Borderscaping the Oder-Neisse Border: Observations on the Spectral Character of This Current Between Times in Border Art

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper offers a critical analysis of contemporary artworks and initiatives directly referencing the Oder–Neisse border and portraying the two rivers as border rivers. River borders are interpreted as human constructs. The artworks are analyzed from a interdisciplinary perspective in their geopolitical, cultural, and historical context via theories of border art (Amilhat-Szary, Dell’Agnese, Guinard), critical border studies and borderscaping (Brambilla, Schimanski), border assemblage (Sohn), the aesthetic regime (Rancière), hauntology (Derrida), the boundary object (Häkli), realms of memory (Nora), spatial semiotics and sociology of space (Massey, Löw), phenomenology, geopoetics, memory studies, and cartography in its role as a subversive strategy for mapping borderlands. The Oder-Neisse border in border art not only triggers border narratives reflecting the historically complex German-Polish relations, but also has the potential to redefine binding aesthetic regimes, address taboos, and create counter-hegemonic borderscapes. This art reveals clearly the relative newness of the Oder–Neisse border, imposed in 1945, which continues to impact interpretation of the history of Polish-German relations.