MOBILISTAN
- an art project by Christian Manss & Manaf Halbouni
What is MOBILISTAN?
Manaf Halbouni and Christian Manss declared the first mobile state in the limited space of a vehicle in 2021. The art project started its first business trip on September 15th at Pariser Platz in Berlin and lead to the Mahalla Festival in Istanbul.
Since the declaration in 2021 The roads toke Mobilistan to several official State visits around Europe signing declarations of friendship and Cultural collaborations.
For example with the Villa Massimo in Rome (2024), Museum for European Cultures in Berlin (2024) or The National Museum in Poznan (2023).
In general Mobilistan visited the following locations on official visits DE: Berlin, Dresden, Stuttgart, Solingen. PL: Wroclaw, Krakow, Poznan CZ: Prag A: Vienna HR: Zagreb ITA: Rome BU: Sofia TUR: Istanbul.
What is a state? What is its territory? Do we accept the way they are defined? Who will need to recognize us, besides us ourselves? These are questions that keep reappearing in
history. A case in point is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a de facto state in the north of the island of Cyprus that is not recognized by the international community except
for Turkey – but the state does in fact exist. And it is not the only one of its kind: There are South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Artsakh or Transnistria, to name but a few. And, as an example
from the realm of art: there is the art collective NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) that in 1992 declared their transformation from a collective into a state ("State in Time"). All examples show that to create facts, a declaration of sovereignty as a state is often sufficient, acceptance by some majority is not mandatory. Viewed objectively, a state is nothing more than a social administrative structure.
Our project MOBILISTAN is to be understood as a purely ART PROJECT dealing with issues of mobility, territorial limits, recognition, marginalization, freedom to travel and the desire to belong. Mobilistan is established on the area of a stretch limousine or state limousine, thus forming the territory that can be entered or exited through the doors of the vehicle. Mobilistan has its own flag, hymn and passport. There are four permanent residents of Mobilistan, playing simultaneously several roles like State President, Foreign
Secretary, Minister of Finance, Interior Minister etc.
The film traces the first official state tour of Mobilistan across European borders in the turbulent and uncertain Covid pandemic summer of 2021.
The documentary film "Mobilistan" by Ana Stanic and produced by Natasha Davis. The film has been commissioned by Counterpoints Arts as part of Across Borders initiative and realised in collaboration with Allianz Kulturstiftung. Mobilistan is the first ever mobile state limited to the space of a single vehicle. An art project dealing with the issues of mobility, territorial limits, marginalisation, freedom to travel and the desire to belong. The state is the limousine and the limousine is the state, whose territory can only be entered or exited through the doors of the vehicle. This does not, however, preclude Mobilistan from having its own flag, anthem and passport.
Follow the state leaders on red carpets from Berlin to Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Zagreb, Sofia, Istanbul, Wroclaw, Krakow and Solingen. Did it all go smoothly? Did the state ever run out of oil? Did it encounter any climate challenges and did any neighbouring state leaders offer help or support? All diplomatic blunders and successes, planned or improvised, hidden or displayed, are revealed in the film, alongside the onlookers’ thoughts and observations, and a few surprises. Mobilistan performance and tour were realised in cooperation with Allianz Kulturstiftung.