The Fiber Program of SAAL Biennaal finds various ways to share ideas, thoughts, and practices. This includes a symposium on Narratives of Borders and Boundaries that spans out over 4 days. We have not managed to resist the desire to use the word (k)nowledge here. The symposium reflects on borders and boundaries in a variety of contexts, distinctions and meeting points, hoping to touch upon some unexpected crossroads.

Thinking of narratives of borders and boundaries started when looking at the coastline of Tallinn. Looking at the traces of many occupations, newly developed areas carefully gated for fancy restaurants and expensive apartments, an unofficial nudist beach, and a bird watching area in Paljassaare. Patarei Sea Fortress, later turned into a prison that became a prominent symbol of political terror, and years later the hottest party location in town. Cyanobacteria—a regular, unwanted guest at Stroomi beach—and the abandoned city hall, which remains both a hangout spot for summer picnics and a monument to the 1980 Moscow Olympic games.

The symposium keeps in mind different stories and narratives we desire in order to understand. How those stories intersect and contradict, later becoming objects, ruins, new projects, or political posters. As Minna Salami writes in Sensuous Knowledge: “Stories turn into knowledge, and knowledge transforms into matter.”

Michikazu Matsune’s story-sharing workshop focuses on dreams and nightmares, Marta Keil and Satu Herrala invite people to imagine a loving relationship between artists and institutions. Organized together with EKKM, a workshop by Max Hannus proposes ways of using tools of ethical non-monogamy in collegial relationships, followed by a public talk on personal relationships and professional choices, moderated by Anita Kodanik.

Kristina Birk-Vellemaa, an anthropologist and sex educator, discusses The Teenage Songbook of Love and Sex with the participating teenagers. In 5 GESTURES TOWARDS… two artists open the studio to the public after 10 days of working together for the first time. For the in-between moments, the wood-heated Logi sauna offers flashes of warmth with the possibility of a cold dip in the sea.