Category: Berlin Training

Visit to the Berlin Wall Memorial

Berlin wall 6

 

On Wednesday the 9th of March, we went to Bernauer Str. to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial. Our guide was born and raised in West Berlin and she has been living alongside the Wall for the first twenty years of her life.

According to her, it is important to keep parts of the Wall to remember that period of history.

Listen to Neringa, one of the participant, for whom it was also interesting to see the Wall in reality. As a matter of fact, the Wall and the “in between land” (hinterland) have been reconstituted as before 1989.

 

Berlin wall 3 Berlin wall 4 Berlin wall 5 Berlin wall 7 Berlin wall 1

Text: Marine ; Pictures: Milda; Audio interview: Damjan

Action research in Berlin

On our second day of the training 7 action research groups started exploring the city – visiting memorial sites (the one visible and the ones not so visible), interviewing passers-by, examining different perspectives on the cold war era in Berlin.

Here are some impressions from our activities and some puzzle pieces of the topography of remembrance in this city.

Group 1 – The Airlift Memorial & the Museum of Allies

Group 2 – Stasi Prison Hohenschönhausen

Group 3 – The Stasi Museum, Memorial to the 17. June 1953 Uprising, Federal Ministry of Finance and the Mural

>>> Download: Presentation of Group 3 (PDF)

Group 4 – City Centre West


>>> Download: Presentation of Group 4

Group 5 – Checkpoint Charlie

>>> Download: Presentation of Group 5

Group 6 – German Russion Museum Karlshorst

>>> Download: Presentation of Group 6 (PDF)

Group 7 – Around Alexanderplatz / City East

Thursday 10th March

On the 7th day of the Training course we tried artistic methods and participated in a graffiti workshop “ART&FUTURE WITHOUT WALLS”.The workshop was organized by organization called “Schoolclash” (facebook)

Before the workshop, all of us met in the green seminar room where we had the 12476397_1578661322451874_1846068137_nchance to know the organization “Schoolclash” better. We talked a bit about how the organization originated, what are they up to nowadays and street art in general. The presenter was really charismatic and we were excited to participate in the following activities.

 

After the introduction part, it was time to go to the “Schoolclash” premises where we were told about the following tasks. There were 3 col1081527_1578661262451880_179023422_nd war related topics, so we divided into 3 groups and each group had to fill in a piece of “wall”. In addition, everyone had a chance to make their personal artwork too. Before starting, we were briefly informed about the technique of street art. It was interesting to see how different groups chose different working methods. While 2 groups shared thoughts and tried to make them into one idea, other group decided that everyone can do as they wish and in the end their thoughts somehow connected.

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Overall, the workshop went by really fast. Even at the beginning some people seemed skeptical, as the day went, they have immersed themselves in the creative process one way or another. In the afternoon, we set up a vernissage where each of us had a chance to tell the others about their artwork. The results were delightful. At the end of the workshop, we agreed that this method is good for bonding people and eliminating discomfort between them since people tend to relax and open up doing artistic things.

After the workshop, we once again gathered in the green seminar room where we were asked to fill in 4 sections (perspectives, places, metho12527755_1578661202451886_375295630_nds, objectives) and connect them together in board. By doing that, we understood how each 4 sections connects to each other. This was helpful not only for the following activities, but also for self-reflection since we were able to see the „final picture“ of everything we have done so far.

Before the evaluation, we started brainstorming about the in-between course projects we will have to carry out until the second part in Bucharest. It was inspiring to see other participants ideas and methods.

Searching for the Matrix – action resarch in Berlin

Moonrise_Kingdom
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson (USA, 2012)

Today it was a day full of activities!

In the morning, Marina presented some methods for deconstruction narratives and perspectives in the public discourse. She gave us a very interesting input regarding how we perceived the surrenders and especially how history is told or not told around us. Museums and memorials in our cities are important to analysed and deconstruction in order to understand what story is being told behind them.

Which GAZE?

In the afternoon we went so several memorial places in Berlin, we visited them and we analyses exactly how history is delivered in this places. We also analysed where are they located and how are they related to the city, to the visitors and their curators.

My group went to visit Checkpoint Charlie where we visited the Yadegar Asisi’s Panorama and the Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie,  the museum founded by human rights activist Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt.

We were differet groups all of us visted various places including the Stasi Museum and Prisons, the DDR Museum, Treptower Park, The Refugees Musuem in Berlin and the TV Tower in Alexander Platz.

The Panaroama Asisi is a 1:1 installation that portrays the divided Berlin and allows visitors to “walk” by the old wall. You can have a and that portrays the divided Berlin. You can have an idea on how it looks like in the next two videos.

In the ‘eighties I lived on and with the Wall in the Kreuzberg district. The Panorama gathers together my own experiences and recounts to the observer stories which are rich in detail, and which would not have happened all at the same time. The many scenes from everyday life in the images presented by the Panorama show how the population came to terms with the situation and circumstances.” (Yadegar Asisi on his creation – source asisi.de)