In his video work "Fiction of a Non-Entry" Leinkauf shows the non-invisible borders on the seabed between Israel and Jordan and/ Egypt in the Red Sea, and as well as between the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and Morocco in the Straits of Gibraltar, which are militarily guarded by border fortificationscontrols. The artist leaves the barricaded strictly-monitored land route, dives down to the seabed and peacefully "subverts" the borders. Through his subversive "strolling" through the borderless sea waters, he performatively suspends politically motivated border demarcations. Through his actions, he exposes the radicalness of borders as well as the brutalities of their control system and fundamentally questions the practice of territoriality.

Glory (2019) Burned national flags, framed 85 x 60 cm

Glory deals with the symbolic power of national flags. On the one hand, they symbolize territorial belonging and nation-state identity and on the other hand, they symbolize separation and exclusion. In the case of political conflict, national flags become catalysts for the symbolic separation of self and other. The installation Glory shows the burned national flags of two states that have been separated for 70 years: North and South and North Korea. At In the moment of burning, the two flags have converge d in terms of colours, shape s and materiality, leaving only the slightest suggestion of the difference s between the two. The ashes, held visible in the image's frame, as the remains of the flags from the burning process, indicate transience of a state symbol. and at the same time the return to the origin:, to nature. In the act of burning, Leinkauf blurs the demarcations of the two national flags and opposes the growing emphasis on national territoriality.In sculptural form, which remains visible as a result of his performative burning, Leinkauf opposes the increasing isolation of national territories and overrides the symbolic power of both national flags.

Mischa Leinkauf (Berlin) deals with political and social boundaries and limitations of a theoretical and physical nature. His works explore limitations of spaces through curtailmentsrestrictions, borders, rules, architectures and barriers. He questions the sense and nonsense of drawing borders, of national identities and territories in the 21st century. Through interventions in public space or natural environments, he provokes situations that create temporary irritation and suspend socially or politically motivated demarcations.