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BORDERLINES 3: KRIEGSPIEL

Oslo, May 2018

Kriegspiel is a variant of blind-chess, where players can only see the board and their own pieces. An arbitrator or «sherpa» describes the developments of the game to the players – for instance, when there is a checkmate.

Borderlines 3: Kriegspiel consists of border poles from the Russian-Norwegian (previously Soviet-Norwegian) border in Sør-Varanger. In 2011, the border poles were replaced with new ones and theatre director Morten Traavik and Pikene på Broen took over some of the decommissioned poles. A central partner in the project was the then Border Inspector Frode Berg, who since the 5th of December has been imprisoned in Moscow accused of espionage. Recently, through his lawyers, Berg has admitted that he had served as a courier for the Norwegian Military Intelligence Service over multiple trips to Russia.

Borderlines 3: Kriegspiel is a new edition of the performance and exhibition Borderlines. The first edition was opened by the then Foreign Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, in Kirkenes during the 2011 Barents Spektakel festival and, at the same time, exhibited in Oslo. Later that year, the mobile border was exhibited in Murmansk. During the 2018 Barents Spektakel, Mayor Rune Rafaelsen opened Borderlines 2: Frode's Border in Kirkenes.

Offical opening: 1. of May at 7. Juni Plass (in front of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Oslo. With performances from Norwegian marching band Kampen Janitsjar and Moddi.
On display from 1st to 27th May 2018. 

In cooperation with Pikene på Broen, SALT Art & Music and the support group Help Frode Home.