the european biennial of contemporary art
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artists

Margareth Obexer

1970, Bressanone / Brixen, IT Lives in Berlin, DE

Defending Europe, 2008 Text

FORTEZZA/FRANZENSFESTE

Margareth Obexer is an author of theater and audio plays, short stories and essays and writes regularly in different newspapers. Her independent productions for radio, theatrical stage, exhibitions and other interdisciplinary projects are often developed in collaboration with visual artists, composers and directors. She often practices in-depth research on site. Her most frequently performed play, Das Geisterschiff (The Ghost Ship), is a critical reflection on the perception of current refugee catastrophes – a modern requiem for all the victims at European borders. This issue also struck her when visiting the fortress Fortezza / Franzensfeste; her text makes a symbol of “fortress Europe” and all the yearnings of the migrants on their way to Europe, all their visions of future, hope, their fantasies and dreams and whose expectations are often far beyond the situation they meet. But what is worse is that most of them are not even given the possibility to articulate their experiences. The text de_fending europe_ is a small collection of letters written by a young migrant girl to her family.


Location

FORTEZZA/FRANZENSFESTE

ADAM BUDAK, ANSELM FRANKE/HILA PELEG, RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE: "SCENARIOS"

FORTE ASBURGICO, EISACKTAL/VALLE ISARCO,
FRANZENSFESTE/FORTEZZA, ITALY

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