Hostile Terrain 94 Münster

All around the world and for many different reasons migrants seek to cross borders. A lot of border crossers are driven by the hope of reaching a place where they might find a job, security, a new home. Oftentimes, however, they do not survive the journey. The fortification of the Borderlands and fatal border politics, particularly in the United States, are at the core of the global participatory exhibition project “Hostile Terrain 94”.

​The project draws attention to the state-sanctioned violence of the US border enforcement strategy “Prevention through Deterrence”. Since 1994, this strategy has instrumentalized the "hostile terrain" of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona as a natural deterrent against undocumented migrants. Thou-sands of migrants each year who seek to cross the border are left with no other option than to traverse the desert, a journey which spells death – by starvation, fatigue, frostbite, and brute force. In the ungrieving bureaucracy of state apparatuses, their deaths are reduced to deterrents and clinically recorded numbers.

"Hostile Terrain 94" seeks to transpose the statistical language of the US border regime into a community-based practice of remembering the individuals who lost their lives in the Sonoran Desert. Volunteers engage in the arduous task of manually filling out thousands of toe tags that represent the perished migrants in resistance to the silenced deaths happening in the Borderlands of the United States.

In 2020 and 2021, “Hostile Terrain 94” takes place in over 100 locations worldwide – including Münster.

Despite the lockdown, the project proceeded as planned and the exhibition could still be visited.

Where: Inner Courtyard of the Bible Museum, Johannisstraße 20, 48143 Münster & online (via Instagram livestream, lecture series, and Augmented Reality experience)
When: 18 - 29th January 2021, extended until 31th January 2021

Learn more about the background of the exhibition here.

© Privat

After the Exhibit

While the physical Hostile Terrain 94 Münster exhibition is now closed, the story of border deaths does not end with the last toe tag mounted to the wall.

People continue to die at borders everywhere every day. Hostile Terrain 94 is not meant to be an artwork that can be finished and then packed away and be forgotten. It is meant to raise awareness about an ongoing humanitarian crisis. ​

If you're curious about what is going to happen after the exhibition, how to become part of Hostile Terrain 94 yourself, or about some more background information, visit here.

© Undocumented Migration Project

HT94 Münster: Installation in Progress

6 days, up to 5 shifts per day, and 15 volunteers: This is what it took to mount the 3,200 toe tags to the wall map behind the glass facade of the Bibelmuseum.

Hostile Terrain 94 is an artwork in the making. The toe tags were were pinned to it little by little over the last week (18.01.21 bis 25.01.21), filling the emptiness on the map gradually. The initial emptiness of the map mirrors the invisibility which characterizes so many refugees' and migrants' fates. The toe tags, mounted to the wall map, are meant to make these fates more visible. ​The map is now complete, the work is done, the 3,200 toe tags are now all pinned to the wall and represent those who lost their lives while trying to cross the border through the desert.
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Yet, the story does not end with the last toe tag mounted to the wall. People continue to die at borders everywhere every day. Hostile Terrain 94 is not meant to be an artwork that can be finished and then packed away and be forgotten. It is meant to raise awareness about an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

We have documented the process of installing the wall map and collect all materials HERE. Take a look at a time lapse video, pictures, and Instagram videos that bring you closer to the exhibit.