place beyond borders is an image and text project developed by Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, featuring a space where socially engaged practices of art in places of conflict in the Middle East may be viewed and analyzed. Cittadellarte selects and presents works by artists in a way that will both document and recontextualize the works.
place beyond borders will thereby pose a series of open questions, all the while stimulating inquiry and opening up unexpected perspectives. It will be a heterotopic place imagined and created beyond the real boundaries of a complex territorial and political conflict and at the same time a place of participation and discussion: an ‘agonistic public sphere’ (C.Mouffe).
Artists selected for their demonstrated capacity for creative critical analysis in and of the Middle Eastern context show video and/or poster works with interviews, statements and images that address the theme of the boundary, understood not only as a geographic and political division, but above all as a mental barrier to dialogue and to the acknowledgment of others.
In place beyond borders it’s possible to deepen the themes dealt with through a selection of books suggested by the artists involved in the project.