Why do states detain the stateless?
Audiovisual installation

The New World Academy is an educational platform, established by artist Jonas Staal, in collaboration with BAK (Basis voor Actuele Kunst, Utrecht). The Academy invites stateless and revolutionary organisations to collaborate with artists and students and explore the role of art within the political battlefield.

The central theme was to investigate the role of art within the development of alternative models of stateless democracy. In collaboration with artist Robert Glas, we explored the thin line between research journalism and artistic activism. Intrigued by the legislation around statelessness, we tested the disruptive questions “Why do states detain the stateless?” and more specifically "To what extent are people, who do not cooperate voluntarily with their own deportation, protected against violence employed by the State of the Netherlands?”. Answers to this question from people and organisations connected to this matter have been brought to the public within the exhibition 'Unstated (or, Living Without Approval)' in BAK.