The name of the small Luxembourg town is synonymous for a (European) area without border controls. "Schengen" the current exhibition in the Berlin gallery Feinkost for contemporary art (till April 13, 2008) from Central and Eastern Europe uses this as its starting point.
The Schengen agreement also anchors shared information networks and the harmonisation of all guidelines. In the Berlin exhibition artists, architects and theorists throw a light on Schengen, in which borders and local colour are rethought and identity becomes more flexible, as well as on a Schengen that demands new ideas on entering or leaving a country, legally or illegally, exile or flight. On the one side is the frustration with Europe of the European elite, on the other there is the value ascribed from outside its borders to the club of the Schengen member countries. "From Kosovo to Kaliningrad the tendencies in Central and East European art hardly overlap at all ", explains initiator Aaron Moulton: "But if one calls to mind the speed with which the European club accepts new members then the countries that are waiting for membership and the non-member countries are trying to find a common ground, looking for a kind of "normality" in their search for identity." The artists and artists groups taking part include: IRWIN, REP Group, Pablo Helguera, Matteo Ghidoni, Hito Steyerl, Mateo Bejenaru, Ciprian Muresan, OMA/AMO/Rem Koolhaas, Alexey Chebykin
Kontakt. The Arts and Civil Society Program of Erste Group
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