Artwork of the month - video (1 min).

Border Control Suitcase

Year	2026
Size	45 cm x 36.5 cm x 13.6 cm
Materials	wood, metal, custom R+F screw, stamp, ink, paperwork.
Edition	1/1
For Sale	Yes, contact our gallery Fred&Ferry (Antwerp, BE)
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About ten years ago, the first artworks in the form of small wooden suitcases were created by R&F F&R. The dimensions of the suitcase are perfectly tailored to the maximum size of hand luggage allowed on aeroplanes or trains, making it the perfect travelable artwork. (See all the Suitcase Projects).

The suitcases function as little Trojan horses. No one suspects that behind the everyday appearance of a suitcase lies a work of art or a performance. Using simple but ingenious craft mechanisms, each suitcase can be activated or unfolded. Some contain a multitude of attributes with which a participatory ritual is performed. Others are like a Mister Gadget-like object that can, for example, transform into a large advertising billboard on legs with the slogan “Go Away Sorrow Of The World”.

Robbert&Frank take on the role of activator and guide. They are intermediaries, mediating between the artwork and its surroundings. It therefore never becomes a play or a dramatised performance. Simply “unfolding” the suitcase and the accompanying ritualised actions constitute the artwork. The dialogue that arises from the confrontation between the work and the audience and the location is the goal.

Art in public spaces is often associated with monuments and roundabout art, street art or street theatre. But small, temporary and connecting rituals with a simple wooden suitcase are also possible. The boundaries between visual art and theatre, spectator and participant, museum and pavement become blurred and porous.

This ‘Border Control Suitcase’ alludes to the arbitrary nature of “borders”. This small suitcase seems to be a prime example of “sustainable and responsible” toys. In a seemingly naive way, it questions the randomness of borders. In this way, the work symbolises the painful and childish machinations behind some major political decisions or humanitarian disasters.

With youthful enthusiasm and unbridled imagination, people constantly invent new rules to separate what was once one. Fortunately, this works both ways. With each new generation, the rules of the game are challenged anew. The older generation packs its bags and makes way for new players with different toys.

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