What constitutes a border? The artists presented here wrestle with this question in multiple ways. They consider the margins that separate nations from one another, the personal from the public, and the past from the present. While borders can define spaces and offer security, they can also generate forms of displacement and incite violence. And as societies have become more connected than ever, such arbitrary limits have in contrast grown more rigid and confining.
These artists explore the social and political landscapes that shape our understanding of each other. Some depict fantasies of escape from crises created by geopolitical and environmental degradation; others evoke new worlds to imagine how rapid urbanization and technologies expand connectivities. Still others play with the shifts of scale from vast public structures to intimate domestic and psychic interiors. Together they help us understand that the built environment, like the histories, memories, and imaginaries it contains, is in constant flux.
Organized by Sean Anderson, Associate Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, Roxana Marcoci, The David Dechman Senior Curator, Department of Photography, and Paulina Pobocha, Associate Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, with Giampaolo Bianconi, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance.