In the 21st century, borders are to be found everywhere: in the shadows of the walls being built all over the world, on the fingerprints of travellers and asylum seekers, or in the everyday lives of cross-border workers. Unlike fixed demarcation lines, borders change and move within time and space, depending on political and economic events. Nowadays, they emerge across diverse places and in different shapes, impacting our individual and collective lives.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 seemed to herald the advent of a world without borders, in which people and goods could freely circulate. But in fact, in a globalised world, borders are being reactivated and strengthened for some people while they open and disappear for others.
Designed by the Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration (French National Museum of the History of Immigration), this exhibition draws on historic, geographical, economic and human perspectives. It is an invitation to deepen our understanding of how borders are constructed and evolve, beyond the dichotomy between open or closed, nationals and foreigners, economic migrants and political refugees. The cartographic work raises the issue of orders of magnitude, of proportions in representations, and highlights the relativity of data.
Nathan Mannion, Head of Exhibitions and Programmes at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, said, “EPIC is extremely proud to be hosting this topical and timely exhibition in collaboration with the French National Museum of the History of Immigration. The movement of people, goods and ideas across borders, boundaries and barriers is a story as old as time. Migration is a part of our history but also of the lives of so many people today – whether you’re travelling from Dundalk to Newry for work every day or fleeing a war zone in search of a place of greater safety. Those that come to view ‘Borders’ can learn how they are created and how they evolve and how we maintain, manage, avoid or destroy them. Our visitors will leave with a better understanding of the impact borders have on their own lives and the lives of billions of other people across the world.”
This exhibition will be on display at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum until June 5th – general museum admission tickets required.