Refugee Republic
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The United Nations High Commission for Refugees describes refugees as "ordinary people who have left there homes for fear of their lives and liberty, often giving up everything".
Today, there are more than 14 million refugees around the world, and at least 30 million people are displaced within the borders of their own countries. One in every 122 people on earth has been forced into flight.
THE REFUGEE STATE
Ingo Guenther presents a concept for an independent refugee state in his web art project Refugee Republic. Visualizations, like the movement of refugees as streams on earth, statistics, and propositions regarding the economic value of individuals who are displaced, form the basis of the Refugee Republic.
An immigrant from Eastern Germany who has been living in New York City and Tokyo for the past 15 years, Guenther has registered the Refugee Republic in the State of Nevada as a private company (Las Vegas anybody?). RR, incorporated on October 23, 1995, has been authorized to issue 50 million shares of Class A (voting) stock, and 50 million Class B (non-voting) stock. The bottom line for the corporation hinges on the fact that displaced people have value, and refugees should be considered a good investment.
In the 1980s, Guenther started to create a series of 3-D sculptures of the globe. These images of the earth were actually narrative. The globe sculptures were based on information, and visualizations of things like the number of nuclear warheads, the thickness of the ozone layer, economic power and processes, data flow, and the migration of refugees were plotted internationally. His topics also show dangerous patterns, like the proximity of missile bases which are potentially harmful for mankind. In the Gulf War, for example, he illustrated how these bases were actually used. Another interesting portrayal is how political borders are constructed in comparison to natural, geographic borders.
The DATASTATE
As an artist, the real spherical shape of the Internet --wrapped around the earth-- seems to be the ultimate globe for Ingo Guenther.
He states that the 20 million refugees, currently on the move around the globe, would occupy a land mass equal to the size of Mongolia, if each person had an "average size space" (according to what they were used to in their own country), which he graphically represents. To visualize global movement, and geographic representations accurately, Guenther uses satellite images, from which he creates drawings, photos montages and other artistic techniques.
The Refugee Republic project was first seen on-line at the Public Netbase, Vienna, in March, 1995.
It has been developing steadily, ever since, and a mirror site in the United States was recently established.
Guenther has created the Refugee Republic as a collective work, and programmers, as well as different personalities in various nations, contribute information and texts to it. For example, the French version of RR has been created as a hypertext version, in the shape of a coastline.
The principle of stock trading is the basic economic concept of any public corporation. But, the Refugee Republic web site is only a sketch of this idea, an outline of the structure and the problem. In the RR, participation must be bought, it is not a birth right, nor can you "just sign-up."
Although Guenther gives theoretical value to his refugees, Saskia Sassen has pointed out clearly just how valuable refugees really are. She says that although immigrants are not reported separately from refugees (in official statistics) they make up 50% of the secretaries in New York City. She has traced the patterns of migration, which have changed considerably in the last century. Today, she says that women make up half of all the worlds immigrants, one of the biggest shifts from the past. She also points out that immigrants and refugees are now migrating to cities, and they form a massive concentration in the service industries which support the economy of the new Global City. Her thesis, which in this case agrees with Guenther's, states that we need immigrants in order to maintain the new world urban centers.
RR has become a controversial site, and has been criticized by politically active refugee groups who don't want to share data space with their enemies. They just want to go home. Most political liberals simply think the project is a completely crazy notion. But, it should be thoughtfully regarded, not only because it observes the tradition of politically oriented art, but because it is resource for information. In this regard, it can be considered as a real hypothetical solution to the problem of refugees. Perhaps, as Guenther says, it is first of all an Artwork. For sure, Refugee Republic brings the topic of refugees into common consciousness.
The passport cover, in Japanese characters, says "Republic of Humans who are in Difficulties"- which might be any of us who find ourselves stranded in unfriendly border stations. RR passport covers are available online (and can be printed out at home). They can be adjusted to fit your personal passport, and hopefully will evoke kind and human qualities at passport control.
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