Week 12 – Uta Staiger, “Visualizing the Citizenship Gap: EU Borders and Migration in Cultural Productions”

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Uta Staiger talks extensively about society, particularly about the European Union and its problems with its borders. Staiger starts out by discussing what borders are and how they affect the world we live in.

“The border, as a territorial and political boundary, is the site where tensions between sovereignty and post national pressures, citizen alien, universal rights and exclusive membership, become poignantly visible” (Staiger, 1).

Uta Stiager is directing her essay towards the opposition of borders and their implied meanings. The significance of borders in Staigers eyes is divided up into two categories, imaginary borders and national borders. There are stigmas behind borders, and that they are “over saturated” with nationalistic ideals. Staiger brings up also a great point in regards to how a country responds to the loss of their borders.

“The less boarders seem to matter; the more is invested physically, politically and symbolically in their maintenance” (Stiager, 2).

This primarily talks about how the country tries to retain its nationality, but increases the amount of xenophobia. This cause for alarm is brought on by the migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

Stiager talks about how these border issues are discussed in the video essays of Ursula Bieman’s, Contained Mobility (2004). Primarily she talks about the Citizenship Gap and how human rights and citizens rights are conflicting. The citizenship gap is defined as “the legal discrepancy between citizen and human rights, made particularly evident at and through borders” (Staiger, 5). This is where the issues of human rights come into conflict with the rights that is granted to citizens of that country. With migrants coming across borders simple human rights often get lost in turn for citzenship.  Human rights are being neglected because borders are strained too much. The country tries to uphold its nationalistic values and it intern denies it people from other countries.  Simply put human rights should be a global institution and not playing favoritism to their own kind.

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Contained Mobility (2004)

In this film there are two separate videos running next to each other. The left is surveillance footage from the docks on England.  The right video shows a refugee being moved through checkpoints in the surveillance video, while living in makeshift living quarters inside a shipping container.  Biemann is outwitting the increasingly strict border control in through the Schengen area of the European Union.  In a post-9/11 climate, the borders of this area have been increased dramatically making it harder for immigrants to travel without a Schengen Visa or to seek asylum.

Sahara Chronicle (2006-2007)

Sahara Chronicle is a collection of shorts that document a hub for travelers that migrate across the Sahara towards Libya and eventually onto Spain from Morocco.  It explores the idea of desire and containment.  The Libyan borders are closed off to any crossing by the caravans and are turned back.  The video shows how each person in the area of Agadez sustains the next in a ‘nowhere’ part of land on the edge of the desert.  Its pre-colonial significance was the capital of the Tuareg, the inhabitants of the Saharan area of North Africa.  Now they are mainly nomadic.  Biemann’s style of filming allows for every viewpoint of the area to speak for itself.

X-Mission (2008)

This piece looks at the Palestinian refugee camps, which is one of the oldest of its kind.  X-Mission places Palestine in context as a microcosm of a homeland placed outside of their homeland.  X-Mission also looks at the difference between making art and a humanitarian mission.  This relates to Staiger’s conclusion when she talks about placing videos like this in an institution of “cultural privilege”.  A video essay about Palestine, where does it really belong, in a gallery or in an avenue of accessibility?

Staiger talks about the place of Biemann’s video essays.  Do they belong with the subjects or in a gallery to be on display for the culturally enlightened?

We found several venues for actual refugees to venture forward with their art.

Dis/place: Making Work in Exile

Dis/place was an exhibition featuring eight artists from across the globe who live and work in exile in Australia. The artists selected tough on the experiences of being the ‘other’, and fears of being displaced.

One particular artist that stuck out was Sardar Sinjawi. He talks about his experiences after fleeing Iraq from the 1st Gulf War into Turkey.

The Southwark Refugee Artists Network

The Southwark Refugee Artists Network supports the artistic development of refugees and immigrants in London.

Mentor Chico is an Equadorian artist, who lives in London. His work touches on many aspects of British-Latino culture.  He has even had many shows back in Equador.