by Lillian dam Bracia and Pien den Hollander

Everybody has got their reasons to leave and this decision will take one on a journey. Please, feel free to join one of them.

Installation ‘Limbo Citizen’

Limbo Citizen is an interactive ‘walkthrough’ documentary that tells the story of four different migrants. An undocumented migrant from Ghana, an asylum-seeker from Syria, an economic migrant from Kenya and a student from India will bring you closer to the problems they encountered given their lack of an EU-member passport. Despite coming from completely different backgrounds, there is one thing in common in all their stories: after leaving their homes, they end up in a Limbo. That is, a transition phase in which the present is unsettled and the coming future uncertain.

Our project looks forward to giving you a taste of what it is like to be in the vacuum that these four migrants experience: we want to give citizens the opportunity to experience the ‘limbo’ situation of someone else. A migrant’s limbo is a state caused by the pressure to obtain a legal status if one is seeking to stay in a foreign country. Imagine feeling stuck. Have you ever thought about the limitations of being born in circumstances where it seems you were given the ‘wrong’ nationality?

Through symbolic and abstract audio-visual representations inside a maze, we aim to show the workings of bureaucracy, nationality and citizen rights on an individual and personal level. This way, the installation aims to communicate the impact of legal borders in the lives of migrants who want or lack the legal right to stay in the EU. In an open and free interactive installation located in the city center of Utrecht, you are expected to find your way through the access of your Limbo ID card, thus unlocking your character’s story step by step.

Plan of ‘Limbo Citizen’

About the creators:

Lillian dam Bracia has just finished her liberal arts education in University College Utrecht where she completed tracks on anthropology and international relations. She is particularly interested in poststructural and postcolonial debates on issues of today’s modern society, such as  massive migration in relation to identity politics and power. Pien den Hollander recently graduated from Communication and Multimedia Design at Avans Hogeschool Breda. She focuses on the concept of medium and believes that medium is no less important than the story itself.