Adrian Melis' "The Smiler" (2022) is on view at Cannerberg Maastricht as part of the group exhibition No Access. 21 media art works and short films on border control and migration (16 Sept – 13 Nov 2022).
Socially-engaged contemporary video artists and filmmakers have created relevant and engaging video works, interactive media installations, short films and animations about border control and migration. Viewmaster Projects sites 21 of these haunting projections in the Cannerberg, a former secret underground NATO headquarters, now completely gutted, in an old marl quarry just south of Maastricht. This location's disorienting eeriness reinforces the already potent significance of the projections. The Cannerberg is a cold, damp and dark tunnel system. Marl, reinforced concrete, bricks and thick steel doors are reminders of the Cold War, during which this bunker complex helped guard the eastern border of what was then Western Europe.
From 16 September to 13 November 2022, part of the system of corridors is open to visitors and you can experience how the 21 selected projections interact with one another and the space. The diverse and topical work of the international selection of artists, researchers and filmmakers not only unsettles and moves but can also give meaning and depth to the stark imagery that dominates the daily news.
NO ACCESS presents three approaches to the complex issue of migration: 1) personal and autobiographical stories of refugees, sometimes vulnerable or resilient but also raw and confrontational; 2) data visualisations about border control and migration in which contemporary digital techniques (literally and figuratively) determine the image; 3) video works with a poetic, symbolic visual language because words and facts do not always covey the subject.
