Artists at the Digital Border - The Institute of Visual Communication

Artists at the Digital Borders

Research/Collaboration

IVC joins research fellowship In collaboration with the artist collective Anti-Customs Enforcement ACE funded by the Cross Culture Program CCP of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen IFA from Germany.

Under the title “Artists at the Digital Border”, IVC as host organization in Lebanon is curating several interviews, round tables, and workshops with various Lebanese artists working in conjunction with international reciprocates in order to collect testimonies and research data to accumulate into writing a manifesto concerning artists’ mobility and digital borders.

The research group is now conducting semi-public interviews “Salons” with artists from several countries around the world, talking about the relationship between the body and the virtual: How the artist’s body encounters borders in the virtual; the use of technology in art vs. physical presence; border crossing and how it affects the artistic practice.

Research Team

Christoffer Horlitz
Humboldt University, Germany

Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde
The New School, United States / Nigeria

Ella Hillström
The New School, United States / Sweden

Joe Elias
The International University of Beirut, IVC Lebanon

Hassan Choubassi
The International University of Beirut, IVC Lebanon

Guest Artists

Tarek Mourad (LB)
Jamila Al-Yousef (PS/DE)
Alexandre Paulikevitch (LB)
Noah Hellwig (SE)
Hiba Najem (LB)
Teresa Braun (US)

Salon 01 – 30.07.2021

Guest Artists: Tarek Mourad (LB) / Jamila Al-Yousef (PS/DE)

Salon 02 – 12.08.2021

Guest Artists: Alexandre Paulikevitch (LB) / Noah Hellwig (SE)

Salon 03 – 26.08.2021

Guest Artists: Hiba Najem (LB) / Teresa Braun (US)

Anti-Customs Enforcement (ACE)

Christoffer Horlitz, Ayodamola Okunseinde, and Ella Hillström, independent artists in their own rights, are teaming up as the artist collective Anti-Customs Enforcement (ACE) to create Digital Borders. Christoffer Horlitz is a researcher and curator working on security, migration and digital politics. Since 2012 he has been the artistic director of Fuchsbau Art and Politics Festival in Germany. Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde (ayo) is a Nigerian-American artist, designer, and time-traveler living and working in New York. He holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design in New York where he is currently a faculty member. Ella Hillström researches and writes on care and embodied sensibilities. She is currently a part-time faculty member at Parsons School of Design and holds movement research workshops at the New School.

Digital Borders is a multi-locational physical and digital interactive project that explores the notion of borders and the artist’s right to roam. Examining the impact arising from digitized borders, an interactive installation will consist of a series of screens in participating cities that will sense and react physically, visually, and sonically to touch. Once installed, Digital Borders will serve as a space for dialogue on issues of digitized borders. Small panel discussions and salons will allow an audience further interaction and the ability to add their voices to the Digital Borders Manifesto.