The works in New Borders deal with topics such as identity, origin, community, history and the future. How is the perception of who you are affected if you are everything and nothing?

You are warmly welcome to experience the exhibition between 3 December 2020 and 30 April 2021 at Smidesvägen/Svetsarvägen in Solna Business Park. 

Solna Business Park is a district that is evolving. Things are happening here, on a large and a small scale. Street Gallery c/o Fabege is part of this process of change. Surprising content that adds sparkle to everyday life. One of a number of surprising and unexpected aspects of everyday life that bring life to the spaces between buildings, as well as creating a sense of well-being and security.

The Tower of Babel and the Fall of Language

Once upon a time, all the people worked together to build a high tower.
So high that it could reach God. The project seemed to be possible, then suddenly everything came to an end.

Because in the midst of the building work, we stopped being able to understand each other’s words. And as soon as our friends spoke, all we could hear was incomprehensible mumbling. We were never meant to create anything on the same level as God, so to prevent us from working together, God made sure we all started speaking different languages.

Instead of building together, we started fighting over misunderstandings and war broke out. We could no longer communicate. We could no longer understand our friends, but ...

We could have built it.
If only we had found the words.

Disco Bomb (for Martin Kippenberger)

I can ignore the war. I can afford to. 
I am placing the concept of contrapuntality used in music in a political and literary narrative: Edward Said.

Most people are mainly aware of one culture, one place, one home. People in exile are aware of at least two. This dual perspective creates an awareness of multiple dimensions at the same time. An awareness that, to borrow a concept from music, is contrapuntal.

For a person living in exile, events, expressions and activities in the new environment always take place against a backdrop of memories of the same things, but in another life.

ARAB
BARA

If you reverse the letters of the word “ARAB”, you get “BARA” (the Swedish word for only). Both comical and belittling, as well as a comment on the state of the world.

(prototype)

Suspended Swedish Flag

The object/flag reinforces the notion that even if you want to start over, traces of the past remain. The beginning is already occupied by the inescapable presence of history. Even if we try, there is no tabula rasa.

US
THEM

When confronted by the words “us” and “them”, everyone ends up on one side or the other. We are forced into a state of elevated self-awareness and sense of the situation.

Often, we don’t know what we are being confronted by or are experiencing.

Except for the anxiety and fear that it involves.

No comment

The sense of being between cultures has been very strong in me. I’d say it’s the one common thread throughout my life.

The fact that I’m always on my way to and from things, and never in anything for very long!

Past, present and future

I’m trying to get rid of my past, with the feeling of being hunted down by a sense of shame that almost makes me feel sick. Looking back now, I’m thinking that this was part of that time.

This piece is about becoming and belonging. I became someone else, who now belongs here.

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world

A happy future? We read about it, hear about it, and we see in our time how other modern societies are living in the midst of it, but it is still not within our reach.

This sentiment has been described as a characteristic feature of contemporary Arab culture — particularly in the young and impatient among us.

The Madonna

Many novels deal with the creation of a fictional identity. Who am I?
Two different worlds can co-exist in parallel.

Parallel and separate, alone and together at the same time.

Who am I? Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

The Leader

The title of these portraits derives from the conflict between the capitalist West and the fundamentalist East. While these portraits say nothing about human origins, they show how deeply rooted our prejudices are about all those who are different, and so we take for granted that these portraits are menacing.

No title (“Rimowa”)

Le dur désir de durer
(The hard desire to endure)

It contains my memories, my travels and my returns.
Along with all those bearers who, at first glance, may appear less legendary or distinguished. Sinbad the Bearer, friend of Sinbad the Sailor, is worthy of mention. He was called the Bearer because his work was to bear people’s “motives,” that is, their belongings, on his head. It is a well-known story that goes deep into the duality.

The duality of language. One lacks a great deal in exile – language, for example.

By learning Arabic, I actually gained a sense of home.“When I travel, I always have too much with me. Even a trip into town means that my bag has to be packed with items that are disproportionately large and numerous relative to how long the trip takes.”“Through all the dissonance in my life, I have learned to actually prefer to remain without an abode.”

Does that sound torn?
That’s because it is. Growing up with more than one language (where I speak all languages poorly) makes none of the languages feel like my own.