The (un)free movement — Andrea Malanski

Controlling people’s movements has been essential to the contemporary idea of state. The capability to identify their own memberships and sustain the boundaries between them and the others have given the states the “monopoly of the legitimate means of movement” and the right to classify human beings as “illegal”. Passports and documents aimed to control people’s movement have been crucial in this process. Such documents are not merely pieces of paper, they serve as tools to distinguish those who belong from those who do not, those who can come and go from those who cannot do it so. The (un)free movement is about inclusion and exclusion, admission and refusal, freedom and belonging.

The ‘The (un)free movement’, is an installation with about 250 paper fold birds, made of copies of documents on movement, such as passport pages, visa application forms and migration office letters from different countries. The installation was part of the exhibition “Promiseland”, exhibited on A-venue (Gothenburg - jan/2016) and Form Design Center (Malmö - feb/mar/2016), Sweden.

Promiseland Exhibition - A-venue, Gothenburg, Sweden

Promiseland Exhibition - Form Design Center, Malmö, Sweden