The Border

Where does Asia begin and where does Europe end? What influence do borders have and who draws them? These are the key questions posed by the multi-annual art project The Border which the Goethe-Institut stages in 2017/18 in conjunction with numerous partner institutions in Eastern Europe, Germany and Central Asia. The exhibition explores and reflects borders as territorial inclusion or exclusion, as a cultural or social dividing line, as an instrument to distinguish the “we” from the “others.” The geographical as well as the cultural border between Europe and Asia serves as a leitmotif. The project approaches this topic from an artistic point of view and diverts the view—beyond a purely political and economic meaning—to cultural, artistic, personal or even humorous dimensions.

The Border is a traveling exhibition presenting artists of the younger generation from Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia and Germany, which reflect various forms of demarcations. Having toured the cities of Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Kiev, Tbilisi and Minsk the exhibition is now on view at HMKV in Dortmund/Germany until April 8, 2018. In 2018 it will continue to travel to Yekaterinburg, Almaty and Tashkent.

The exhibition includes 23 artistic positions of the younger generation from 11 countries—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Germany, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The artistic media are diverse: videos, interactive sculptures, giveaways, postcards, a neon installation, films, newspapers, a sound installation, wallpaper designs, tea cups, photographs and a karaoke station.

The Border is curated by Inke Arns, Director of the HMKV (the platform for the production, presentation and communication of contemporary and experimental [media] art), as well as Thibaut de Ruyter, Curator and Art Critic from Berlin, Germany.

Participants: Umida Ahmedova & Oleg Karpov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan), Alisa Berger (Cologne, Germany), Viron Erol Vert (Berlin, Germany), Aytegin Djumailiyev (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), Natalya Dyu (Almaty, Kazakhstan), Saule Dyussenbina (Almaty, Kazakhstan), Anastasiia (Tasia) Zhyvkova (Kiev, Ukraine), Olga Jitlina (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Katya Isaeva (Moscow, Russia), Anton Karmanov (Novosibirsk, Russia), Alina Kopytsa (Kiev, Ukraine), “Where Dogs Run” (Yekaterinburg, Russia), Gaisha Madanova (Almaty, Kazakhstan / Munich, Germany), Taus Makhatcheva (Moscow, Russia), Eleonore de Montesquiou (Berlin, Germany), Stanislaw Mucha (Berlin, Germany), Hamlet Hovsepian (Ashnak, Armenia), Marat Raiymkulov (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), Alla Rumyantseva & Alexey Rumyantsev (Dushanbe, Tajikistan), “Khinkali Juice” / Sophia Tabatadze & Nadia Tsulukidze (Georgia), Alexander Ugay (Almaty, Kazakhstan), Farhad Farzaliyev (Baku, Azerbaijan), Sergey Shabohin (Minsk, Belarus)

The Border is an exhibition by the Goethe-Institut that takes place in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Kiev, Tbilisi, Minsk, Dortmund, and in Central Asia. Curated by Inke Arns and Thibaut de Ruyter.
With the friendly support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany