Lana Zdravković, Nenad Jelesijević: Mutations of Borders in the Time of Permanent Waiting
The figure of the migrant has become a great illustration of the paradoxes of the current social crisis. The migration process has become a paradigm of the permanent situation of radical inequality. It opens a multilevel debate on the very notion of citizenship; the key question is, however, what is the foundation of a democratic nation-state – the individual or the citizen? The issue of national citizenship should be reconsidered, as well as the question of the new political subject. The relation between (national) identities and citizen’s rights is a crucial question of political philosophy today.
When Balibar speaks about ‘trans-national citizenship’ he thinks of it as a ‘citizenship of borders’. As there is no predominant centre of power anymore, the borders of socio-political entities have consequently dispersed a little everywhere, that is, wherever the movement of information, people and goods takes place and is controlled. Although some physical borders have vanished, other kinds of borders have actually strengthened. We agree with Balibar’s claim that anyone should be able to be a citizen – it is enough that s/he is an individual. Arguing strongly, with Rancière, that disidentification is an urgent condition for political subjectivisation, our project Living on a Border rethinks the ways to step beyond national exclusivity by opening a new understanding of the concept of equality: toward emancipatory politics. Social and political sciences are not enough – the paradoxes of representation of ‘identity’ and ‘rights’ can be confronted only through performative actions.
In order to cross the border between theory/politics/public space and art, we have produced an object to serve as a mobile space for such an aim. Constructed from a ready-made cargo container, the installation Permanent Waiting Room symbolizes the trend of global capitalism, where the borders are open for capital but closed for people, and the permanent waiting of migrants: for status, at border crossings, for better living conditions. At the same time, while put in a city’s public space, it is a venue for discussion and presentation of multimedia artworks that deal with the migrant issue in documentary, performative and theoretical ways. It is essential that the installation takes place in an autonomous location, apart from the hierarchy of the dominant Art System. Endeavoring to overcome the hegemony of borders – on the level of the event – by showing their very reality in a condensed form, the installation hopes to subvert the global-border-reality-show of today.
Lana Zdravković is a publicist, researcher, political activist and artist; a PhD student in political philosophy at the University of Nova Gorica / SRC SASA, Ljubljana. Fields of theoretical interest: national identity, citizenship, migrations, radical equality, political engagement, emancipatory praxes. She works as an assistant researcher at the Peace Institute – Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies, Ljubljana; a performer of the tandem KITCH; co-founder of the Institute of Art Production and Research KITCH, Ljubljana. Fields of artistic interest: economization of art, political performance, pornography /art, kitsch/trash art.
Nenad Jelesijević is a critic of contemporary art and culture and a multimedia artist branded as KITCH; co-founder of the Institute KITCH. MA in new media (2004) with the thesis “Art is a Merchandise Article”, published in 2005. A PhD candidate in philosophy and theory of visual culture at the Faculty of Humanities Koper, with the main field of research interest: the relation between the critical artwork and symbolic capital; also deals with topics of public space and the Art System. He has published more than 90 articles on contemporary art, architecture, urbanism, design, film and multimedia in journals for culture/theory and Slovene daily newspapers.