BORDERLINE

"I carry two worlds within me but neither one whole, they're constantly bleeding. The border runs right through my tongue." Zafer Senocak

The border is the line between two countries or states which marks where one ends and the other begins. They are delineated by lines on a map and decided by governments or national leaders but not always recognised or agreed on. Wars continue to be fought by nations or peoples who disagree over where the border lies between them.

Maps have always been a tool of defining and claiming regions as well as dividing peoples, particularly during colonial times. While they may follow a mountain range or the edge of a lake, borders are not natural geographic divisions - animals and weather don't recognise them. But the borders surrounding a nation are used to regulate who or what is included and who or what is excluded. This applies to both territory and to people.

As well as providing physical partitions borders can be metaphors for the notional boundaries which define social, religious or cultural differences and divisions. Yukinori Yanagi examines both these literal and metaphorical meanings in his time-based sculptures.

Yukinori Yanagi - "Untitled Antfarm Project", 1997. (1)

• Look at some tourist brochures about Britain. Do you recognise the country and people portrayed?
• Collect some national flag designs. What do their colours and motifs signify?
• Imagine yourself as a continent. How are you divided?
• How is language used differently to describe a) a warzone b) a resort c) an environmental distaster area.
• Is there such a thing as 'national identity'?

DISCUSS

RESEARCH

BRAINSTORM

DESCRIBE

COMPARE

Manit Sriwanichpoon - 'The Pink Man on Tour no. 1,
Amazing Pagoda', 1997 (1)

"For business purposes, the boundaries that separate one nation from another are no more real than the equator. They are merely convenient demarcations of ethnic, linguistic and cultural entities. They do not define business requirements or consumer trends." IBM 1990

National identity is constructed both within a country and outside of it. A country's own sense of itself and its character is built up over time through language, culture and religion. How a country is perceived from outside is often related to Tourism and how the landmarks and images chosen to symbolise a country, are portrayed to visitors. Manit Sriwanichpoom is a artist/activist from Thailand who is particularly concerned with the effects of tourism and cultural imperialism.

In a postindustrial global economy many nations rely on tourism as a key source (sometimes the only source) of national income. It is often the uniqueness or difference within a country that makes it appealing or 'exotic' to outsiders. But sometimes national customs or dress are only maintained for the tourist economy, their authenticity being manufactured by a heritage industry.

Foreign travel and sightseeing have been leisure pursuits for nearly 200 years and have shaped our knowledge of other countries but in the late twentieth century, particularly in the West, these activities have increased massively. Tourism is now seen as a potential threat to some traditional economies as well as the ecology of many parts of the globe.