Invisible Borders: Workshop Schedule
Location: Strelka Hall (except day 1)
July 4: Introduction & Border Stories
Location: Strelka Studio 3 (top floor)
11:00 – 13:00 Introduction: What border did you cross?
Theme: Understanding borders vs. boundaries and the notion of “invisible” borders.
Questions: What is the significance of the border? What borders are you interested in and want to investigate? How are they represented and what are the concerns surrounding visibility and invisibility?
+ Introductory Activity: Students share the last border (visible or invisible) that they crossed and what they experienced
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:30 Border Mapping Activity
Theme: Representing Borders
Questions: How would you represent the borders you encounter (visual or performative)? What are the expressive affordances and limitations of the representations we use?
We will examine 3 ways of representing borders through interactive group activities:
+ Visual: Create a visual (hand-drawn or mental) map of an invisible border
+ Performative: Devise a performative representation of invisible borders
+ Digital: Explore borders in the city using a mobile app
16:30 – 17:00 Short break
17:00 – 19:00 Workshop Frontiers & Expectations
Theme: Review the diverse approaches and representations for investigating borders
Discussion: workshop expectations, potential sites and plans for the coming days
+ Activity: Document the borders you encounter on your daily routine (or in unusual settings) using the mobile app or any other tool/representation (to present the next day)
July 5: Rethinking Borders & Invisible Cities
11:00 – 13:00 Concepts & Practices
Theme: Identify conceptual issues for investigating urban spaces, places and social constructs in the city. Concepts and practices will include the politics of maps, psycho-geography, radical cartography, digital/geo-located and counter geographies.
+ Activity: Review borders documented by participants the previous evening / this morning.
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:30 Urban Borders in Global Context
Theme: Use the concepts as a basis to connect patterns in different cities and re-think borders we have identified. We collectively examine cities like Berlin, New York, Jerusalem, Sao Paulo or Istanbul.
+ Activity: Cataloging significant visible and invisible borders in Moscow as potential sites of research for participants in groups, and consider connective threads with other cities.
17:00 – 19:00 Moscow Case Studies & Research Briefs
Theme: We discuss research briefs raising questions about how to think about borders concerning issues like migration, ecology, physical barriers and social boundaries in the city of Moscow.
Presentations: Invited experts will share their projects in Moscow using illustrative examples, with discussion and questions from participants.
July 6: Border Lab: Teach-ins, Skillshare & Planning Projects
11:00 – 13:00 Mapping Borders: Techniques and Technologies
Techniques and technologies for investigating and representing borders. We will use the A1 maps and the threads to create new and alternative maps of Moscow. We will incorporate issues devised by participants from their concepts and activities.
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 16:30 Skillshare
Introduction to mapping tools and interview techniques. Participants will work in smaller teams and will be invited to share their skills with others. The lab will be coordinated around research directions identified the previous day.
17:00 – 19:00 Project Planning
Recap the previous day and start to brainstorm ideas and issues people might like to work on for their projects.
Assignment for Monday: Post a blog entry relating a concept or project about city borders.