Schenghen Border Art

Schenghen Border Art

Border Region
European Union, Schengen Area
Language(s)
Anglais
Type
Other
Main Category
Language – Culture – Identity
Introduction

“Schengen Border Art” is a virtual repository which compiles and references works of art dedicated to the now controversial perception of the Schengen Area.

Summary

At a time when Europe is facing a migration crisis, the Schengen Border Art site provides an insight into the vision and work of many artists around the issue of European borders, the way they are experienced by migrants and newcomers and the violence, injustice or vulnerability of their situation. These different works help to raise awareness among European citizens of the reality and scale of the problem.

Content

The “Schengen Border Art” virtual repository is designed to operate as an archive and lists almost 100 contemporary art works.

Each work is referenced with its title, the artist's name and the date of creation There is also an illustration of each one. An html link is provided to access more information. A wide variety of artistic disciplines are represented: illustration, installations, video, audio, exhibits, photography, literature, theatre, plastic arts, sculpture, urban and performance art.

The main theme of the works referenced is the perception of the Schengen Area, not only by European citizens, but also by migrants and new inhabitants. The latter are evoked and represented through their experience of migration and their often precarious daily lives in Europe. Thanks to these examples or artistic expression, they are emerging from anonymity. We discover their faces and cultures.

Alongside this inventory of artwork, the curator also maintains a critical activity through the "Schengenalia" blog. In this blog, we find a number of annual portraits and art news around the site's main theme and the author's stance on questions connected to the current migration situation in the Schengen Area.

Conclusions

The inventory presented on Schengen Border Art highlights the politically engaged dimension of a part of the art works inspired by the border theme. These works aim to bring into the light the faces and experiences of migrants and newcomers to the Schengen Area, who all too often remain anonymous. They are helping to humanise these people who only appear in the mass media in the context of the issues they raise for society. To these ends, the works referenced by Schengen Border Art emphasise the evocative powers of the arts and the huge diversity of means of expression available.

As well as this biographical work, a large part of the works also have an activist side, and are sometimes associated with politicised actions by the artists. In these cases, the works express in a very raw way the violence and injustice suffered by many migrants in Europe.

Key Messages

Since the introduction of the Schengen Area, there have often been celebrations in the arts and culture of the opportunity given to European citizens to exchange and travel freely across 22 different nations. But this is to forget that this openness only applies to citizens and that the restrictions imposed by European borders are still in place for non-Europeans. The migration question that is being posed currently merits the construction of a new, more human way of looking at people who are subjected to its effects, to start with by the migrants themselves. This new way of seeing things can emerge with the precious help provide by artists.

Lead

Ruben Zaiotti

Author of the entry
Sylvain
MARBEHANT
Links

http://www.schengenborderart.com/

Keywords
Schengen Area
contemporary art
engaged art
Migration
Contact Person(s)
Date of creation
2020