50 years of division

Berlin Wall, 13 August 1961 -

I was interviewing a Berliner in Alexanderplatz. He was born in Berlin and grew up with the Wall, seeing the border from the Eastern side. He now lives in the reunified city, having longed for his homeland, East Germany, since it dissolved itself twenty-one years ago. I felt traces the Cold War division had left behind.

This project is based on socio-cultural observations in post-Wall Berlin. The city has lost most of the concrete divide, with some exceptions that exist as iconic backdrops for tourists, or in smaller pieces in souvenir shops. Euphoria has also faded, alongside empty political promises for blossoming landscapes, accumulating nostalgia and resentment. The divide is now in the mind.

I have been photographing the former border and architecture that has lost its political might, and documenting Berliners’ experiences. The fading and re-emerging scenes reflect collective memories that linger like mist in the psychological landscape.
From my NUCA MA Show Artist Statement

steel screen stands

I've decided not to use the glass case for my display.

Since then, I've discussed with Kaavous the issue of holding the screens up on top of my MDF box/assembly, and decided to make steel stands, which gave me more choice of where to place the screens, over the existing stand. I have been working with Rachel in the metal workshop using plasma cutter and TIG welder to make these stands, which have holes on the base to let through cables for signal and power, and holes also for access to the control on back of the screen.

There is a slight wobble when the screens are fitted on, so I'll test and see how they work in the room, and see if I need to add extra support on the side.

adjusting Screens 1+2

I have now added 3 seconds to Screen 1 and 2 clips based on a discussion with Terry and Nick last Saturday. I've emailed Nick about my plans for further changes, although this will be last-minute, to hear his views on it.

final week developments

I am thinking of altering the soundscape due to unexpected circumstances. I plan to finish the sound (mostly of interviews) and reduce/cut sound from Screen 1 to avoid two screens separating away. I'm leaving myself Wednesday and Thursday for the last minute editing, once Nick is available.

The glass fish tank idea is also out, as the turned-over fish tank looked just like a turned-over fish tank, and not a vitrine. There is another problem pointed out by an artist, that having two screens inside the tank could heat up, even with a vent hole on top of the column. The replacement box would be made of perspex and I don't have the time to test that.

On the positive side, the column box is built, and I will be making metal attachments for the screens to be fixed on top of the column. I'll paint the box, probably with eggshell emulsion, once I cut out holes for vent (side, bottom), headphones (front, near the top) and cables (back).

Then hooks for the headphones. And transcript.

vitrine, column, assembly...

I took a walk around the Castle Museum to get measurements for display cases and columns, as I struggled to imagine the size without any physical sense of it. Anna Green at the museum gave me a brief tour and also suggested that there might be an option of renting one (although I would have to drill holes for cables and vent... so this is unlikely to happen).

So, the height is to be around 1120-1150mm, length and width is to fit the glass fish tank in the NUCA basement.

Screen 1 [08/08/2011]

Sound draft for Screens 1 and 2

Nick and Terry have designed draft soundscapes for Screen 1 and 2. I feel that their work has a lot of power, and have had to discuss how sound had to be slow and calm. I have seen their work previously, but realised my work needed a lot more subtlety than I originally imagined. I have earlier realised I needed to compromise on my editing work, as I realised I was holding back Nick and Terry from working on it. 

Through a meeting earlier with Shaun and Tom, I've once again realised it is important to have the plinth/column build soon. I need something to look at and work on, rather than thinking over it in my head. I've talked to Kaavous about this and will work in the Wood workshop next week.

Another issue I need to resolve is whether to provide the audience with transcript of the German interviews that will be played in Screen 2. I have decided not to use subtitles, partly because it would clash and distract attention away from images. Do I complete the narrative for the audience by supplying word by word information, or do I let the audience do that with their imagination?

As of now, I feel I should go for something in between, by supplying the info (also who these Berliners are) but having the booklet of transcript tucked away, so only those who wanted the additional data would access it.

Screens 1+2

I've finished the Screen 2 draft, and have juxtaposed it with Screen 1. Although I have worked with Screen 1 in sight, there are some effects I am seeing as I see the screens positioned alongside each other. I have asked my sound collaborators for their opinions, and will be making further alterations.

Photoshoot, translation and editing clips

I have been photographing at an abandoned residential building of a former USAF base in Western Germany. They are based on ideas I have been developping, and will be going back to capture more images on Friday.

I will be working on my translations and Screen 2 tomorrow.

ratio and size

I have now changed the size and ratio of the clips for the screens I intend to use. I've spoken to Fran about how I could change the settings on Premier. Although this process meant remaking parts of the clips again, it was nothing like starting from scratch, which I feared it could have been. I've now put the file in Dropbox for Nick and Terry to have a copy of.

I've been talking to Phil, trying to find a solution to how I can best control 2 screens. This will be done with Mac Pro, MOTU Ultralite and Multiscreener (a MAX MSP program).

Next week, I will convert the clip and then add the sound file. I will also purchase/make 2-4 "stereo socket 1/4'' → jack 2 mono 1/4'' jack plugs" for distributing stereo sound from each screens through MOTU Ultralite to headphones.

meeting with Terry

I've had a meeting with Terry about screen 2 and sound.

Nick has previously pointed out how a music track I'd chosen would not work for the final project. I have asked for Terry for his opinion who then discussed the issue with Nick. It seemed that there was a misunderstanding to how we were going to use the track, and Nick will use the melody/tune and experiment referencing it in the project.

