Borders shape and consolidate relations between states, people, jurisdictions, political entities, and territories, and they often lie at the center of conflict between them. They are tools entangled in complex socio-political and economic ecologies. While some borders are relatively stable, others are in a constant flow. They regulate economic relations and people’s access to places, resources, and rights. Borders determine the way our surroundings are organized, inhabited and controlled, and the ways communities relate to one another—while some break through borders to survive, others fence themselves off.
In this lecture, Shoshan will present case studies from FAST’s ongoing investigations and engagements with conflict and post-conflict areas. The concurrent exhibition “Border Ecologies” examines the spatial processes of bordering in conflict and post-conflict contexts. It concentrates on the way borders impact communities and produces new spatial forms The Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST) is an Amsterdam- and New York-based architectural think-tank that initiates and develops cross-disciplinary research, advocacy, and design projects at the intersection between architecture, planning, and human rights. FAST is led by Malkit Shoshan.
