25th anniversary of the wall -Lichtgrenze

Berlin's infamous wall just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the day it all finally came tumbling down. I spent a few hours exploring the installation of balloons along the inner city area of the wall. The project was inspired by an idea from Christopher Bauder and Marc Bauder and the Kulturprojekte GmbH. More info here


  The idea is good and the installation looks great at night but suffers a bit by day. Of course the best way to look at this project is from a symbolic point of view and in this regard its effective. In most parts of the city the wall is long gone so this ghostly reminder of what once divided serves to cause one to pause and think of what happened here. At all too many locations, there are memorials for the people who died trying to flee the East. In some places its a plinth or plaque or simply a subtle cross incorporated into a railing.

  The big event on the last evening was the release of balloons as a symbolic fall of the wall. I think most were expecting all the balloons to go at once rather than a slow release so it was a bit anti-climatic. There was a light inside each stand so as each balloon left it also left the light and disappeared into the black sky disappointing many photographers :) Considering the incredible speed the wall actually fell, basically a few hours after the news conference, it seemed more apropos to have all the balloons go at once. But that would mean a shorter show for the home audience I suppose...

  Later in the evening a sizable number of people were walking home with as many of the balloon towers as they could carry. I expect a few front gardens to have new architectural details, perhaps a few artists will create something with them as well.

Until next time,
Andy

The Brandenburg's and the Obama's

Back in June US president Obama came to Berlin for a photo op with the Brandenburg Gate. It was quite incredible how much of the city was disrupted by this. All kinds of restrictions on which streets you could use and when, many were closed off completely.

There he is, I think.

  Above is as close as you could get to the event. The gate is right next to the large park called Tiergarten and even this was full of fences and police. Behind those columns was the setting for the event.

  The US TV networks were comparing this speech to his first speech here in Berlin during his campaign through Europe back in 2008. Back then Berlin and most of the world seemed to think he was a saviour from the extremist right of the Republican Bush years. So that speech had a huge crowd but this one was much smaller. The networks used this as a sign that Europe had soured to Obama. What they failed to mention was that in 2008 it was a public speech by a senator whereas this was a private event for friends.

  So the crowd was an invited guest list of politicians, leaders and friends of various descriptions. All hemmed in to the Pariser Platz square. Impossible to fit a similar sized crowd.

Memorial

  As you look past Obama on the podium directly behind him was the gate and a long straight street leading to the Siegessäule (victory column). The site of his speech in 2008. Also on the street was the (above) small chunk of Berlin wall with the words "den opfern der mauer", the victims of the wall.

  This city has so many reminders of its recent history that I regularly stumble upon. This one for people trying to flee to freedom from an oppressive government. I wonder what will be left behind by Obama...

Andy