I call all my multinational projects “no más fronteras”, dealing with the problems of the border in its broadest meaning, helping to overcome situations of conflicts, wherever they are.
excerpt from Batuz: no más fronteras catalogs

    The project “Falkland Islands-Tucuman. Two Regions”, which ran in the year 2000 in the cloister of Altzella in Saxony, belongs to the no más fronteras projects of the Société Imaginaire. This project occupies itself with border conflicts and how to overcome them. People from different cultures and nations are brought together and are given the possibility for understanding in the frameworks of their collective artistic work.

    The encounter between Argentines from Tucuman and Britons from the Falkland Islands was a practical test for this concept. Here people are supposed to come closer together who not only are foreign to one another but rather adversarial. In 1982 there was a bloody war between Argentina and Great Britain on the stony, hardly inhabited Falkland Islands brimming the Antarctic. What remains now is only sorrow and hate; an unresolved political conflict.

    Through the no más fronteras projects the Société Imaginaire does not attempt diplomatic negotiations between the concerned nations. National politics appear to have many conflicts virtually irresolvable. Reconciliation can be achieved through another way; from man to man. It follows the humble idea coming from the vision of a world society, where the narrow national borders are left behind. In this regard is this project an example. With its organizational know how, with its positive influence towards the representatives of individual civil societies, the Société Imaginaire demonstrates the potential to initiate and see through challenging encounters.

    As with the other no más fronteras projects, it is made up from the idea of communication through art. The common interest of creative expression overcomes all differences, languages, social and political barriers. Art presents these people from various fields of discipline the possibility to work together. In the space of time of the project “Falkland Islands-Tucuman” writers, painters, photographers, videographers, and journalists from the Falkland Islands and the province Tucuman came together at the cloister of Altzella. Participants from other projects were at the same time also present in Altzella. All these people worked daily for three weeks on the various art projects. The collective everyday work in a creative atmosphere as well as the personal engagement of project leaders and Batuz himself, conducted intensive thoughts and the exchange of ideas. Noticeably the participants left behind their antagonistic attitudes.

    Exceptionally important was the continuance of these dialogues after the end of the project so as to reinforce the ties established. The participants were encouraged to take up a “Correspondence” with one another so as to overcome any time and space that may distance them; to carry on the spirit of the Société Imaginaire.

    The herein provided material gives a view to the many results of the project, through the texts, paintings, and photos included. They give evidence of the yearning people have for reconciliation and a curiosity to others. For those who are esteemed as gleichgesinnter Andersdenkender (like minded people but who think differently).