Border Theatre: On the arts of security and resistance

Amoore, L.; Hall, A.

doi:10.1177/1474474010368604

Border Theatre: On the arts of security and resistance

Amoore, L.; Hall, A.

Authors

Professor Louise Amoore louise.amoore@durham.ac.uk
Professor

A. Hall

Abstract

This essay addresses the conditions and limits of artistic interventions in the contemporary landscape of border security. It argues that the theatrical rituals of border security — scanning, screening, verifying identity — have become domesticated and all-but-invisible in our daily scopic regimes. At the same time, the essay suggests that surprising, enchanting encounters with the techniques and technologies of security can interrupt border sequences and create invigorated possibilities for public engagement. An ethics of unanticipated worlds is proposed as an alternative to political action as always proximate to observable and visible violence. In a world where rituals of border security increasingly operate precisely by pre-deciding and pre-empting in advance, art that works in the absence of certainty and decidability offers a crucial window through which to evaluate and respond.

Citation

Amoore, L., & Hall, A. (2010). Border Theatre: On the arts of security and resistance. cultural geographies, 17(3), 299-319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474010368604

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jul 1, 2010
Deposit Date	Nov 22, 2010
Journal	Cultural Geographies
Print ISSN	1474-4740
Electronic ISSN	1477-0881
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	17
Issue	3
Pages	299-319
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474010368604
Keywords	Risk, Security, Borders, Art, US-Mexico.