Output details

Liminal Crossing, Video and Sound Installation

Liminal Crossing was commissioned by Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen and presented as part of my solo exhibition in the museum in 2009-2010. The film is a faithful re-enactment of a family episode, which took place during the migration exodus of ethnic Turks from Bulgaria to Turkey in 1989. Many expelled by the then communist government were given only a few hours notice and permitted to take with them just a limited amount of household possessions.

The dramatised scenes were filmed at the actual border checkpoint between Bulgaria and Turkey where the events took place. The episode depicts a scene wherein an upright piano is pushed and pulled by hand between the two borders leaving Bulgaria and entering Turkey. The procession passes through the buffer zone between the two states, a no-man’s land that becomes liminal and redefined, creating a sense of demarcation, dislocation and reinterpretation. The scenes were filmed from two opposite points of view respectively Turkey and Bulgaria, East and West. Thematically the work echoes largely ides on mobility, labour, place and placelessness.

The output is presented via portfolio, which should be viewed in order to gain a proper understanding of the research.