BBC Radio Norfolk interview

On 30th August I was interviewed by Matthew Gudgin on BBC Norfolk about the Berlin Wall - built 50 years ago that month - and my MA exhibition on Berliners' post-Wall perceptions.

My NUCA exhibition profile's been moved to another page.

Politics at Checkpoint Charlie

Stand off at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961 only affirmed "the Four Power status of the city," notes Colitt (2011). Military officials and diplomats of the Allies were able to cross the Wall after the hostile confrontation at the border 50 years ago, while Berlin remained divided. It takes 28 years for the Wall to open up.

Colitt, Leslie (2011) Berlin crisis: the standoff at Checkpoint Charlie [Online]
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/24/berlin-crisis-standoff-checkpoint-charlie [24/10/2011]

Ruth Gwily for NYT OpEd

Ruth Gwily's illustration for the NYT OpEd. The image above is from the NYT article online. The image below creates a silhouette from negative spane.

Gwily, Ruth (2011) in Holmes, Anna "The Disposable Woman" [Online] 

 http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/03/04/opinion/04oped_1.html [15/10/2011] 

VisualizeUs (2011) NY Times Op-ed design [Online]

 http://vi.sualize.us/view/c2bcbef0c08c9e4c05a9d9ee3e02e095/ [15/10/2011] 

Wall perspectives

Exhibition at Museum Villa Schöningen.

Golden Section Graphics News (2011) Mauerperspektiven [Online]
 http://goldensectiongraphics.blogspot.com/2011/09/mauerperspektiven.html [14/10/2011]

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung [2011] Jugend Opposition in der DDR [Online]
 http://www.jugendopposition.de/index.php?id=1 [14/10/2011]

The Connected States

A map created from a data of mobile phone calls shows how people connect in the US, within states and across state borders.

MIT Sensible City Lab [2011] The Connected States of America [Online] http://senseable.mit.edu/csa/interact.html [14/10/2011]

Ratti, Carlo., Sobolevsky, Stanislav., Calabrese, Francesco., Andris, Clio., Reades, Jonathan., Martino, Mauro., Claxton, Rob. & Strogatz, Steven H. (2010) Redrawing the Map of Great Britain from a Network of Human Interactions [Online]
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0014248 [14/10/2011]
Calabrese, Francesco., Dahlem, Dominik., Gerber, Alexandre., Paul, DeDe., Chen, Xiaoji., Rowland, James., Rath, Christopher. & Ratti, Carlo (2011) The Connected States of America: Quantifying Social Radii of Influence [Online] http://senseable.mit.edu/papers/pdf/2011_calabrese_et_al_socialcom.pdf
[14/10/2011]

Ampelmännchen turns 50

The East German pedestrian icon Ampelmännchen, proposed by traffic psychologist Karl Peglau, turns 50. It first appeared in Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin, and was once scheduled to be removed from East German pedestrian lights after the unification, to be replaced by an updated design. It has since developed into a commercial brand and a symbol of Ostalgia.

Ampelman.de [2011] We are the People [Online]
 http://ampelmann.de/html/geschichte_english.html [07/10/2011]
Ampelmanshop [2011] http://ampelmannshop.com/ [07/10/2011]
Gödecke, Christian (2011) Ampelmännchen aus aller Welt: Auf mein Zeichen: los!
 http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/23604/1/auf_mein_zeichen_los.html [07/10/2011]
Gödecke, Christian (2011) Men in Hats: East Germany's Cult Pedestrian Signal Turns 50 [Online]
 http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,790133,00.html [07/10/2011]

Art Worlds After 1989

The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds After 1989 on globalization and geopolitical shift.

Jermolaewa, Anna (2008) Kremlindoppelganger, Fotoserie, je 50 x 35 cm, gerahmt, 2008 [Online]
 http://www.jermolaewa.com/works/kremlin_doppel.html [01/10/2011]
Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe [2011] The Global Contemporary. Art after 1989
 [Online] http://www.global-contemporary.de/en/[01/10/2011]

Cross-border Facebook friends

Peace on Facebook has created a graph based on the numbers of friend connections between people of different regions, religions and political affiliations. The image above shows connections made in regions Israel-Palestine, Albania-Serbia, India-Pakistan and Greece-Turkey (Peace on Facebook, 2011). 

Social Interactive with Facebook, UNESCO and the Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab have created the visualisation above, using "networked technologies to transcend identity-based difference, and cultivate connectedness across conflict divides" [Social Interactive, 2011]. It is also "creating live-action video diaries" where "video stories will catalyze a powerful global outreach campaign to foster cross-conflict friendships in each region" [Social Interactive, 2011].

Peace on Facebook (2011) Friendships on Facebook [Online] http://peace.facebook.com/ [01/10/2011]

Social Interactive [2011] Friends witout Borders [Online] http://www.socialinteractiveinc.com/case.html

 [01/10/2011]

German separation visualised

Several Zeit Online data visualization Deutschlandkarte highlighting the German divide. The image above shows that there is only one out of more than one-hundred board members of Dax listed companies is from the former East (Block, 2010a). The maps below show a distribution of first names in East and West based on data from a 1998 phone directory (Block, 2010b), and unmarried parents (Block, 2009).

