Introduction
Of Borders and Bridges

From the time Harald Szeemann set up a new system for the multiple reception of creative and artistic work, a number of initiatives have renewed the pact of celebration and encounter around certain artistic ideas. The 1969 exhibition When Attitudes Become Form, and its shockwaves, was the starting point for a new conception that can be understood, in the most basic terms, as the use of an array of devices to avoid a monolithic and academic reading of the exhibition as a phenomenon. Expect anything.

Briefly, Szeemann initiated a new stage that denied the supremacy of the object as a palpable example of an official story. What he proposed instead was an interactive, open and, mostly, live event that would give rise to proposals and attitudes capable of transforming the lives and conditions of participants. A return to the discovery ritual. At the same time, Szeemann’s decision to display and interpret major themes entailed recognition of the perplexity that can arise in the process of grappling with art. In this sense, “understanding” can be reductive, a way of staying in the same place. “Not understanding,” on the other hand, necessitates a more intuitive relationship; it means using new tools, formulating new questions, and interrogating fossilized hierarchies.

Of Bridges & Borders is an attempt to operate according to an open and participatory dynamic. On its pages is a hovering concern with challenging borders, building new bridges and, through the participants, bringing to light unlikely and definitive solutions. You are holding the results of that attempt in your hands.

We would like to thank all the artists, essayists, thinkers, designers, producers, dreamers, contributors, inspirers and readers who have taken part in this project. Of Bridges & Borders is also indebted to the institutions and companies that have had the courage and vision to support our proposal. Thank you

Toit du Monde & KBB

Introduction
Of Borders and Bridges

From the time Harald Szeemann set up a new system for the multiple reception of creative and artistic work, a number of initiatives have renewed the pact of celebration and encounter around certain artistic ideas. The 1969 exhibition When Attitudes Become Form, and its shockwaves, was the starting point for a new conception that can be understood, in the most basic terms, as the use of an array of devices to avoid a monolithic and academic reading of the exhibition as a phenomenon. Expect anything.

Briefly, Szeemann initiated a new stage that denied the supremacy of the object as a palpable example of an official story. What he proposed instead was an interactive, open and, mostly, live event that would give rise to proposals and attitudes capable of transforming the lives and conditions of participants. A return to the discovery ritual. At the same time, Szeemann’s decision to display and interpret major themes entailed recognition of the perplexity that can arise in the process of grappling with art. In this sense, “understanding” can be reductive, a way of staying in the same place. “Not understanding,” on the other hand, necessitates a more intuitive relationship; it means using new tools, formulating new questions, and interrogating fossilized hierarchies.

Of Bridges & Borders is an attempt to operate according to an open and participatory dynamic. On its pages is a hovering concern with challenging borders, building new bridges and, through the participants, bringing to light unlikely and definitive solutions. You are holding the results of that attempt in your hands.

We would like to thank all the artists, essayists, thinkers, designers, producers, dreamers, contributors, inspirers and readers who have taken part in this project. Of Bridges & Borders is also indebted to the institutions and companies that have had the courage and vision to support our proposal. Thank you

Toit du Monde & KBB