Work
Borderline Visible
Maker Ant Hampton · Work date 2023 · Medium headphones · Role control · Experienced by the compiler 2026-07-26
Description
"Borderline Visible begins as a journey from Lausanne to Izmir in 2022 by two artist friends, one of whom experiences health problems halfway and has to stop. As the other continues toward Turkey, suddenly alone, the narration grows into a moving and troubled psychogeography as it shifts between 'we' and 'I', present and past, piecing-together value and meaning from the very human ruins of aspiration, history, and language." On the form: "an audio track combines narration, soundscape, and instructions that guide you over a given time through the book." 77 minutes, synchronised to a 232-page printed book the participant holds and turns.
Source. https://timebasededitions.com/English
On the medium. 77-minute audio track synchronised to a 232-page book the participant holds.
NOT a phone work. Headphones plus a physical book; stationary.
Anatomy
Thirteen criteria after Lauren R. Beck. Each carries a source grade: M maker-confirmed, P published, F first-hand, I inferred by the compiler, ? not yet established. Definitions are on the anatomy page.
- Participants listen through headphonesyesP
An audio track synchronised to the book, listed and noted as heard on headphones.
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoI
The journey is narrated while the participant sits holding and turning a 232-page book.
- Audio technology is necessaryyesP
"an audio track combines narration, soundscape, and instructions that guide you" through the book.
- Site-, situation- or language-specificnoI
The work travels with its book and audio; no place, circumstance or language is required of the participant.
- Engages with the history of a siteyesI
The narration is a psychogeography of a real 2022 journey from Lausanne to Izmir, piecing meaning from the history of those real places, though no single site is staged.
- Created for an urban environmentnoI
A stationary book-and-headphones work; nothing requires urban surroundings.
- Created as an artwork other than theateryesP
Published by Time Based Editions as a 232-page printed book with audio — a publishing and literary framing.
- Intended to be understood as theaterunknown?
The quoted text uses no show, performance, audience or ticket vocabulary, and nothing establishes a theatrical framing either way.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantnoI
A 77-minute fixed track synchronised to fixed pages; the work supplies its own world and would run identically anywhere.
- Spectator must participateyesP
The audio's instructions "guide you over a given time through the book," which the participant must hold and turn.
- Has live performers other than the participantsnoI
A pre-recorded 77-minute audio track; no performer is present.
- Involves game playnoI
No rules, objective or resolution state.
- Uses props other than the listening deviceyesP
A 232-page printed book the participant holds and turns throughout.
1 of thirteen are still unknown for this work. If you experienced it, you can settle them in a minute.