“Die Grenze ist nicht eine räumliche Tatsache mit soziologischen Wirkungen, sondern eine soziologische Tatsache, die sich räumlich formt.” (Simmel, Soziologie, 1992: 697)

When I came to Jerusalem for the first time, I was stunned by the mannifold boundaries in the city, be it religious, cultural, political, financial or historical ones. As a stranger, I could only notice them by the way the Jerusalmis were making them alive by their behaviour. Once, I sat down at some place just in the center of the shuk, and wondered why those men starred at me, in bewilderment. Later I found out it was a mosque. After some weeks, I would know whom I was going to meet on certain paths (like Orthodox who use a special path to the Wailing Wall), where to pull down my sleeves, where to be silent, and where I was not permitted to go to - as a woman, as a stranger, as someone not sharing the same beliefs. And it took me quite a while to find out what facets of my ‘identity’ make me not go to certain places at certain times. And it took me a lot of energy too. Because for me, any boundary I am confronted with is a boundary limiting my personal freedom to experience the world. When I found out that my longlasting plan to see the men telling fairy tales in Damascus would die because of the war, I couldn’t resist my anger.

I think one should try to make some of the boundaries of cities like Jerusalem visible. My idea is to use laser lights at the height of the ancle in public squares, making visible the boundaries’ story, its target group and showing it interference others. A parallel exhibition could tell their stories. (photo: Miriam Metze)

Eine psychische Krankheit stellt eine enorme Überforderung dar. Wenn ein Prozess ins Haus steht und der Maßnahmenvollzug droht, geraten Betroffene und Angehörige an ihre Grenzen. Dann gilt es, alle Ressourcen zu mobilisieren und an einem Strang zu ziehen - aber an welchem?? Die Prozesse, die nun ablaufen (Untersuchungshaft, Begutachtung, Prozess usw.) sind nicht nur belastend, sondern auch kompliziert. Noch komplizierter wird es, wenn es an ausreichenden Deutschkenntnissen mangelt, eine grundsätzliche Aufklärung über psychische Krankheit nicht gegeben ist, das nötige Kleingeld für die Anwaltskosten fehlt oder man vor lauter Hölle als Angehörige/r nicht mehr klar denken kann und nicht weiß, wo man sich Hilfe holen kann. Deswegen die Idee, ein Comic zu machen - anschaulich und in einfacher Sprache. Damit Menschen mit Flucht- und Migrationshintergrund eine Chance haben. (photo: private)

In 2015, many philosophers tried to get what the refugee crisis in Europe was about. To my view, one omitted seeing the whole thing by leaving aside the very role the sea plays in this sad game, being some sort of naturalized demarcation line, unable to cover up the deliberate violence inherent to the political processes.

To be sure, it’s not a tragedy to drown in the Mediterranean these years. It is important to understand the way we look at the sea philosophically in order to see why people would have to die there, in the waves, just right in front of the coast of the island where Pythagoras and his crazy friends lived. We still have to understand why things changed so radically since then. - Greek philosophy is unthinkable without the sea serving as a communicational space between i.e. Egypt and Greece. (Thales for example travelled to Egypt to be taught how to be a scientist.) So, if Occidental thinking (and thus: European political traditions too) could not exist without this interaction between science cultures provided by the sea - what does it mean to have so many people dying there now? (photo: private)

My idea is to use modern audio equipment to install “phonographer trees” in city squares, providing live sounds from other cities and villages from allover the world. One could stop by and listen to the sounds of Cairo, New York or some Peruan village. Or talk to Sydney, telling something about the weather in Austria. (As equivalence there must be microphone bushes too.) I picture there could be a reciprocal connection too (where strangers could talk without seeing each other), but I figure this to be a step to take later on in the project. Similarly, I imagine it was very beautiful to have huge video wall conferences, so that people from two places could (silently) watch others at the other side of the world watching them. (photo: private)

Being a mom means to be confronted with innate ideas in oneself and society what it is like to be a mom. They are rarely brought into question. I personally had - and have - to fight a lot finding my own way to be mom.

I got this idea when I recently played with my kid. One should do a dance piece portraying the relation between aa mom and her child, showing them scrapping, kissing, yelling, laughing, singing, springing at each other, being angry, sad, pissed, happy, roaring like dragons do, sharing ideas and phantasies with each other and share a meal. I would very much want to see this dance, I guess it could help fighting fixed ideas we got about moms by making them fluid and mannifold. (And yes, moms do forget about dinner, sometimes.) (photo: private)