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The guard himself has been dismissed and instead been replaced by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.
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