Block, Jörg (2010a) Deutschlandkarte: Dax-Vorstände [Online]
http://images.zeit.de/lebensart/2010-10/d-karte-44/d-karte-44-thickbox.jpg [30/09/2011]
Block, Jörg (2010b) Deutschlandkarte: Ost-West-Vornamen [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2010/40/Deutschlandkarte-Vornamen [30/09/2011]
Block, Jörg (2009) Deutschlandkarte: Nichteheliche Kinder [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2009/53/Deutschlandkarte-53 [30/09/2011]

Block, Jörg (2010) Deutschlandkarte: Eiscafés [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2010/35/Deutschlandkarte-Eiscafes [30/09/2011]
Block, Jörg (2010) Deutschlandkarte: Drogenfunde [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2010/41/Deutschlandkarte-Drogenfunde [30/09/2011]
Block, Jörg (2010) Deutschlandkarte: Wo wird gearbeitet? [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2010/43/Deutschlandkarte-Arbeit [30/09/2011]
Block, Jörg (2011) Deutschlandkarte: Einkaufen im großen Stil [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2011/18/Deutschlandkarte-Shoppingcenter [30/09/2011]
Block, Jörg (2010) Deutschlandkarte:Wohin es Ausländer zieht [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2010/04/Deutschlandkarte-04 [30/09/2011]
Block, Jörg (2010) Deutschlandkarte: Lottospieler in Deutschland [Online]
 http://www.zeit.de/2010/04/Deutschlandkarte-04 [30/09/2011]

"Tell us about the revolutionary changes"

Goethe-Institute (2011) "I was enthused and happy" [Online]
 http://www.goethe.de/ges/pok/dos/dos/mau/enindex.htm [30/09/2011]

an idea for multiple narratives

"Inside the exhibit space, visitors step into a media field composed of 40 seven-foot screens. As the screens come to life, visitors discover a 12-minute immersive film. A kaleidoscope of images and sound surrounds them. They are enveloped in a rich narrative about the pattern of progress, told through awe-inspiring stories of the past and present. They are inspired to think about humankind's quest for progress, and about making our world work better, today." (IBM, 2011)

IBM (2011) An Exploration into Making the World Work Better [Online] 
 http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/thinkexhibit/ [30/09/2011]

Multiple overlays of non-unified histories

"In November 1989 the wall came down, and West and East Germans began rediscovering each other; but the socialist and capitalist cultures have been slow to merge. Since reunification Germany has been searching for new patterns of self-recognition." (Stih & Schnock, 2009)

The past is present and remains in "multiple overlays" in Berlin. The histories of buildings, sites and people have build up "multiple overlays; street names are changed overnight, structures are reshaped and reborn," they note, and that "spaces without borders" in the city cannot provide the same sense of freedom people felt arriving to the isolated West Berlin surrounded by the physical concrete barrier "that once ruled the lives of Berliners are mostly erased". This creates edifices "to retell the complex story it symbolized" (Stih & Schnock, 2009) that I see as  two sides of a coin.

Stih, Renata & Schnock, Frieder (2009) Open Space: Berlin After Reunification [Online] http://places.designobserver.com/feature/open-space-berlin-after-reunification/11657/ [29/09/2011]

Digital and linear

Monteiro (2011) discusses linear and interrupted narratives, and how multiple media (images, videos) can support the story without fragmenting the flow by giving iPad apps examples. 

Atavist.net (2011), distributing "original nonfiction storytelling" apps, uses Periodic Technology to combine audio, video, photographs, maps and/or timelines to the story.  

Atavist.net (2011) Our Platform [Online] http://atavist.net/licensing/ [29/09/2011]

Monteiro, Pedro (2011) Story, interrupted: why we need new approaches to digital narrative [Online]
 http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2011/09/08/story-interrupted-why-we-need-new-approaches-to-digital-narrative/ [29/09/2011]

Laurent, Olivier (2011) iPublish: Photojournalists turn to the iPad to tell their stories [Online]
 http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/report/2110147/ipublish-photojournalists-ipad-tell-stories [29/09/2011]
 Laurent, Olivier (2011) National Geographic photographer ditches website, turns to the iPad [Online]
 http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/q-and-a/2111082/national-geographic-photographer-ditches-website-ipad [29/09/2011]

Thoughts, experiences and perceptions

"Philosophy estranges us from the familiar not by supplying new information but by inviting and provoking a new way of seeing… once the familiar turns strange, it's never quite the same again. Self-knowledge is like lost innocence, however unsettling you find it, it can never be unthought or unknown. What makes this enterprise difficult but also riveting, is that moral and political philosophy is a story and you don't know where this story will lead but what you do know is that the story is about you." (Sandel, 2009)

Sandel, Michael (2009) Justice: What's The Right Thing To Do? Episode 01 "The Moral Side of Murder " [Online] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY&feature=player_embedded#! [26/09/2011]

Printed past present

Jasonepowell (2011) Looking Into the Past: Crowd Watching the World Trade Center Burn from the Brooklyn Promenade, September 11, 2001. [Online] http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonepowell/ [26/09/2011]

Memory, repression and a soldier

A cover of the NYTimes Magazine, designed by Nicholas Blechman, hosts both features on Homeland Security, and trauma and repression through a combination of an illustration and a photograph. A soldier drawn with lines is placed over a landscape photograph with a house and a car, with text and the Magazine logo. The landscape photograph is visible only through the semi-transparent soldier.

