Why Celebrate?

MacLean, R. (2009) Why Celebrate the Fall of the Wall? [online] http://blog.goethe.de/meet-the-germans/

Spiegel Interview with Lech Walesa

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,659752,00.html#ref=nlint

TED Ad Clip

TED.com is a website where I often get inspired by. They bring in speakers to talk about creative ideas on technology, education or design, and most of them deliver their speech in a 20 minute slot. And before every clip, they show a TED ad-like clip where video clips of invited speakers move in a 3D way, which they gather and rotate into a globe, and fades away into the TED logo - symbolising collective intelligence forming a part of TED's mission:

"We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other." [TED, 2009].

Take a look: Ken Robinson claims schools kill creativity.

TED [2009] About TED. [online] http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/5

"Selling Democracy" in Europe

Posters produced by the Office of Military Government / U.S., the occupational authority in Germany after World War II. The office's documentary-film unit was the predecessor of the Marshall Plan motion-picture unit.

The European Recovery Program (or the Marshall Plan, named after Gen. George C. Marshall, secretary of state under President Harry S Truman) funded the war-torn Europe from 1948 until 1950, "when aid to Europe morphed into military support. Credited with speeding up the continent's economic recovery as well as restoring democracy to post-Nazi Germany, it extended the offer of aid even to the Soviet Union and East-bloc nations, which declined the help".

"The German economic miracle was due largely to American aid, and the decrepit nature of the East German economy was due to Russia's stripping of it... but we attributed that to the failure of communism, and the success of capitalism." (Berdahl in Bergman, 2005)

Bergman, B. (2005) A Man, A Plan, A Film Series. [online] http://berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/10/26_Marshall.shtml

Photo Montage by Chris Steele-Perkins

The Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins created a photo montage for an exhibition in Tokyo, which can be read individually and interacting of each other also (Steele-Perkins, 2007).

Steele-Perkins, C. (2007) What in Fact DO You Want to Say? [online] http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2007/02/what_exactly_do_you_want_to_say.html

All for One: A Bush Montage

How a collection of photographs are used to form a larger image. This montage image of George W. Bush is created by portraits of US soldiers. More can be seen at aor.macinbytes.com.

Paramount and Stars

Paramount logo with shooting (or falling?) stars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juGUxQ8FCv4

Berlin, Israeli-Palestinian and Mexico-USA walls

Negotiated Border by Yadiel J Rivera-Diaz highlights 3 border walls of Berlin, Israeli-Palestinian and Mexico-USA. Rivera-Diaz claims that border lines establishe "a distinction between two groups" which can be "political difference, unequal capital distribution, and ideology" and "regardless of their intention for separation, these borders have become places of interaction between the two sides".

Mexico-USA

Israel-Palestine

Berlin

Rivera-Diaz, Y.J. [2009] Negotiated Border. [online] http://www.topophilia.org/blog/negotiated-border

Shaun Tan

Tan, S. [2009] http://www.shauntan.net/

Voice of America

2 articles on the opening of the Wall by Voice of America (VOA). Funded by the American government, VOA first broadcasted has been broadcasting since 1942, throughout the Cold War.

Binder, D. (1990) Evolution in Europe; As Cold War Recedes, Radio Services Face Cuts. [online]
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/29/world/evolution-in-europe-as-cold-war-recedes-radio-services-face-cuts.html

De Nesnera, A. (2009) Fall of Berlin Wall Marks End of Cold War. [online] http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-02-voa25.cfm

VOA (2009) Fall of the Berlin Wall: 20 Years Later. [online] http://www.voanews.com/english/BerlinWallAnniv.cfm

Pace, S. (2009) Berlin Wall Celebration Marked by Joy and Caution. [online] http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-09-voa28.cfm

Remaining divide

Ever since the legendary press conference on Nov. 9, 1989 when Günter Schabowski, a member of East Germany's Politbüro, surprised journalists with news that people could travel without restrictions, most Berliners wanted to rid their city of what Westerners had dubbed the "Wall of Shame." (Smee, 2009)

Many claim that the Wall which divided the city still remain in people's minds. Referendums in 2008 and 2009 showed a clear split between former East and West Berlin citizens - a divide which can often be seen elsewhere in Germany.

