Delayed images of Palast der Republik

"The building was completely sealed," said Klapsch, "so an utter stillness lay over everything. It was a strange feeling." (Spiegel Online, 2010)

The photographer Thorsten Klapsch deliberately delayed publishing his Palast der Republik photographs until the demolition was completed, to avoid being seen as a "political gesture" (Spiegel Online, 2010).

Spiegel Online (2010) Memories of East Germany's Showcase: New Book Reveals Last Photographs of Berlin's Palast der Republik. [Online] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,717697,00.html

 [07/12/2011]
Klapsch, Thorsten [2011] Palast der Republik. [Online]
 http://www.thorstenklapsch.de/architecture/palast-der-republik/ [07/12/2011]

Thomas Demand's National Gallery

Thomas Demand creates "a strudel of putting sculptures and photographs and concerns of painting into one" by constructing life-size scenes to photograph. He talks about his exhibition National Gallery which coincides with the anniversaries of the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the opening the Wall, "two pivotal historical events in German history" (This is Tomorrow, 2009). Focusing on the collective memory of Germany, Demand describes his intention to capture "society falling apart and a new one forming" (Demand, in Bound, 2011) through a raided Stasi office. 

Office (1995)

"The tacit nature of this work's Germanness is striking. Imagine walking through an exhibition by Joseph Beuys devoted to the idea of the German nation without having to notice that this is the theme. Impossible. For Gerhard Richter, even more impossible. With Sigmar Polke, Hanne Darboven, Anselm Kiefer, Isa Genzken or Martin Kippenberger--for any of the photographers of the Becher school, too--a reflection on Germany and the traces of its history in the present could only be patent, unavoidable. Is this Demand's lesson: that Germany is now no different from anyplace else, that it is at last a normal, self-confident European nation like any other, unburdened of the memory of its historic tragedies, free of the guilt and resentment that have weighed so heavily on Demand's precursors? Has the effort of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coming to terms with the past), a process as cumbersome as the word, been completed, or has it simply fizzled out?" (Schwabsky, 2009) 

"...What counts as destruction, and what counts as 'ours,' depends on your viewpoint. In 2002 the German Parliament voted to demolish the Palast der Republik, the grandiose seat of the former East German Parliament... It had been closed since 1990, and the idea was to replace it with a replica of the kaiser's castle that had once occupied the spot. The German Parliament sought to efface part of Berlin's living history in favor of sham historicism. Nothing that belonged to the GDR, according to powerful elements in Germany today, could possibly be 'ours.'" (Schwabsky, 2009) 

Bound, Robert (2011) News Report: Thomas Demand. [Online]

 http://www.monocle.com/sections/culture/Web-Articles/Thomas-Demand/ [06/12/2011]

Schwabsky, Barry (2009) A Makeshift World: On Thomas Demand. [Online]

 http://www.thenation.com/article/makeshift-world-thomas-demand?page=full [06/12/2011]

This is Tomorrow (2009) Thomas Demand: Nationalgalerie. [Online]

 http://www.thisistomorrow.info/viewArticle.aspx?artId=155&Title=Thomas%20Demand:%20Nationalgalerie

 [07/12/2011]

Illner, Peer [2011] Demand's Politics of Paper. [Online]

 http://introducingart.com/ISSUE%206/CONCEIVE/Peer%20Illner.html [06/12/2011]
MoMA [2011] Thomas Demand [Online]
 http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/116 [06/12/2011]
Tate Channel (2008) Meet the Artist: Thomas Demand [Online]
 http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/26519199001 [06/12/2011]

Echo by Bettina Pousttchi

Bettina Pousttchi in 2009 created a photo installation of Palast der Republik on the facade of Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, a temporary gallery built where the Palast once stood. In her interview, Pousttchi talks about different times represented by two clocks, and her focus on media reality rather than factual reality. Pousttchi also notes that the Palast had changed its meaning after the fall of the Wall, to symbolising "reunified Germany and Berlin" (Pousttchi, 2009).

Echo (2009)

Pousttchi, Bettina (2009) Bettina Pousttchi: Echo / Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin / Interview. [Online]
 http://dai.ly/clCHFt [07/12/2011]

Pousttchi, Bettina (2009) Echo. [Online]
 http://www.pousttchi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94&Itemid=54
 [07/12/2011]

Christoph Niemann on politics of immigration

"Too often in politics, very complex subjects are being turned into sound bites, so it’s easy to take them apart" (Niemann, in Kaneko & Mouly, 2011).

To provide context and "to help keep things in perspective" on immigration debate in America, Christoph Niemann drew "a parallel between current immigrants and early settlers" for the New Yorker magazine cover. The artist also claimed, "cartoonists, not politicians, should be the ones who condense political discussions into simple images"  (Niemann, in Kaneko & Mouly, 2011).

Kaneko, Mina & Mouly, Françoise (2011) Cover Story: Promised Land. [Online]
 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2011/11/cover-story-christoph-niemann.html [04/12/2011]

Sanchez, Ray & Steiner, Laura (2011) The New Yorker Thanksgiving Cover Takes On Immigration. [Online] 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/23/the-new-yorker-thanksgiving-cover-takes-on-immigration_n_1109462.html#s495708&title=November_28_2011 [04/12/2011]

Forgotten town of Wünsdorf

In 1994, the population of Wünsdorf decreased from 60,000 to 6,000 as the Russian forces left. The town once hosted the headquarters of Soviet forces in East Germany, and was "a Soviet city in the heart of Germany" (Rüger, 2011) but is now forgotten.

"Walking around the empty rooms, halls and corridors, it takes some imagination to picture this rambling, deserted complex filled with thousands of people... The light falling on the faded pastel-colored walls and on the flaking paint of the doors give this military architecture a nostalgic atmosphere. Here and there, one finds objects left behind, such as a broken piano lying in the dust, its legs removed." (Rüger, 2011)

Rüger, Jörg (2011) Abandoned Soviet Outpost: Glimpses of a Forgotten, Forbidden City.
 [Online] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,800658,00.html [03/12/2011]

Skhizein by Jérémy Clapin

Jeremy Clapin in his animation Skhizein created a character, Henry, who has been shifted 91cm from his physical self. It is an "exploration of the metaphysical implications of place" as well as self-separation highlighting Henry’s confounded psychological state. The "main character is ultimately hounded by his own displacement, reassuring himself, 'I am here, I am here, I am here...'" [Barnum-Swett, 2011].

Barnum-Swett, Daniel [2008] Skhizein: Jérémy Clapin 2008 [Online]

 http://iffboston.bside.com/2009/films/skhizein_iffboston2009 [21/11/2011]

Film by Tacita Dean

11 minutes Film by Tacita Dean is the first work in the Unilever Series devoted to moving image. Projected onto a 13 metres tall white monolith in the darkened Turbine Hall, it "celebrates the masterful techniques of analogue film-making as opposed to digital" [Tate, 2011a]. Dean explains one of the element of the Film to be "about everything that exists beyond the rational self" [Tate, 2011b].

Tate [2011a] The Unilever Series: Tacita Dean. [Online]
 http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilever2011/default.shtm [19/11/2011]
Tate [2011b] "It's all about metaphor": Tacita Dean. [Online] http://tacitadean.tate.org.uk/ [19/11/2011]

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]