000 - NO MEN'S LAND A project by cym


The opening of the borders - Friday, December 21, 2007

Austrian/Slovene border - Spielfeld, Austria / Šentilj, Slovenia

The photo on the first page shows the border between Austria and Slovenia on Friday morning, December 21, 2007. It was the first morning after the borders had opened at midnight that same day. Already during the days before the custom officers at the border hadn't bothered much anymore about checking the passports, while big bulldozers were busy destroying the little houses where the guards used to sit. A new highway was being constructed inbetween the remains of the little houses. On Thursday afternoon, when I passed the border, it was still a big construction site. On Friday morning I drove through on the new highway, with 60 km/h, without a possibility to stop! I really wanted to make a photo, so I stopped after the border and turned around. Oskar asked me 'What do you want to make a photo of? There is nothing to see! It is just a highway... '. I guess that is exactly what I wanted to make a photo of... There was nothing... Somehow, I had expected at least some last custom officers looking from behind a curtain. Or maybe some people celebrating. I was still a bit hesitating to just go there and take photos of those empty houses, still expecting someone to come and check me. But it was really empty... The custom officers really had all gone, disappeared...

So here is the photo of the open borders... A new highway, right there where the cars used to pile up, stand in line, waiting to enter the other country. I remember this piece of land full with cars. It could take up to an hour sometimes. Now it is not even possible to stop...

And at the same time... I crossed the border from Hungary into Serbia only a week before. The borders do not really disappear... they only change. There was a long line of cars waiting at that border. Lines of cars leaving and entering the European Union. Each car was being searched, each person being questioned. The border between Hungary and Serbia is not so far away from the border between Austria and Slovenia. Maybe the borders in Europe did not really disappear...

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© cym 2008 | cym.net | Last modified: Tue, Feb 05, 2008