Interview Justine Corrijn

Justine Corrijn interviewed by Benjamin Earl during the Graduation Show 2021 at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK).

A Table for 7,800,000,000, Please

Graduation project 2020-2021 by Justine Corrijn
Wood installation

We live in a world in which territories are redrawn continuously through processes of deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation. Drawing and redrawing borders, nation-states maintain a hold on Earth’s geopolitical landscape.

In A Table for 7,800,000,000, Please, Justine Corrijn addresses the colonial logic behind this territorial behaviour by examining the history behind the territorial claims on Antarctica. Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty, an agreement that entered into force in 1961, the continent has been declared a zone free of nuclear tests and the disposal of radioactive waste to ensure that it is used for peaceful purposes only. However, as the treaty will become modifiable in 2048, the future of the continent is uncertain.

In her work, Corrijn argues that it is in the interest of all human and non-human kind that the future of Antarctica should be discussed openly. Through the use of archival materials, the work questions imperialistic ideas on territory and borders, and explores how to approach new territories without this colonial logic.