The Borderliner Project
the project


about the author

A travelling frontier

European frontier is symbolized by a border-guard´s lodge, painted in the
national european colors, blue and yellow.
This lodge is travelling through Europe.
The guard himself has been dismissed and instead been replaced by a
commemorative plaque, which can be seen inside. Made of gold-plated marble,
it displays an inscription, carved in the 12 current EC-languages:

More Crossing the frontiers

A permanent companion to the cross-border commuter´s lodge is the artist Stephan Kurr.

He makes speeches and gives talks, he does PR-work using flyers, information desks,
writes letters to politicians, and searches for promotors.
Working as a sort of NGO, he executes his project.
Final station of his voyage is to be the platform of the missing southern tower of the Stassbourg Cathedral.
There he wants to built up the cross-border commuter´s lodge for the last time.
With the presence of the plaque, Stephan Kurr subverts the meaning the guard´s lodge, a symbol of demarcation, and presents an appeal for open frontiers.
More than refering only to borders between countries, it appeals to the people themselves,
to overcome their own inhibitions.
By placing the guard´s lodge on top of the Strassbourg Cathedral it reflects and places emphasis on the idea of the extension of the Edifice Europe, which shouldn´t be merely a political or economical aim, but rather an essential human quality: the courage to approach the unknown and the strange.

Stations of the border-crossing-tour:
Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin (D) 4/97, Galery La Station, Nizza (F) 4/97, Hôtel des Régions, Limoges (F) 5/97, Festival de Teatro en la Calle de Alcorcón, Madrid (E), 9/97 Maison de la Culture d´Amiens (F), 9/97 Les Centres des Marges,CRAC Alsace, Altkirch (F), 9/97 CRÉDAC d´Ivry, Paris (F), 11/97 Estación del Norte, Valencia (E), 3/98 Estación del Ferrocarril, Alicante (E), 4/98 Ökumenische Kirchentage, Fürth (D), 7/98 Når det fremmede foruroliger, Sønderjylands Kunstmuseum, Tønder (DK), 9/98 Spazio Oreste, 48. Biennale di Venecia (I) 10/99


Information desks in Kassel during documenta X and during Skulptur Projekte in
MŸnster 7-8/97 Documentation at Zebra Crossing, Unione Culturale Franco Antonicelli,
Torino (I) 6/98

Talkshows, TV-reports:
FF Franken Fernsehen, Kulturtage Erlangen ´97 Valencia TV, Valencia 3/98 Canal 9,
Valencia 3/98

Up to now the project has been supported and promoted by
Bündnis90 / Die Grünen, Conselleria de Cultura de Valencia, RENFE, Transworld Communication, Office for International Relationships of the City of Nürnberg and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Bavaria.
A first conception was edited by the German artpress Lindinger & Schmid, Regensburg, in a book called Megalomania - Art-Projects For Europe.