In the Borderlands is an exhibition from Fire is Scary (Sol Enae Lee, Gordon H. Williams, Agustin Faundez Rojas and Ariel Sin Yu Lee) from and for the queer, feminist theorist Gloria Anzaldúa. Using an interview with Anzaldúa as source material, Sol wove a new text through a process of translation between English and Korean, translating word by word, phrase by phrase, then restranslating repeatedly and adding layer upon layer through double meanings, purposeful mistranslations, and machine errors. Through a series of artistic translations, the collective will place Sol’s text in MaMA’s showroom in Rotterdam.

The exhibition unfolds as three spaces inside the showroom- the stage, the library and the laboratory. The stage presents devices, scenery, and costumes for a musical performance, which takes Sol’s text as lyrics, set to music by Gordon and performed by Agustin, Ariel and guest musicians. The library holds publications, books and references for Fire is Scary’s research on translation and the borderlands (space between/across cultures). Finally, the laboratory showcases the collective’s ongoing experiments on translation (in literal and metaphorical senses) with hydrophones, acoustic levitation, and sonoluminescence.  

In the Borderlands is a self-organized exhibition, presented under MaMA’s Summer Swap program for 2024. The exhibition is open Thursday-Sunday 14.00-19.00 and Friday 14.00-21.00.