Fortress Europe by Enar de Dios Rodrìguez, 0000, 4'04'

Courtesy of the artist

Presented at VISIO. Moving Images After Post-Internet (2019) Fortress Europe is a series of works that investigate the politics of borders within an institutional context. At the entrance of the exhibition visitors are given a customized entrance ticket (General admission) and a sticker (You are here) that they are asked to wear in a visible spot. These two pieces reflect on the limits and contradictions of the exhibition space by directly involving the public. Fortress Europe (promotional video) is a visual poem that reveals the ideologies behind the business of private companies funded by the EU to supply products for the securitization of European frontiers. The video is composed with found footage of promotional videos of these companies, while their logos are painted on the belt of a pair of stanchions that block the emergency exit of the exhibition. The artist’s intervention creates a closed border forcing the public of the exhibition to retrace their steps and to exit the venue from where they entered.

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