Through her on-going art project ‘Immigrant Movement International’, Cuban artist Tania Bruguera explores questions surrounding immigration – how an immigrant is defined as such and what it means to be a citizen of the world.
Her new work at Tate Modern, ‘Surplus Value’, advances her discussion with a provocative multidisciplinary piece, requiring people to line up and pass a polygraph test concerning visa applications before they can be granted access to the inner gallery. Once inside the dimly lit space a sign gradually reveals itself through the sparks caused as a migrant worker welds its surface.
The sign reads ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (‘work liberates’) and is a 1:1 replica of a sign that was stolen from Auschwitz and found cut into three parts.
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