Boston, W. (2008) Tempelhof Airport Divides Berliners Along Cold-War Lines. [online] http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0425/p04s01-woeu.html

JTW and sources (2009) Ethics-Religion Debate: Berlin Referendum Fails at the Polls. [online] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,621281,00.html

Smee, J. (2009) Heated History: Berlin Still Divided on How to Commemorate Wall. [online] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,611790,00.html

Von Hardenberg, D. (2009) Divide Remains as Berlin Celebrates. [online] http://english.aljazeera.net//focus/theberlinwall/2009/11/2009118849234700.html

John Craig Freeman

Imaging Belfast and Expanding Boundaries.

John Craing Freeman (2009) John Craing Freeman Weblog. [online] http://johncraigfreeman.wordpress.com

Senate Department for Urban Development

Walks through Berlin provides a thorough map of the Wall with monuments and events relating. Senate Chancellery hosts a similarly detailed site, The Berlin Wall.

Senate Department for Urban Development [2009] Walks through Berlin: Wall Tour - Changes to the Historical Site. [online] http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/bauen/wanderungen/en/strecke4.shtml

Virtuelle Mauer / ReConstructing the Wall

I was expecting a bit more. Beyond Manzanar recreates an interactive space of borders and camps.

Virtuelle Mauer / ReConstructing the Wall: http://www.virtuelle-mauer-berlin.de/english/events.htm

Tamiko Thiel - Online Portfolio: http://www.mission-base.com/tamiko/

Jennifer Daniel

Jennifer Daniel illustrates global issues and politics. There is no direct link between her work and the Berlin Wall, but illustrations such as Security State, 1000 Year Forecast and Immigrationare political and critical.

Daniel, J. [2009] HELLO! My name is Jennifer Daniel. You may call me Carrie A. Nation, Stephanie X, or Lacie Argyle. [online]

http://httpcolonforwardslashforwardslashwwwdotjenniferdanieldotcom.com/

What Fell Apart, What Came Together

A day before the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall, or Mauerfall, The New York Times Op-ed editors asked 9 poets to look back at the event for new inspiration. In What Fell Apart, What Came Together poets from Germany, America, Russia and Eastern European countries show their work collectively on a broadscreen, showing various perspectives regarding the event.

Williams, C.K., Şenocak, Z., Šalamun, T, Pavlova, P., Lipska, E., Doty, M., Komunyakaa, Y., Howe, M. and Weigl, B. (2009) What Fell Apart, What Came Together. [online] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/08/opinion/08berlinpoems.html

Over the Wall

"On the evening of November 9, 1989, I was watching TV. The Berlin Wall was coming down, and I was flabbergasted."

"From my 18-year-old perspective, the wall had always been there, and I had no reason to doubt that it would remain there forever. The news of the wall coming down was like somebody telling me that the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates had reversed course overnight, and that from now on you could stroll from Hamburg to Boston." (Niemann, 2009)

Christoph Niemann, an illustrator and author, observed the opening of the Berlin Wall and on TV and reflects on his visit to the divided city in 1988. He has since moved to Berlin with his family and illustrates the city 20 years on in Over the Wall. Images in his New York Times blog, Abstract City, is created from strips of orange and black coloured paper, woven into one another to form non-digital pixelated images.

In I LEGO N.Y., he replicates items from his memories of New York City, with Lego blocks. Bathroom Art, another pixelated work can be seen on Abstract City.

Niemann, C. (2009) Abstract City. [online] http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/

Niemann, C. (2008) Christoph Niemann. [online] http://christophniemann.com/index.html