Crossing Borders

Anne van Strien has transformed the divide between collective space and public space by stretching it. “It creates an area which is a valuable place for encounters to take place.” She has, for instance, moved the bus shelter near an old people’s home so that it now merges with the entrance. She has stretched the wall surrounding a cemetery to become a sanctuary where visitors can commemorate and people walking by can take a seat. Van Strien replaced the fence around an allotment with an orangery where people can taste the crops grown in the allotment. Open to the public at harvest time, but in winter, a place where the gardeners can keep their plants safe. Crossing Borders connects two adjacent worlds and turns a partition into a connection.