Mapping & understanding EU borders: towards a more innovative approach
A workshop inviting artists, researchers, politicians & policy- makers to rethink the visualisation of borders and their impact in EU border regions
Friday, September 2nd 9:30-17:30
Maastricht, The Netherlands
There are about 100 border- and cross-border regions in the member states of the EU and the Council of Europe. Border regions are characterized by the presence of nation-state borders within their territory, and by the influence these borders have on the daily life of citizens. The performativity of these borders is not adequately captured by simplistic representations of nation-state borders – such as a dotted or black lines on maps.
LIMES, ITEM and Dear Hunter have launched several initiatives over the past years, which seek to understand the impact of borders on people interacting with them. As a result, they organise a one-day workshop in which the various concepts and methods of understanding borders and the empirical results of research will be explored. The purpose of the workshop is to raise awareness about the different ways of thinking about, mapping and experiencing borders and to explore potential collaborations.
The number of participants will be limited to 25, to allow in-depth discussion and exchange.
Location:
Maastricht University/FASoS
Attic (Room 3.002)
Grote Gracht 90-92
NL-6211 SZ Maastricht
Special guest & keynote lecturer:
Nathalie Verschelde
DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
Planning and program
09:30 Walk-in
09:45 Welcome and introduction (Thomas Conzelmann, LIMES)
10:00 Presentation and short exercises on the Border Encyclopedia (Remy Kroese and Marlies Vermeulen, Dear Hunter)
11:00 Presentations of two PhD projects dealing with the softening and hardening of borders:
Study and Work Experiences across the Border: Their Impact on Cross-border Careers (Saena Chakkar, LIMES)
The Role of EU Agencies in the Management and Guarding of Borders in the EU (Aida Halilovic, LIMES)
11:45 Break
12:00 Presentation on the ITEM ‘Border effects report’ (Martin Unfried, ITEM)
12:15 Keynote lecture (Nathalie Verschelde, European Commission, DG Regio)
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Experimental / practical session: Performing a ‘Border Crossing Act (BCA)’ in Maastricht (Facilitated by Remy Kroese and Marlies Vermeulen, Dear Hunter)
15:20 Returning to the location / break
15:45 Plenary session: Comparing approaches, connecting to the policy world (Facilitated by Sophie Vanhoonacker, LIMES and Math Noortman, ITEM)
16:30 Closure and discussion of follow-up: Next activities, preparations for special issue
17:00 Drinks



Workshop made possible through a financial contribution by Studio Europa/Maastricht Working on Europe.
LIMES has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 847596.