The word "border" is a concept which was created during the period beginning from European Kingdoms era, particularly nation states period in Europe. This word has also an old meaning just beginning from "primitive accumulation" model: Surrounding and limiting. Since the middle age, the movement of creating borders as natural formation of geographical borders has been about latitudes and longitudes. Borders were drawn on political and arbitrary decisions everywhere in modern times. In the meantime, the history of world in Europe not only showed us the formation of new borders but also combined population exchange with the most tragic real stories from the former borders of empires to 20th century. Families were split up and remained within different borders. And today, the world of refugees is busy with crossing these borders because their right to live has been taken away from them. We have come to translocation era due to the lack of shelter, food, spending time with family and training and education.
Sectoring and surrounding people is the way of census and population management. Sectoring is a method applied to create collective and individual new borders of a nation or fictional creation.Related to this ghettoizing a population is a modern phenomenon named as ‘bio-politics’ by Michel Foucault. The visibility and invisibility dialectic in question consist of Ursula Biemann's questions and demonstrations in this exhibition. Sahara Chronicle and Desert Terminal shows us the case and Adawa (Tuareg, responsible for the travel), Deportation Prison Laayoune (place where refugees are sent back by police officers), Iron ore train (mine roads to Mauritania) turn stories into conceptual personalities with details as the complements of the case. The artist puts flesh on the bones of this abstract and theoretical case. People are transported by trucks and jeeps using old caravan routes. Ursula Bieman demonstrates us a story transported by trucks by crossing the borders between Libya - Niger and Algeria with the name Trans-Sahara. Moreover, in their collaborative work Europlex, Ursula Biemann and Angela Sanders try to cross the border of Algeria - Morocco and Spain separating two continents by coming from Africa Continent to Continental Europe and touch the grief of people who endeavor and manage to escape to Europe in time and space difference. In the video Europlex, the area where the meteor Bensour fell is a transition between astrophysical and military research.
"Geographical though" is different from "philosophical thought" and there is a "heterogeneous meta-modelization" as Guattari wrote. Another philosopher on geography, Fernand Braudel approaches to history of "many places, sea (especially sea), rivers and mountains rather than wars and conquests" and writes that geographical history is a long term (longue durée) concept in his book about the Mediterranean of II. Philipple era with his historical works. Similarly, Deleuze and Guattari put forward "geo-philosophy" concept in their book What is Philosophy? in 1991. Then, Felix Guattari conceptualizes ecosophy issue because ecosophy considers climate and humans together and thinks about over-heating of the globe and cosmos and oil-slicked birds etc. We have entered into the world of geographical politics. In this world, some people do not have rights and land (right to eat and drink) legally: X-Mission is the image of unlawfulness in refugee camp.
Videos of Ursula Biemann discuss and demonstrate the borders, how borders are written off along with living and climate issues: Subject of her art is, both climate and humans and the conditions of nature. Images of Ursula Biemann both present us naturality and nature is taken into art with graphical and aesthetic perspective of the artist. Art is the part of nature as far as it is art-ifice; in other words, it is artificiality. In this way she presents with the artificial and natural is together here.
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