor at the 1981) and was a co-founder of Radio Alice, the first free pirate School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University radio station in Italy. He was involved in the political move- where he leads the Master of Design Programs and the Mas- ment of ‘Autonomia’ in Italy during the 1970s, then fled to Paris ter of Design in Design Strategies as well as the Master of where he worked with the French philosopher Felix Guattari Design in Urban Environments Design programs. He is also in the field of schizoanalysis. In 2002 he was an integral part the co-director of Urban Environments Design Research Lab. of setting up the Telestreet movement in Italy. Berardi is currently a Professor of Social History of Communication at the Valérie Portefaix is an artist and architect. She is the prin- Accademia di Belle Arti of Milan. cipal and co-founder of MAP Office. After receiving a Bach- elor of Fine Art, and a Master of Architecture, she earned a Francis Alÿs, original name Francis de Smedt, Bel- Ph.D. of Urbanism from University Pierre Mendes France. She gian-born Mexico-based conceptual artist who used a variety is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Design, The Hong of new and more-traditional media to evoke an often poetic Kong Polytechnic University. sense of dislocation on social and political issues. Richard Mosse is a contemporary photographer. He Robert Atanasovski is a photographer, who has collabo- studied at Goldsmiths in London, and received his MFA in rated with various daily newspapers and journals and agen- photography from the Yale School of Art in 2008. His photog- cies such as Forum, Nova Makedonija, EPA (European Press raphy captures the beauty and tragedy in war and destruc- photo Agency), AFP (Agence France Presse). His photos visu- tion. Mosse has shot abandoned plane wrecks in the furthest ally document many important regional events in the Western reaches of the planet and the former palaces of Uday and Balkans, such as conflicts, various political events and the Saddam Hussein now occupied by US military forces. His In- refugee crisis of the last several years. His photos from the fra series captures the ongoing war between rebel factions refugee crisis have been published internationally and in 2017, and the Congolese national army in the Democratic Republic he received the following awards: - Best Photography “Jean of Congo. Mosse is the winner of the 2014 Deutsche Börse Monnet” - UNICEF’s best photo for refugees - photographer of Photography Prize. In 2013, Mosse represented Ireland in the the year in the Balkans at the BETA competition. Venice Biennale with The Enclave an immersive six-channel video installation that utilized 16mm infrared film. Nicolas Lambert is Research Engineer in Geographic In- formation Sciences at the French National Centre for Scientif- Tihomir Topuzovski received his doctoral degree from the ic Research (CNRS). His work mainly deals with cartography University of Birmingham in the UK. He also has two BAs in and data visualization. He is a member of the Migreurop net- Philosophy and Art, and an MA in Art, and has received nu- work and of the French committee for cartography, he has tak- merous academic achievement awards and research grants. en part in the production of different publications such as the He was also a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Bal- Atlas of Europe in the world (2008) and the Atlas of migrants in tic and East European Studies in the Södertörn University in Europe (2009, 2012, 2017). He is the author of Mad Maps (2019) Stockholm. His research is at the intersection of philosophy, and the Practical Handbook of Thematic Cartography (2020). politics and the visual arts. Topuzovski currently works as a research leader in the interdisciplinary programme of the Mu- Anne-Laure AMILHAT SZARY is a Professor at Greno- seum of Contemporary Art in Skopje and is editor-in-chief of ble-Alpes University, France and honorary member of the ‘Insti- the journal The Large Glass. He has published a number of tut Universitaire de France’, she is also head of the CNRS Pacte papers and participated in individual and group exhibitions. research unit, a multidisciplinary social sciences research His latest work includes a contribution of chapter to an edited center. A political geographer dedicated to border studies, and book: Topuzovski, T &. Andres, L. (forthcoming) Political pro- her interests include a comparative analysis of the border dy- test, temporary urbanism and the deactivation of urban spac- namics in Latin America and in Europe. Her recent research es, Springer; and he is co-writing a book with Saul Newman concerns the interrelations between space and art, in and ‘Philosophy, Politics and Art in the Age of Covid-19’ , Blooms- about contested places. She is a founding member of the ‘anti- bury. Atlas of borders’ collective, a science-art project and animates the Performance Lab dedicated to structuring Practise Based Research in France. He is co-editor of “Borderities. The Politics of Contemporary Mobile Borders” (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and author of 70 papers and chapters, and has edited over 20 books or special issues of international journals. in this issue: Thomas Nail Stefan Jonsson Anne-laure Amilhat Szary Maggie O’Neill and John Perivolaris Richard Mosse Nishat Awan Nicolas Lambert Krista Lynes Zineb Sedira Allan deSouza Francis Alÿs Robert Atanasovski Bishnupriya Ghosh Tihomir Topuzovski Minipogon Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix (MAP Oce) Franco “Bifo” Berardi