The passport is the noblest part of a person. (B. Brecht)

PASSPORT PLEASE

a 're' action by Hüseyin Isik

All ID card inspectors in the world have something in common: they are armed.

The tiredness of the whole day is spread over my body; and for days this pain has been in my head. I am on the U4; the door closes in Schönbrunn. It is the point at which I always get up; I hang my bag over my shoulder, take the shopping bag in my hand; and the vibrations of the subway intensify the pain in my head. I lean myself, my jacket, my bag and the bag, against the wall next to the door. The subway stops in Hietzing and I hit the door handle with the flat of my hand. A little later I take my place in the crowd on the escalator. With a routine jump I separate myself from the escalator to the non-moving floor. Suddenly the crowd moves away from me; a crowd of policemen takes their place. One of them lowers his eyes into mine - he is getting closer and closer. With his arms outstretched he wants to prevent me from flying away, to push me against the wall. Who is this obstacle that is blocking my daily route? I look at this obstacle, I feel something, the pain in my head goes away, my eyes go away and I go back...

My first ID check

After the coup of March 12, 1971 - I am a ten-year-old child - there is a curfew throughout Turkey, police and military go from house to house - identity and ID checks.

This case repeats itself until the mid-seventies.

Having a face on your body is not enough: you have to have an ID.

At the end of the seventies, it is impossible to go from one street to the next in Istanbul without an ID check. You can still see the traces of the ID on our buttocks from that time.

September 12, 1980 - another military coup - even more controls. The ID card becomes a part of the body. If you leave your ID card at home, you will be a guest in the police prison for several days.

I notice: not only the photo, but also the place of birth becomes important during the check.

Mid-1980s - my first trip abroad: ID card check becomes passport check. That means waiting at customs, the travelers standing behind me become impatient, a new door has to be opened for them...

His eyes still meet mine and the policeman urges: "ID card, please..."

I did not choose my mother, my father, my name, birthday and place of birth, color, gender, nationality and religion, nor the laws that govern me; I was thrown into this world.

Every child has a heart for their hero.

As a child, I often went to Luna Park; the most interesting for me were the stencilled figures without faces: Zorro, Pekos Bill, Superman, Sitting Bull - all our heroes were here.

Here we were allowed to choose our identity - the photo became our chosen ID.

The exhibition 'ID please' also gives you the opportunity to choose, to choose between identities from different nations.

Large-format reproduced ID cards are on display.

The difference to the original: the face on your passport photo is cut out.

This gives visitors the opportunity to choose their preferred identity and have it captured on a Polaroid photo.

The visitor is thus given a choice, an opportunity for personal identification with a new identity.

In concrete terms, the re'Action' offered the choice between: an Iraqi, Japanese, Turkish and Dutch passport, an Austrian foreigner's ID card, an identity card from the occupation period and a victim's ID card from the post-war period.