performance
Umut Ozguc describes borders as an affective experience embodied in our movements. They are lived spaces actualised by bodies on the move – they only live when certain actions are performed. To capture and model this, the centrepiece of this exhibition is a live performance of a body in a hazmat suit, constantly stamping imaginary declaration forms throughout the length of a short film, hugging the mannequins at the end. Stamping is a decision: at a border crossing, a passport being stamped grants or denies a body’s entry into a nation state. The invention of passports in the nineteenth century created a global mobility divide, where people from wealthier states move more freely, while those from less stable states are restricted. The privilege of crossing a border without being extensively examined is a birthright that many bodies have taken for granted.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we wrapped ourselves in single- use hazmat suits, nervously checking border closure information and flight updates daily, hoping that we could make it home. Towards very end of the performance, the body stops the stamping action and walks toward the mannequins in a welcoming embrace, as the film asks – “What would radical reunions look like?” O
Diana Guo and Mingjia Chen
on site review 38: borders, lines, breaks and breaches 30
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