Today’s event at the Berlin Gallery was very insightful and relevant towards my final presentation topic. This came at a perfect time with some final information as we present tomorrow. The most interesting topic we discussed was actually brought up before entering the museum, color and the lack of color. If an artist chooses to use color this will carry a local connection as color is inspired by locality. The absence of color does the opposite. A white, black or grey piece of art represents universalizes meaning the piece does not have any strict relationships to a place or event.
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The visit to the Rütli school was a very interesting contrast to the videos we had watched in class. The school still seems to hold to the roots of freedom amongst students, all though there has been a lot of reform. The students are allowed freedom to go off campus and eat and pick their own classes. Some resemblances to the old school is students drawing on walls (most were commissioned art projects but I saw a student drawing in sharpie), and students banging on doors being disruptive. These are a lot tamer than the video we watched in class of students showing off knives, throwing rocks, and threatening reporters.
Talking to the Imam was very eye opening. It turns out the Islam church is able to receive funding from the government, but wants to remain independent so “we don’t have to answer to anyone”. They have received a “trust” from the government, saying the government trusts the mosque, but along with this did not want any money which creates an artificial separation of church and state.the mosque has a tithe of 6.25% of income, this is expected from community members but is not followed up on or double checked. It also appears that once a Mosque has been in the community for an amount of time, it becomes more accepted by outsiders as they learn more about the Islam faith.
Not allowing people to settle in the same area for fear of these areas becoming a “ghetto” is both a positive and negative. It appears odd to allow the estate to control where you are allowed to live, but would overcrowding of a small area filled with typically poorer people in fact create a more modern “ghetto”? A large number of immigrants becomes an issue as it strains the economic subsidies. Germany was paying for families to take care of their bodies and shipping them back to Turkey. Another issue is the actual burial site. Islam says not to be buried with Christians, but graveyards we’re not owned by church so there was no control. Different burial practices between church and state resulting in a multitude of issues.
Repurposing old Jewish buildings seems to be a very interesting topic. The issues arise when people discuss how to properly use this space and these buildings. Does repurposing the buildings into something, which there is currently a need for, take away from or hurt the history behind the buildings? Or, does repurposing these older historic buildings actually respect the buildings more by putting them to “good use”? Some examples of repurposing are: voids that were caused by massive destruction from bombs became soccer fields, restaurants being installed inside the same building as squatters as a dual purpose. How should Berlin continue on to push forward politically, socially, and economically.
Listening to Barbara speak was very interesting. We have learned an incredible amount about the division of Berlin and how the people were affected by this which formed opinions in my head. After listening to Barbara speak almost all of the ideas I had were dismissed. I especially found this interesting due to how terrifying Schneider made the Stasi sound as he described 285,000 Stasi for 18 million people. She is very proud to be an East Berliner and contradicted a lot of what I had thought an East Berliner would be like. Later on Dr. Sabine spoke to us on more of a factual basis with graphs and charts which was an interesting contrast to the personal reflection which Barbara had provided.
Today we took a tour of the Berlin wall that was very gut wrenching to see. It is one thing to read, see videos, or talk about how devastating the wall was to Berlin and all of the horrible things it caused. To actually stand on the ground where there had been military patrols, mines, barbed wire, guard towers, and deaths was very moving. To see the Berlin wall in person and see the surrounding area put the Berlin wall into an entire other perspective. Seeing the memorial for the people who had lost their lives, either through trying to escape or tragedy, made everything much realer and brought a new understanding of how devastating the Berlin wall was.
Today was the first day in Berlin. Most of the day was spent walking around the area close to the hotel, exploring the architecture and history all over the city. It was very interesting to see some of the things that we had spoken about in class live and with my own eyes. The city is filled with remodeled destruction including bombed out buildings that are being remodeled to keep as much as the original damage intact as possible. This includes bullet holes and very visibly cracked structures. This was very interesting to see as we had talked about the topic of how Berlin should rebuild a lot in class.
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