Bordertown
Out of Bounds, Monash University
August 2008

Bordertown is a contemporary artwork in the form of a sculptural sound installation that was created earlier this year for exhibition at Artspace, Sydney. The work is comprised of a soundtrack that tells a partially fictional narration of two women, located in a community called “Bordertown” that straddles two Australian states: a place renowned for historic conflicts. Bordertownwasreconstructed for Out of Bounds to highlioght parallel themes such as the theoretical contexts of social partition, conflict, and border construction in Australia. The accompanying paper outlines the paradoxical nature of border subjectivities and their configuration as an exclusionary dimension or as a non-place and invisible boundary. I examine the border in relation to contemporary constructions of the Australian State, sovereignty and militarisation, and the “border’s” antecedents in a colonial framework. The physical constructions of walls are discussed in terms of their paradoxical function as both barriers and voids. These aspects are analysed in terms of mythical and religious connotations, which allows me to emphasise the significance of ritual and conflict as a key to political resistance and social transformation.

Bordertown 100-page book (PDF 5MB)
Bordertown has been exhibited at:
Artspace, Sydney (link)
Conical Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne (link)
Out of Bounds, Monash University conference (link)