Sound for screen 2 (which Terry is working on) has issues which need to be resolved. I intend to play sections of interviews with Berliners I recorded in the city. Some are in German, but I find subtitles distracting to have with the images of the clips. One idea is not to use subtitles at all, although non-German speaking audience may find the context of the work harder to understand.

Mac pro, PD and the sound meeting

I have arranged to use 2 LC15 screens, and will switch from 2 Mac Minis to a Mac Pro. The decision to switch is based on the idea of controlling 2 screens with PureData, rather than to have them run independently and risk time lags which might develop over the duration of the show. I will meet Phil about PD, once the Mac Pro arrives in his office.  

I am also using an electricity cable from the wall to the column covered with a bridge to minimize risk of tripping. And 2-4 chairs.

The meeting with Nick was productive. He will take some music off and keep the sound to minimum, to pick up the subtlety of the images I have been working on, with a reference to Tacita Dean's work in Berlin.

"In constructing her narrative, Dean linked it with the passing of time, an obsession of hers; this is a meditation on the idea of transition. People arrive and leave, the waiters come and go, the sun rises and sets, the restaurant slowly changes. The visitor becomes both a spectator of and a witness to these movements, conversations and gestures." [Musée d’art de Joliette, 2011]

There an issue which I will consider based on his opinion, that  he thought the style of the track I recorded previously was not suitable to be used.

PDR - Nachbild vom Verschwinden des Palast der Republik

by Nina Fischer, Maroan el Sani

DV, video projection, colour, 1 min. loop, 2004

I am reminded, through discussions with Tom and Shaun, that my work is subtle and needs a simple display. I am struggling to decide how far I should elaborate on the column/vitrine, so that my does not sink in to the background of the room, and at the same time not overpower my clips. I hope to resolve this issue by trying out the designs in the exhibition space once I finish the clip for second screen.

Musée d’art de Joliette [2011] Tacita Dean - Fernsehturm. [Online]
 http://www.museejoliette.org/expo_temporaire/fernsehturm_en.html [21/07/2011]
Fischer, N. & El Sani, M. (2004) Nachbild vom PDR. [Online]
 http://www.fischerelsani.net/pdr/pdr_n.html [22/07/2011]

column ideas 2

Once I finish the screen 2 clip, I will test this idea out in the exhibition room (below). I've been stuck in thinking about various designs and feel that I need to move forward from that. 

Screen 1 Rough 1 [with sound]

Nick has composed the soundscape for my work. I'll meet him on Thursday and discuss what should be done to it next. I've been listening to it and making notes.

column ideas

A model of a display based on suggestions by Kaavous.

front

back

back detail

I have also found a cube fish tank in the basement of college and have arranged to borrow it, as I need to test out a way it works for my project.

problem design

Through a discussion with Shaun I've come to realise that the current gate design would overwhelm my clips. Although it's concept works with freedom/restriction of travel relating to the breaching of the Wall, its design draws too much attention away from the screen, and ultimately the clips...

I have spoken to Kaavous at the Wood workshop about redesigning it, and will be working on a less intrusive design. I will also look in to using Mac Pro, alongside 2 Minis, regarding controlling the 2 screens. The design would also need to consider where Pro (or Minis) would go. Housing them in a bench box is an idea to keep the screen plinth slim.

Disappointing Reunification: How the East Was Lost

The West German currency Deutsche Mark of was introduced in East Germany 20 years ago today, although "the eastern German economy is still in a sorry state, and there are no indications that the situation will change" (Neubacher & Sauga, 2010).

"I would have sharply increased taxes and would not have pursued reunification with borrowed funds. There is quite a bit of self-deception in the notion that now, in the year of the 20th anniversary of reunification, we are congratulating ourselves on how wonderfully everything has turned out. The facts say otherwise: the high unemployment, the depopulated areas. And the phenomenon that people call "the Wall in our minds" still exists." (Grass, 2010)

Grass, G. (2010) SPIEGEL Interview with Günter Grass: 'The Nobel Prize Doesn't Inhibit Me in My Writing'. [Online] http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,712715-3,00.html [01/07/2011]

Neubacher, A. & Sauga, M. (2010) Germany's Disappointing Reunification: How the East Was Lost. [Online] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,703802,00.html [01/07/2011]

clips 30 June, 2011

I have made a clip which would be played on 2 screens, based on a discussion I had with Terry and Nick, that sound of one screen can connect to the other or imply that it is somehow linked to the other. There will be some clips which will crossover 2 screens.

without perspex

This could be the answer to the column/plinth idea, without using perspex sheets. It combines ideas of travel and freedom of movement, one of the issues closely related to the opening of the Wall, as well as restrictions and authority. It would compromise the sense of time I would like to create by using an archived display with perspex, but would creates a frame and physical space with direction.

The top section (control unit) could host Mac minis, hang screens, and the electricity cable coming off from the base of the gate.

Dimensions of walk-through metal detector gates

The control unit should hold over 10kgs (Mac minis 1.37kg × 2, screens 3.5kg × 2, 2 perspex sheets, cables).

more clips 26/06/11

Adverts on rotating column, just on the Eastern side of Oberbaum bridge, once a border crossing. East Berlin did not have adverts during the divide, but it was interesting to have 3 adverts with human torsos.

Another clip made of still images taken in Mauerpark. Flights take off from Tegel in West, and fly over to East. It reminded me of The Wall Jumper by Peter Schneider. Having 2 planes at different speeds to illustrate the still divided aspects of 2 Germanys.