Deconstructing Fences
Fences fulfill many different functions. They divide and isolate the land to demarcate private property. They demarcate socio–natural divides as in national forests that enclose (and aim at protect) nature; and affect animal habitats (other than human ones). Fences are well known as tools for demarcating countries, although not all national borders are demarcated by fences—which makes one question the materiality of the fence/border. They lock people in (prisoners) or out (immigrants).
A setting such as Berlin, where the Anthropocene Campus 2014 took place, also added its own history of fences (the Berlin Wall) to the background of this project. We found fences to be directly connected to the very nature (and implications) of the Anthropocene.
A couple of questions arose: Are fences necessarily negative? Could fence-dependent human cultures/societies be reshaped so that human beings could do without them? With this project we consider “slow” means of deconstructing, analyzing, and rebuilding fences through a series of case studies: the types/roles of fences in the US Southwest, in Patagonia, in the Arctic, as oil pipes in Nigeria, and as hedges in both private and public spaces.
- contributionHugo Reinert
The Fence Concept
Notes on the concept of the fency and its heterogenic meaning
Reflection, Landscape
- contributionMaria Isabel Pérez Ramos
On Fences: A Collage
A collection of thoughts and reflections on fences
Reflection, Migration, Landscape
- contributionSøren Dahlgaard
Mobile Hedges
The Mobile Hedges (2011) was a public space urban art intervention, designed to create temporary spaces for people to socialize on the famous city square designed by Oscar Niemeyer.
Reflection, Naturecultures, Architecture, Landscape
- contributionSøren Dahlgaard, Judith Marlen Dobler, Paz Guevara, John Moran, Maria Isabel Pérez Ramos, Hugo Reinert
Build Your Own Fence
This group exercise involves constructing a fence out of single segments.
Experiment, Knowledge transformation, Participatory governance
- contributionJudith Marlen Dobler
Arctic Change
The North Pole and the question of ownership
Human-environment relations, Economy, Migration
- contributionMaria Isabel Pérez Ramos
US Southwest
Reflecting on the Mexican-American border
Reflection, Migration
- contributionPaz Guevara
Patagonia
The Patagonian fences as political actors of division, limitation, control and order
Aesthetics, Biosphere, Wisdom
- contributionJohn Moran
Nigeria: Oil Pipes
On hydro-imperialism and pollution along northern boarders
Reflection, Human-environment relations, Economy
- contributionSøren Dahlgaard
The Hedge
The hedge as an urban barriers
Landscape, Naturecultures
