Razor wire produced by European Security Fencing (ESF), based in Malaga in Spain, is used in many of the newly reinforced outer borders of the European Union, including the Hungarian-Serbian border. The euphemistic and positive-sounding corporate language used on the ESF website – which seems to have been translated with Google Translate – and the possibility to order razor wire ‘quickly and safely’ in the online shop suggest that we are dealing with an everyday consumer good, provided by an ordinary business in a global market economy. A stark contrast with the archaic, violent reality of the product in its application as part of Fortress Europe.

In OUR VALUES, ESF wire is attached vertically to a metal stand with a horn loudspeaker, similar to the loudspeakers installed on the Hungarian border fence. Through the loudspeaker, the Google Translate voice monotonously speaks the corporate values that are listed on the ESF website. In August 2019, I travelled to Serbia to install this object next to the Hungarian border fence.

Commissioned by the Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (NGbK) Berlin

video: https://vimeo.com/376688201/745cb8d2dd

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Exhibitions

'Bon Voyage!', Ludwigforum für internationale Kunst, Aachen, D, 2020-21

'ZERO WASTE', Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig, D, 2020

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