The starting point of “Borderland” is the internet portal www.borderland-project.net. From May through August 2011, the participating artists present their sketches, ideas and excerpts online, which are linked, in a “Virtual Jam Session,” with the artistic positions, working methods and designs of other participants. Thus is created a hub for ideas, a transformer station for ideas and exhibitions, a free-trade zone where artists can develop, convert and publish in accordance with the Open Source principle – across genres, internationally and collaboratively – which inspires a creative and open-ended process for experiments and participation among German, Russian, Czech and Hungarian artists. The idea behind the project is for the artists to further develop the ideas of others in an interdisciplinary manner, for dancers to cooperate with video artists, for visual artists to communicate with poets. The session breaks with classical authorship and the forms of expression specific to each art. “Borderland” functions as a dating and adoption site for creative professionals.

The project, however, does not stop there. The virtual process is followed by real workshop meetings between the artists, which will lead to presentations (multimedia concerts and performances), which in turn are further work steps: the experiences made during the presentations become part of the continued rehearsals. A public symposium examines the aspirations and realities of the project. The whole process will be filmed by a documentary filmmaker. The resulting film, documenting both the project’s contents and methods, will also be published on the website which is to be designed during this project stage.

The “Borderland” project is the winner of the „kultur-im-dialog.moe“ (culture in dialogue) competition, which, in 2011, has been co-organized for the fourth time by the Schering Stiftung and MitOst e.V. The competition supports cultural projects that promote the long-term relations between neighboring countries and border regions of Eastern, Central, and Southeastern Europe. What distinguishes “Borderland” is the transformation of, and interconnections between, various approaches as well as the focus of the artistic network on contemporary demands. In addition to a website, it will give birth to new ways of performing media art and a new prototype of artistic production. Based on intermediality and interactivity, the project creates a space in between installation, exhibition, and concert where the artistic creative process itself is staged.

Borderland – Project Schedule:

1) Virtual Jam Session: May 1 – August 21, 2011

Transfer of ideas through improvisation tasks on certain themes, which will be developed by the participants in their own country or with a partner via e-mail/the internet platform. This virtual transformation process is structured by certain “rules of the game.” Each participant is to respond to his/her initiator during a certain time period. Then the artistic response will be sent to the next participant, who then sends his/her edited version to the next artist.

2) Artists Meeting/Workshop: August 22 – September 8, 2011

Workshop on “New Media and Forms of Communication – Impact on Art and Culture”

Participants:

Max Bilitza, performance artist, Germany

Chehov Drug, music band, Russia

Rüdiger Eichholtz, artist and art educator, Germany

Pascal Klein, web designer, Germany

Hajnal Szolga, curator and multimedia artist, Hungary

Tomas Vtipil, performer and musician, Czechia

Petr Kacirek, photographer and documentary filmmaker, Czechia

3) Multimedia Concerts/Performances/Symposium: August 28 – September 8, 2011

August 28, 2011, 9 p.m.

Chehov Drug (RUS) & NEULAND (CZ, D) –

Post-rap, electronic music, video art

Djäzz | Börsenstr. 11 | 47051 Duisburg

September 2, 2011, 9 p.m.

Katholikentagsbahnhof | Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 3 | 44787 Bochum

September 3, 2011, 9 p.m.

“Invisible Borders” exhibition space

Place TBD

September 4, 2011, 8 p.m.

zakk | Fichtenstr. 40 | 40233 Düsseldorf

September 7, 2011, 8 p.m.

High 5 Club | Düsseldorfer Str. 5 | 47051 Duisburg

September 8, 2011, 7 p.m.

Symposium on “East, West, Analog, Digital – Artistic and Cultural Exchange Without Borders?”

High 5 Club | Düsseldorfer Str. 5 | 47051 Duisburg

4) Film Documentation and Website Development: September 5 – 30, 2011

The film documents the working process and makes it transparent for outsiders. With the aid of Focus Designs, a design agency, a website will be developed which will create a long-term ideas pool as an independent source for artistic project ideas.

For more information, please visit: www.borderland-project.net

Photos: Petr Kacirek

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