This Wall

At the former border watch tower «at Schlesischer Busch» in Berlin, Ulrike Kuschel had an exhibiton using 13 August 1961 and 20 March 2007 as benchmarks to define the margins of the history of the Berlin Wall. While the visitor looks out from the second floor onto the park (i.e., the former border strip), the empty observation room fills with voices recorded back in 1961. 

German-German Memorial Rope, PP-Rope, black-red-yellow, 5 mt, 2007

Reactions and opinions of anonymous citizens, the transcription is a result of the local SED authorities’ investigations. Ulrike Kuschel took excerpts from these so-called Situational Reports from the Boroughs and recorded them on tape anew. «Why don’t you hold elections? Elections would show what the population thinks.» «I’d rather eat kangaroo meat than become a Bolshevist.» The six-minute audio piece called Jetzt wird es noch schöner - August 1961 (Things will be even better now - August 1961) creates a filter influencing one’s perception of the watchtower and its surroundings. A black-red-gold rope dangles in front the window. It is 5 m long but it ends approximately 2,5 m from the ground – out of reach even for trained climbers. The deutsches-deutsches Gedenkseil (German-German Memorial Rope) recalls the illegal attempts to cross the border and, likewise, arouses associations of the rope barriers used in commemorative events or state ceremonies. 

Installation view, at Schlesischer Busch, Berlin, 2007

For the installation 20. (19.) März 2007, Deutsche Gerechtigkeit (20th (19th) March 2007, German Justice) on the mezzanine floor, Ulrike Kuschel hung six enlarged newspaper pages in a rather sober and museum-like manner. 

Installation view, at Schlesischer Busch, Berlin, 2007

On the 19th of March 2007, the Berlin Superior Court of Justice revoked the provisional injunction against the distribution of the book Deutsche Gerechtigkeit, in which Roman Grafe critically disputes the insufficient trials of the Berlin Wall shootings. The ban had resulted from a case of a former political officer who had been deployed in Border Regiment No. 33, i.e., at the border section called Schlesischer Busch. Rather than focusing only on the specific articles relating to the case, Kuschel chose to exhibit the entire newspaper pages in reflection upon the incident within the context of the daily news.

LETZTE ÜBERPRÜFUNG is a project of the Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben e.V., directed by Svenja Moor. 

FEATURED THEME ON CITY SHARING

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