23rd May - 18th August 2024,
Pera Museum Istanbul
Pera Museum Istanbul
PERA Reverse,
Porous Borders Bordür
Porous Borders Bordür
Initiated and curated by
Prof. Mona Mahall, Yelta Köm
Prof. Asli Serberst,
Prof. Mona Mahall, Yelta Köm
Prof. Asli Serberst,
Practices and Politics of Representation class at Bauhaus University Weimar, Temporary Spaces class at University of the Arts Bremen
The project Porous Border Bordür was developed as part of the group exhibition PERA Reverse at the Pera Museum in Istanbul in 2024. The exhibition was initiated and curated by the Practices and Politics of Representation class at the Bauhaus Universität Weimar under the direction of Prof. Mona Mahall and Yelta Köm and the Temporary Spaces class at the University of the Arts Bremen under the direction of Prof. Aslı Serbest. Porous Border Bordür was collaboratively designed with Leonie Link.
The project deals with the f(r)iction of sharp, thin, and linear borders that are drawn between the One and the Other (nation, gender, life) and that result from processes of Westernized modernization. These borders, enforced by factual and representational practices, such as bureaucracy or cartography, enable the discrimination between certain territories, sovereignties, and cultures.
The weaving maps the supposed outer borders of the European Union, visualising a contradictory line that has never been static, although it has often been treated as such. Thus, the outline of the European Union is extremely ambiguous and sensitive, reflecting specific power relations through limited accessibility and isolation. Currently, their borders are sharp, as they are intensively monitored and controlled, while they are equally fractured by historical and contemporary entanglements between places, beings and practices.
Choosing the medium of hand weaving to visualize these borders allows us to question their sharpness. A woven map cannot be sharp, but rather soft. It addresses the crossing of borders, as the term weaving means to move from side to side. The woven map takes the form of a bordür, which describes a soft and flexible border made up of repeating decorative elements rather than a straight, linear line. In this way, the mapped outline of the European Union is represented as porous border, drawing on the symbolic, metaphorical and applied meanings of the transcultural practice and the linguistic terms of weaving.
The project deals with the f(r)iction of sharp, thin, and linear borders that are drawn between the One and the Other (nation, gender, life) and that result from processes of Westernized modernization. These borders, enforced by factual and representational practices, such as bureaucracy or cartography, enable the discrimination between certain territories, sovereignties, and cultures.
The weaving maps the supposed outer borders of the European Union, visualising a contradictory line that has never been static, although it has often been treated as such. Thus, the outline of the European Union is extremely ambiguous and sensitive, reflecting specific power relations through limited accessibility and isolation. Currently, their borders are sharp, as they are intensively monitored and controlled, while they are equally fractured by historical and contemporary entanglements between places, beings and practices.
Choosing the medium of hand weaving to visualize these borders allows us to question their sharpness. A woven map cannot be sharp, but rather soft. It addresses the crossing of borders, as the term weaving means to move from side to side. The woven map takes the form of a bordür, which describes a soft and flexible border made up of repeating decorative elements rather than a straight, linear line. In this way, the mapped outline of the European Union is represented as porous border, drawing on the symbolic, metaphorical and applied meanings of the transcultural practice and the linguistic terms of weaving.