Blechman, Nicholas (2003) How Far: New York Times Magazine [Online]
 http://www.nicholasblechman.com/illustration [25/09/2011]
Slater, Lauren (2003) Repress Yourself [Online]
 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/magazine/23REPRESSION.html?pagewanted=all [25/09/2011]

Cross-Pacific comparison of narratives

"Westerners are the protagonists of their autobiographical novels... Asians are merely cast members in movies touching on their existences." (Nisbett, in Osnos, 2011)

Developmental psychologists Jessica Han, Michelle Leichtman and Qi Wang asked four- and six-year-old American and Chinese kids about their daily lives and what was on their minds. It was 1988. The results showed that the American kids "had made twice as many references to their internal lives—their likes and dislikes, their moods—as had the Chinese children" (Osnos, 2011).

Peter Hessler claims that the Chinese people "didn’t like to be the center of attention, and they took little pleasure in narrative". This is due to the way that Chinese philosophy devotes a central emphasis to group relationships and context—as distinct from the traditions of individualism passed down from the Greeks, claims Richard Nisbett, who specializes in cross-cultural psychology (Osnos, 2011).

Osnos, Evan (2011) Storytelling in China and America [Online]
 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2011/09/storytelling-in-china-and-america.html#ixzz1YzIrqlrq [24/09/2011]

The Street of Ambiguous Narratives

"Everyone can talk about their memories of the time and explain a bit about how things were." (Christa Holtei, in Smith, 2011)

A picture book Die Straße ("The Street") illustrates "the history of Germany's turbulent last 100 years through the prism of a single street" with a focus on the Third Reich period, as well as "when the rebuilding of Germany began" after the war (Smith, 2011). Its illustrator Gerda Raidt notes the problem of addressing such event "without directly confronting the children with the horror" and has "tried to incorporate little hints all over the pictures" - a grocery store with its window smashed and shards of glass littering the pavement, a black mourning sash hangs over a portrait of a man, a portrait of Hitler has been stashed away in the attic...

Raidt also notes "it's better if you have to ask for yourself, rather than having everything explained to you" and the prewar political developments depicted in the street scenes are intentionally ambiguous. The idea of depicting the history of the Third Reich without explaining it is a relatively new approach in Germany (Smith, 2011). 

Smith, David Gordon (2011) Where's Adolf? Tackling Germany's Nazi Past in a Children's Book. [Online]
 http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,788117,00.html [25/09/2011]


Holtei, Christa and Haidt, Gerda (2011) Die Strasse: Eine Bilderreise durch 100 Jahre [Online] 
http://www.beltz.de/fileadmin/beltz/leseproben/978-3-407-79444-4.pdf [25/09/2011]

Playing among the Ruins

"While the Wall stood, the people longed for liberation and Berlin came to symbolize their fight for freedom. This enthusiasm still remains and the free spaces dotted throughout the city are what make the present Berlin such a ‘special place’. The micro-utopias presented ‘here’, these special places that we are permitted today, are expressed through videos, paintings, performances, etc., by 18 artists and projects that have gathered together from around the world to base themselves in Berlin. The history of society that replaces ideology, the reconstruction of stories, the relationship between spaces and identity brought about by intervention with the city, are questioned through performances, art, information, bodies, and urban spaces, demonstrating a spectacular creativity with a new phase of sensibility." [MOT, 2011]

Nevin Aladağ
John Bock
Phil Collins
Omer Fast
Fuji Re-United (Simon Fujiwara & Kan Fujiwara)
Isa Genzken
Katharina GrosseAlicja Kwade
Simon Dybbroe Møller
Kirstine Roepstorff
Anri Sala
Matthias Wermke & Mischa Leinkauf
Ming Wong
Haegue Yang

Saâdane Afif
Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda
Christian Jankowski
Institute for Spatial Experiments
 (founded by Olafur Eliasson)

MOT [2011] Berlin 2000-2011: Playing among the Ruins. [Online]
 http://www.mot-art-museum.jp/eng/2011/berlin/ [22/09/2011]

DDR Disneyland

The giant Ferris wheel at Spreepark was erected in October 1989 for the 40th anniversary of the foundation of Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) - a month before the Berlin Wall was breached. "The borders were opened, and the whole of West Berlin became the preferred playground of the colour-hungry East Berliners." (Alas, 2010).

Alas, Joel (2010) Berlin’s Ruined Theme Park. [Online]
 http://joeldullroy.blogspot.com/2010/11/berlins-ruined-theme-park.html [23/09/2011]