Lefkosia

​The 3-chapter film Grossraum (Borders of Europe) traces the composition of the landscape along the fringes of Europe. The border crossings at Hrebenne (Poland-Ukraine), Ceuta (Spain-Morocco) and Lefkosia (also known as Nicosia, the split up capital of Cyprus) are traced empirically. Divided landscapes are heavily guarded by the military and photography is forbidden without the permission of proper authorities. The long and winding process of letter-writing and negotiating that preceded the filming is expressed in the supplementary publication The Formal Trajectory.

After a military coup in Greece and in response to a series of violent campaigns against Turkish Cypriot inhabitants in Cyprus, the Turkish army invaded the Northern part of the island and never left. The occupied part unilaterally declared itself a sovereign state: the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus), which, until today is only recognized by Turkey. Due to the Cyprus divide, only half of the island entered the European Union in 2004, making the UN guarded buffer zone, that separates the Greek and Turkish Cypriot parts since decades, a European boundary.