Übergang – Josef Schulz

Images of the Beautiful Border: Abandoned Checkpoints in the EU

The border treaties known as the “Schengener Agreement” brought Europeans closer together. The arrangement now made a borderless Europe a reality for people, rather than only for goods as previously. The artist Josef Schulz expresses this new feeling through images showing the abandoned guard posts throughout the Schengen Area. With the blurred backgrounds he merges the architecture with the landscape in his photos, closed borders are clearly  a thing of the past.

The New Experience of an Open Continent
 

With the opening of the Schengen borders, the barriers between different states were removed for the first time in European history. The programme was initially introduced in Western Europe, reaching the new EU member states of Central and Eastern Europe in 2007. Controls were relocated to the countries' interiors. Refugee migrations since 2015 have prompted some states to reintroduce controls at their external borders.

Josef Schulz (born 1966) studied at the Art Academy Düsseldorf and has exhibited internationally in major art galleries. The photo essay “Übergang” (Transition) is among his most famous.

Josef Schulz

“Übergang”, Europe, 2005–2008

Photo essay

Loan from the artist

ⓘ  On display in the main exhibition.