Conjuring the Threshold : A Performative Ritual of Repair

Abstract

Conjuring the Threshold is a performative ritual presented at Performing Space 2025 in Nafplio, Greece. Rooted in a symbolic wound encountered during the 5,232 km performative walk Ex-tracés (from Paris, France to Mardin, Turkey, 2022), the work addresses a denied crossing at the Greek-Turkish border. The performance reactivates that rupture through a precisely choreographed device: an eight-metre red Line-Suture, a synthetic voice reciting GPS coordinates in Turkish and Greek, and a walking body negotiating space, memory, and constraint. Inspired by Turner’s concept of liminality and Rendell’s exploration of spatial thresholds, the performance seeks to poeticise the act of repair and reclaim agency by transforming an administrative border into an embodied site of passage.