Borderline Offensive
Laughing in the Face of Fear 2017–2021*
Borderline Offensive is a transnational + transdisciplinary artistic platform, exploring how art & humour contribute to intercultural dialogue, social integration, and peace within and beyond Europe.
We employ art, participation, and playful attitudes as tools for non-violent activism and creative transgression, in the fight against fear, populism, and existential anxiety.
We open situations of dialogue between natives, oldtimers, newcomers and outsiders, starting from the shared absurdities and obscenities of life that make us laugh (together).
We are people from Syria to Sweden, we laugh in the face of fear, and we want YOU to join us in celebrating the joys of life without becoming bitter and broken.
We employ art, participation, and playful attitudes as tools for non-violent activism and creative transgression, in the fight against fear, populism, and existential anxiety.
We open situations of dialogue between natives, oldtimers, newcomers and outsiders, starting from the shared absurdities and obscenities of life that make us laugh (together).
We are people from Syria to Sweden, we laugh in the face of fear, and we want YOU to join us in celebrating the joys of life without becoming bitter and broken.
Military Tactics:
Laughing so we don't cry ;P
2017 Building the #BorderlineOffensive community and its (in progress) Art Manifesto.
2018 Transnational artistic residencies for artists from Europe, Turkey and the Middle East, incl. participatory actions with migrants and natives.
2019 Transnational tour with #BorderlineOffensive commissioned artworks, incl. participatory actions with migrants and natives.
2020 Tactical retreat and pandemic-proof cyberwafare preparations
2021 #BorderlineOffensive Festival, outreach & dissemination, opening up to the future.
Laughing so we don't cry ;P
2017 Building the #BorderlineOffensive community and its (in progress) Art Manifesto.
2018 Transnational artistic residencies for artists from Europe, Turkey and the Middle East, incl. participatory actions with migrants and natives.
2019 Transnational tour with #BorderlineOffensive commissioned artworks, incl. participatory actions with migrants and natives.
2020 Tactical retreat and pandemic-proof cyberwafare preparations
2021 #BorderlineOffensive Festival, outreach & dissemination, opening up to the future.
Check the Borderline Offensive Portfolio!
A growing arsenal of artworks available for your cultural space or festival
Museum of Real History
2019, Ivana Satekova, Zoukak Theatre Group and Abduljabbar Alsuhili
Mixed media exhibition and lecture-performance presenting the ridiculous conspiracy theories by racists and populists as if they were the absolute truth. “An insult to society's collective intelligence", quoting the terrorist-refugee-artist curator and his accomplices (you included).
Paper Puppet Poetry
2019, SKART collective
A collective story-making experience for young audiences, to create and perform their own stories of migration by crafting paper puppets. DIY improvisation, done whenever and wherever, the experience can expand into animation documentary, self-publishing, artivism and stage magic ;)
The Long Heavy Road
2019, Darinka Pop-Mitic and Nalan Yırtmac
The laugh-out-loud, laugh-not-to-cry, ironically-sad (or just sad) anecdotes from the road told by migrants, with migrants and for migrants. Through collectively-made low-fi street fanzines, stencil and alternative e-publishing, these stories are shared with the European readership in a publication continuing the great Western tradition of street newspapers. Each issue made by a different, ever-changing, editorial team.
Three Migrants in a Boat
(To Say Nothing of the Smuggler)
2019, Petko Dourmana
Video installation, role-playing, and investigative performance that paraphrases scenes from the comic classic “Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K Jerome, but now concerning three migrants being smuggled across a border river in a pitch dark night. Only observable with night-vision devices used by border patrol guards.
Gaming in the Face of Fear
2020, Salam Al Hassan and Isaak Kraft van Ermel
Video game prototypes co-designed and co-created in an intercultural process. Single- and multiplayer, focusing on strategy, role-play, and social deduction, you will be asked to deconstruct stereotypes and make hard choices as an unaccompanied minor, a smuggler, or a European migrant fleeing to the Middle East.
Want to book a Borderline Offensive project?
Your data is not kept and you are not subscribing to anything. But you might be volunteering your blood, sweat and tears; this is war, who knows?
Co-financed by:
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Borderline Offensive 2017-2021 was led by TILLT/Skådebanan Västra Götaland (SE), together with CZKD (RS), Keunstwurk (NL), House of Humour and Satire (BG), Creative Industry Kosice (SK), Center for Peace Studies (HR), Symbiosis (GR), and in cooperation with MitOst eV (DE), Anadolu Kültür (TK), Zoukak Theatre Association (LB), Ettijahat - Independent Culture (SY) and Ramallah Municipality (PS).
From 2022, the platform is coordinated by Transversal Project AB.
From 2022, the platform is coordinated by Transversal Project AB.
Copyright © 2017–2021 for Borderline Offensive. 2022-2023 for Transversal Project AB.
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You can share content from this site for non-commercial purposes by referring to the source.
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
You can share content from this site for non-commercial purposes by referring to the source.