Border-Ball: A 40-day pilgrimage along the U.S. and Mexico Border

The online exhibition of Border-Ball is the first phase of the culminating exhibition of a 40-day pilgrimage (October 29 – December 7, 2019) along the U.S. and Mexico border by artist Joel Tauber (MFA 02 Grad Art).

Border-Ball explores the meaning of the wall and how it impacts the human race psychologically, ethically and spiritually. Through the shared cultural experience of baseball that extends beyond boundaries, Tauber asks probing questions about immigration, compassion, imprisonment and more. Wearing a custom vintage baseball uniform and backpack in blue, white and red, the artist invited people who walked along with him to play catch and share their experiences of the border and immigration.

The project was developed in part through Tauber’s interpretation of Tikkun Olam, a Kabbalistic mandate to do what we can to save the world. By framing his performance and documentation along the border as a pilgrimage, the artist raises the performative gesture to a meditative action of care and opens up the opportunity to share in conversation about the border rather than limit it to polemics.

Border-Ball Documentary Trailer

Tauber began his pilgrimage at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, California, and walked along the Border Wall before heading north two and a half miles to the Otay Mesa Detention Center. He travelled there and back again daily—a seven-mile journey that connects legal entry to the U.S. with the Border Wall and the Detention Center holding those who might be in the country without all legal permits.