Refracted Visions and Stories told through a wide lens: Invisible Borders in Marzahn

Images and stories are central to the way individuals and communities imagine and understand themselves. In contrast to the complexity and diverse realities of the neighborhood, images and representations of Marzahn-Hellersdorf have been dominated by clichés of high-rise concrete slab buildings, right wing extremists and a rude, white-trashy and unemployed “Cindy from Marzahn”. The project “Invisible Borders in Marzahn” aims to investigate and vanquish the invisible borders of this representation and the socio-cultural power context that enables the production and distribution of this singular and cliché image. Invisible Borders is a project of outstanding young African artists (photographers, writers, filmmakers and art historians) who head out each year on a bus trip across the African continent with the aim to question the discourses and ideas around borders and to create connections between different places. From June to October 2014 their first intercontinental voyage from Lagos to Sarajevo leads them beyond the borders of the African continent with stopovers in Abidjan, Dakar, Marrakech, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Budapest, and other cities. In Berlin they will halt from 28 September – 2 October. Their focus will be in Marzahn-Hellersdorf where they explore the neighborhood by means of photography, writing and creating works of art and get inspiration from the meetings and discussions with people from there. Invisible Borders deals critically with the (visual) representations of the neighborhood to create a more complex picture of the district by means of photographs, texts and works of art. The artists hereby revert to their reflections on the invisibility of constructed spatial and social boundaries and differences. A cooperation of Invisible Borders, SAVVY Contemporary and Galerie M. Supported by mp43 projektraum für das periphere. Supported by Förderprogramm Aktives Zentrum Marzahner Promenade and Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V.. PRESENTATION OF WORKS AND TALKS WITH THE ARTISTS Wednesday, 1st October 2014, 7pm Artists: Tom Saater, Emmanuel Iduma, Jumoke Sanwo, Emeka Okereke Venue: Galerie M, Marzahner Promenade 46, 12679 Berlin-Marzahn http://savvy-contemporary.comwww.invisible-borders.com