non-territory

The concept of non-territory correlates with interests and relationships that exist independently from geographical territory. Relational and non-territorial “mapping” of invisible contemporary values and displacements is one of conceptual methodologies and modes of discursive analysis in modern art. In each of its successive editions, SMB has attempted to map seemingly antithetical concepts such as local and global, contemporary situations and historical records, past and future, and symbols and phenomena related to the mind and body. SMB12 This Too, Is a Map (2023) proposed postcolonial and ecological approaches to urgent contemporary issues by mapping new boundaries, solidarities, and multilayered spatiotemporal dimensions shaped by the movement of people and materials. Through SMB12, various artworks and essays emphasized the importance of creative practices in non-territorial communication and relationship-building that connect with issues of diaspora and belonging, exploitative infrastructure, border politics and territorial ownership, material extraction and the circular economy, the climate crisis, and language as an interactive and fluid political force.