Today, customs posts have been stripped of their primary function, they stand there like monuments bearing witness to both a bygone epoch and border policy. They mark a frontier now transparent and fluid. Some of these places have vanished, others like Perl and Nennig (between Luxemburg and Germany) have been rehabilitated, and as irony would have it, transformed into a Turkish kebab snack bar and a bazaar selling bric-a-brac.
Borderline, in turn, is inviting artists to reinstate and reoccupy these abandoned customs offices, these border outposts between Luxemburg and its neighbouring countries, with the aim of transforming them into places of artistic exchange.
Borderline aims to stimulate discourse on the notions of passage, limit, monument, flow, exclusion, barrier, territory, vehiculation, diversity, otherness, etc.
Borderline adheres to a contemporary approach of investigating existing places whose vocation is not habitually art oriented. Borderline will use the potential of everyday passage to sow within it the seeds of the unexpected moment, the slowing of the flow, the surprise effect, to create an event which escapes economic reasoning, which is free, asking nothing except the passer's curiosity. Borderline is using Luxemburg's particular situation with its thousands of « border-goers » crossing back and forth daily: people working in Luxemburg, « petrol tourists », goods transporters, consumers from the cities on the other side, expatriates of the sky-rocketing Luxemburg property market.
Borderline is receptive to open, playful, ironic and poetic approaches, which engage in critical reflection with regard to current European and global issues, which bring the « privileged » intercommunity position (Schengen Treaty) into confrontation with other frontier realities.
Invited artists may adopt different modes of expression (sculpture, installation, performance, video, sound, multimedia.) working in close relation to the context.
Management of the project is centralised. Borderline locates its office in a quarter called « d'Grenz » (frontier) of the city of Esch-sur-Alzette, a multicultural neighbourhood, strongly marked by immigration due to the Luxemburg steel industry. Via its office, Borderline operates somewhat like an estate agency - actions and transactions in the course of which spaces will be put at the disposal of artists and participants. From here, Borderline implements its programming, launches an appeal for artistic projects, creates, and weaves a trans-border network.
Projects are evaluated on the basis of dossiers submitted by artists and collectives. Borderline addresses notions such as temporal and geographical bracketing, delocalisation, and conditioning of interpersonal behaviour. Borderline poses the question of space: to whom it belongs, to what is it devoted, to what degree we can act upon it, and to what degree are we subjected to a monoculture.
Borderline aspires to be an open work from which a possible meeting between individual and place may emerge.