Austria in Transit: Displacement and the Nation-State

This extensive issue comprises my sole-authored introduction, two artist interviews and fifteen edited articles. Against the mass displacement of the past decade, the issue considers Austria’s particular status as a transit state in the European context and its interdisciplinary contributions engage with cultural responses to forced migration. Focusing on historical and contemporary debates and representations, it offers diverse case studies from the Austrian context whose critical aesthetic potential help assess the nation’s place in a Europe caught between loudly proclaimed humanitarian tradition and the rush to protect its borders.