ART NEW YORK

About This Project

Amarist Studio presented  “Welcome?”,  a project created for USA for UNHCR on the occasion of ART New York 2017.

It is an installation formed by a border fence built with the concertina wire nº Bto22 (the same one that is used in Hungary, Serbia, Ceuta and Melilla among other territories). The fence is laid out on beach sand and, in front of it, a hollow sculpture of a person made with petrified clothes and covered by a thermal blanket. The sculpture represents the arrival of refugees to the European coasts.

Behind the fence, 100 fragments of concertina wire, gold plated in 24-karat gold and packaged in plastic cases, were hung as if they were a supermarket product. The idea was created to present the border walls as a product of masses, created by the fears and prejudices of our society, that are responsible for building the physical walls that in most cases only represent the divisions between the richest and the poor.

The installation turned into performance by inviting the spectators to participate and buy one of the 100 pieces of border of the supermarket for 250 dollars – donation to USA for UNHCR.

The purpose of the installation was to shake consciousness and spark a debate among the visitors, while raising funds for refugees as the public participated purchasinf the border fragments from the supermarket wall.