Columns - Cartografies
by Lorenza Pigrantti
by Lorenza Pigrantti
What constitutes the boundaries that define a space? It is well established that the margins of territories and the borders of nation-states are a social construct, embedded with legal norms and demarcations shaped by frameworks negotiated through political, social, and administrative agreements. The history of geography, in this sense, can be read as a continuous process of spatial reconfigurations, driven by the logics and interests of colonial powers—epitomized by events such as the Berlin Conference of 1884, during which European nations partitioned the African continent. We are living in an era in which the global political order is being redefined amid brutal devastation and territorial ambitions. The planet is undergoing transformation not only due to political decisions but also as a result of geological movements and anthropogenic climate change—as demonstrated by the research project Italian Limes by the collective Studio Folder. Through a video installation, Studio Folder visualized the shifts occurring along the border between Italy, Austria, and Switzerland, highlighting the gradual displacement of the watershed—an imaginary boundary defined by the region’s hydrographic basins—thereby contradicting the borders delineated on official maps. These changes, acknowledged by the scientific community, led to the introduction of a new legal concept: the “mobile border,” developed to legitimize the variability of geographical margins once considered fixed. Italian Limes is documented in the book A Moving Border: Alpine Cartographies of Climate Change, which deconstructs the relationship between nationalism and cartography, revealing how borders are both material and imagined constructs.
Equally invested in analyzing the (im)permeability of borders and the jurisdictions to which they belong is Lawrence Abu Hamdan—researcher, artist, and activist—co-winner of the Turner Prize in 2019. Abu Hamdan refers to himself as a “Private Ear,” emphasizing how sound, noise, and speech in his work function as tools capable of exposing injustice and human rights violations. His piece 45th Parallel recounts a case of unpunished murder. The video was filmed inside the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, one of the few transborder theatres in the world, built directly on the boundary between Québec (Canada) and Vermont (United States). This Victorian building, completed in 1904 thanks to the philanthropist Martha Haskell, was intended to provide cultural entertainment to the communities located along the 45th parallel. Anyone can enter without being subject to border control. Although a thick black line runs through the building to demarcate the division between the two countries, once inside, the border can be freely crossed.
45th Parallel unfolds as a monologue performed by Danish-Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel. Seated in the library, Fleifel recounts episodes that occurred in this “free zone”—including a case of arms trafficking and meetings between people barred from entering the United States due to the travel ban implemented by the Trump administration. Fleifel delivers his monologue from the stage on the Canadian side, addressing an empty auditorium on the U.S. side as though in a courtroom. He evokes a deadly cross-border encounter: the 2010 killing of unarmed 15-year-old Mexican national Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca, who was shot dead at the U.S.-Mexico border by U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa Jr., who stood on American soil. While the Mexican government charged Mesa with homicide, the U.S. Department of Justice chose not to extradite or prosecute him. This decision was calculated, as a conviction could have had broader implications—particularly regarding the accountability of U.S. military drone pilots, who, operating remotely, are responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in the Middle East. This broader issue is addressed in Omer Fast’s film 5000 Feet Is the Best, which stages a fictionalized account of the life and work of a former drone pilot. 45th Parallel highlights how legal frameworks governing the margins of nation-states directly affect individual lives. It interrogates the absurdity, porosity, and inherent contradictions of borders.