Beschrijving
“Is that it?”: Doubt, Dialogue, and Discomfort on/at BordersAUTHORS:
Dirim Dinçer, Ph.D. Researcher, Delft University of Technology.
Grazia Tona, Postdoctoral Researcher, Eindhoven University of Technology.
ABSTRACT
The initiation of contemporary interventions of border fortification accentuates the imposition of one sole spatial logic of separation and control in an attempt to channel and confine migratory movements. These materialise as architectural constructs such as metal meshes, concrete blocks, and barbed wire structures, which thicken arbitrary territorial fragments and recast them as checkpoints, crossing zones, or control posts. Starting from the material encounters with two "security infrastructure" projects in Hungary and Turkey, the authors of this contribution reorient themselves within such making-of the border and test the potential of sensorial attentiveness as sense-making practices. We integrate visual narratives with personal reflections in the form of a dialogue that emerges from our parallel yet intertwined experiences at/of these borders. Weaving visual matter and personal exchanges, we develop an indexical methodology. We observe the way visual and material traces establish an affective relation with the object, no longer present, and us, the observers. Traces become indices that stimulate the attunement of senses, using doubt and reflection as tools of analysis. Their exchange in dialogic writing emphasises what escapes understanding and explanation. An indexical and dialogic approach takes distance from professionalised gazes, which focus on the evidentiary and objective value of matter. From technologies of surveillance to the traces left by people in transit, the signs at the border are seen in the view of multiplying interpretations through hesitation and unstructured experimentation. Sense-making as a practical and collaborative effort might soothe the discomfort that originates in territorial and disciplinary border-making and drift away from epistemological and representational certitudes.
| Periode | 5 sep. 2024 → 7 sep. 2024 |
|---|---|
| Evenementstype | Congres |
| Locatie | Canterbury, Verenigd KoninkrijkToon op kaart |
| Mate van erkenning | Internationaal |