"Border Moment" is the initiation point of EMIGRAPHIA, a performance that deals with the most tangible consequence of possessing a stigmatised passport - restricted movement.
On December 18, 1999, my three-month Schengen visa that allowed me to
travel to most of European Union countries, has expired. I decided to mark
that day with an action on the Sentilj/Spielfeld border crossing between
Slovenia and Austria. The action was concieved as a ritual of "planting"
small paper flags on both sides of the road on the Austrian side, with a
repeated crossing of the border.
The trip started from Ljubljana. I was accompanied by a group of friends and collaborators. Another group of my friends and colleagues was supposed to meet me at the very border crossing. Yet, there were some surprises awaiting...
Coming to the Sentilj/Spielfeld border crossing
I was expecting Reni, Jogi, Sol and perhaps Eva. That was already great,
especially because Reni was instrumental in making the contact with the
Austrian authorities which made the whole action possible in the first place.
And I was happy to see Jogi, Sol and Eva. I had my friends Nana, Valentina
and John, Tanja and Borut, Jurij and Mirko, travelling with me from Ljubljana.
But then, there was a bundle of surprises waiting at the caffee on the border:
Cloed came from Vienna with her boyfriend and - Cym was with them! I lost
track of Cym's whereabouts - Amsterdam, Hamburg, Vienna, Graz - and I could
not dream that she would really show up. However, this was not the biggest
surprise of all: a familiar slender figure, the golden hair, smiling round
glasses... it was Moni, who came all the way from Berlin. (no exclamation
marks can match my awe and schock) At the moment of our getting together,
my action somehow reached the peak of sense and fullness: there we were,
friends gathered, old loves shared, new people meeting, and the border didn't
matter that much anyway.