Juristische Körper

“The passport marks the intersection between the physical and judicial body. As a border surface on which the terms ‘identity’ and identification’ intersect, it takes on the role of a second skin. The passport is an expression of the power to define, a power that decides who is ‘German’ and who is ‘non-German’, who is ‘European’ and who is ‘non-European’, who is ‘legal’ and who is ‘illegal’. Based on the personal description, the photograph and the body measurements up to the newest scientific methods, such as the ‘genetic fingerprint’, a strategy can be discerned that aims at relocating politically fixed borders to the inside of the body and thus making them appear natural erned.” (dogfilm)