6th September - 19th October 2019
Alexander Levy
Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 26
10969, Berlin
In his works, Mischa Leinkauf deals with the limitations of spaces
through boundaries, borders, rules, architectures and barriers. Through
interventions in quasi-natural systems of order, he provokes situations that
create temporary confusion and open up spaces for a possible recoding.
For the exhibition Fiktion einer Nicht-Einreise (Fiction of a
Non-Entry) Mischa Leinkauf deals with borders as a structuring element of
present times. Despite the general hope that German reunification would also
dismantle borders worldwide, the construction of national barriers has been
experiencing an unanticipated renaissance for two decades. Whereas in 1989
there were 16 border fortifications in the world comparable to the Berlin Wall,
today more than 70 barriers separate states and cities. Where borders are
secured with military force and privileges of national identity are organised
hierarchically, they reinforce the feeling of social separation and exclusion.
Wars, struggles and conflicts are legitimised through national isolation.
Walls, fences, passports and security agencies cement the spatial order and the
power relations associated with it.
A radical renunciation of this structure, however, does not transcend
the mere dismantling of its material artefacts: the totality of borders has
been anchored as a paradigm in the mind, although countless areas of human
relations have long since been unaffected by territorial limitations.
Against this background, Mischa Leinkauf deals both with the territorial
limitations between nation-states and with their symbolism. The title of the
exhibition refers to the expression "fiction of a non-entry", which
stems from German refugee policy. While the term refers to an enclave of
territorial disenfranchisement - so-called transit centres - Leinkauf uses it
to raise fundamental questions about the norm and practice of territoriality
and identity. Under the title Fiktion einer Nicht-Einreise, Leinkauf
scrutinises whether identity today can be limited by territorial allocation and
nationality or instead defined by far more differentiated characteristics of
belonging to social groups.
The video work of the same title shows Leinkauf crossing the invisible
borders on the ocean floor between Israel and Jordan or Egypt in the Red Sea
and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and Morocco in the Strait of Gibraltar. The
respective regions are militarily guarded and secured by border fortifications,
some of their fences protrude 30 metres from the banks into the water. Behind
them, a landscape opens up to which visual separation has to surrender: the
sea. With a research period of over a year, Leinkauf travelled into these
regions and crossed their borders whilst diving. By leaving the overland
routes, Leinkauf traces the national interspaces. Where systematic gaps arise,
he reveals the absurdity of control systems in a performative way. The
recording shows him at the bottom of the sea. Instead of tearing down the
architectures of isolation, Leinkauf overcomes the borders of the regions by
walking in the dystopian-looking tranquillity and expanse of the sea and opens
up a space of absolute freedom.
The Han River connects the parts of Korea that have been separated since
1945. One branch has its source on the east coast of North Korea, the other in
the South Korean mountains. After they connect, the river flows through the
South Korean capital Seoul and pours into the Yellow Sea in the northwest.
Shortly before its estuary, the Han River marks the border area between North
and South Korea - the Northern Limit Line. By land, the border is one of the
best-guarded fence systems in the world. The demilitarised zone is four
kilometres wide and manifests the spatial and social isolation of the two
Koreas. The 2-channel video work shows the border crossing from a bird's eye
view: with a drone, Leinkauf crosses the border of the Han River and refers to
the river’s water as the connecting element of the two ideologically opposing
systems. While the hermetic isolation of the two territories by land seems
insurmountable, Leinkauf breaks open the human-drawn borders with the
nature-based reference to air and water.
In another work, Mischa Leinkauf deals with the symbolic power of
national flags. They manifest the idea of territorial affiliation and national
identity. Against the background of political conflict, nation-state symbols
become catalysts for the symbolic separation of ‘own’ and ‘foreign’. In
sculptural form, Leinkauf opposes the symbolic similarities of national
territories that are increasingly isolating themselves from one another. The installation
shows the burned flags of Israel and Palestine. At the moment of destruction,
the process of unification begins: the colours, forms and materiality of the
flags slowly resemble each other; only the proportions preserve the difference
between them. While the disintegrating surface transcends, the common
foundation of social ways of life beyond national affiliation is revealed.
The newly created works in the exhibition Fiktion einer
Nicht-Einreise set politically motivated border demarcations visually out
of action and bring a critique into play that is directed against topographical
and symbolic barricading. In recourse to Situationist theory and practice,
Mischa Leinkauf reveals the permeability and absurdity of border
fortifications. Neither the natural resources of water, air and earth nor
social lifestyles, solidarity and intimate relationships suggest spatial
demarcation. Against this background, his works put the objectification and
naturalness of boundaries up for discussion. Leinkauf's works refer to the
commonality in what is separated visually. Where hermeticism seems oppressive,
he peacefully infiltrates. Through practices of physical appropriation, he
visualises the dichotomies of violence and peace, use and abuse, and
fundamentally questions subjectivity against the background of territorial
classifications. His body becomes a body of resistance in the sphere of
borders: by withdrawing himself, walking, circling and roaming, Mischa Leinkauf
resists the architectures of isolation and subtly opens up a limitless space of
possibilities for connection. Previously self-evident perspectives are broken
up, and the underlying structures of demarcation are radically exposed as an
artificial order.
Text by Almut Poppinga