After the fall of the wall, many of us had a feeling that borders and restrictions will play a much smaller role in the future. But with hindsight, we are experiencing the opposite again for a longer period. Physical and mental boundaries, fences and walls are built up or grow in many places and in different contexts.

In 2012 finnfemfel led a workshop in Wismar, Germany, with participants from many different countries and a large group of students from China. For the closing exhibition finnfemfel made a spontaneous but very telling work. Through a brilliant relocation with a glass wall between the table halves, the table tennis table, which was usually used for games and relaxation, got a whole new meaning. Despite the glass wall which in some form also represented the present language barrier, there were other creative options to play with each other: “Ping-Pong – East meet West, how do we communicate”.
New place, new form, Lapua. Instead of window glass, the ping-pong table is divided by a metal fence. Is this a hermetic and absolute condition? Sport, with its own rules, quite often reflects the better and worse sides of politics, culture and society. In concrete terms, the work in question raises the questions: is there a right or wrong side, who protects or separates who from what and why? Who is on or offside?

After all, do there still exist other opportunities to communicate and interact with each other? The game, to play, to dare to experiment has a great importance in this context to find new paths and perhaps also necessary frameworks. The table tennis table divided by the fence activates through its visual form many thoughts about this complex question of communication, action and interaction. This requires the commitment of the viewer and the curious player. Just do it!