The Evolution of Borders
Drawing, Video Installation, Variable Dimensions, 2025
This research-based installation examines how place has been politically and socially constructed throughout history. By mapping regions inhabited by different communities across various periods, it focuses on the historical transformations of the concept of borders. The work began with the production of an 80-page series of drawings, concentrating on moments when border changes were most intense.
In the first stage of the installation, the hand-drawn maps were transferred into a digital format. The lines were then reshaped through typographic repetitions of the question “WHICH PLACE BELONGS TO WHOM?”. In this process, typography functions like a line, enabling the visualization of map boundaries through text. The resulting typographic compositions were transformed into a layered video sequence in which shifting borders are superimposed over one another.
The work makes it possible to think of all borders that have existed throughout history together, while also situating present-day borders as part of those past formations. In doing so, it reveals place as a dynamic structure shaped by historical, cultural, and political processes.
The Evolution of Borders emphasizes that place is not static in itself, but rather a negotiated, transformed, and often contested field of existence.
Ferhat Tunç (b. 1993) began his fine arts education in 2013 at Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Graphic Arts. In 2014, he joined the minor program in the Painting Department of the same university. After graduating from the Department of Graphic Arts in 2018, he took a one-year break and then commenced his graduate studies in the Painting Department. He completed his Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) thesis titled “Non-Places Dreaming Their Future”in 2023, under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Mürteza Fidan. He is currently pursuing a Proficiency in Art (Ph.D.) degree in the Painting Department of the same university. Since 2025, he has been serving as an academic at Beykoz University, Faculty of Art and Design.
In his artistic practice, Tunç employs various media and materials such as interactive installations, photography, video, concrete, ash, and text. He examines concepts such as meaning, object, knowledge, being, and place within the context of everyday life, approaching them through an interdisciplinary perspective. Semiotics, the production of space, and social plastic constitute his primary areas of focus. Tunç lives and works in Istanbul. Some of the exhibitions and residency programs he has participated in include: Secant Space: In Transformation (Duo Exhibition), Istanbul | 2025, Daire Sanat: Open Studio Artist Residency Program, Istanbul | 2025, Institut Français de Turquie: Practices of Survival (Les Pratiques de Survivance), Istanbul | 2024, Istanbul Art Residency: Home, Istanbul | 2022.
