The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall
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The Berlin Wall fell in 1989; in 1990, Germany was reunited with the integration of the former German Democratic Republic into the West German political and economic system. The physical division may be forgotten and invisible in many places. However, its lingering effects can still be felt: the goal to create a united Germany with a collective identity has yet to be achieved. Gesche Würfel’s (b. Bremerhaven, 1976; lives and works in New York) most recent photographic work investigates these divisions.
The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall explores the topography along the country’s division and proposes a new way of thinking about the legacy of the wall: Würfel traveled the complete course of the former Berlin Wall, stopping every 2.8 kilometers—in a nod to the 28-year history of the Wall—to document the present-day state of affairs at the line of separation in Berlin and Brandenburg. Complementing the photographs, created specifically for this book project, of scenes where the city’s division was reality, the artist, urban planner, and sociologist gathered materials from the Stasi Records Archives, the East German secret police, and spoke to witnesses, including political prisoners, former guest workers, and representatives of German politics and culture about their recollections. Würfel paints a multifaceted panorama and portrait of a Germany whose division and reunification continue to shape the country profoundly.
The production of the book has so far been supported by NYU Tisch Dean’s Faculty Grant, NYU Tisch Creative Research Publishing Grant, the NYU Center for the Humanities, the Puffin Foundation and private donations through NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship.
I created the project during my participation in the International Studio Program at Künstlerhaus Bethanien from 2021-22 and the summers of 2023 and 2024. It was sponsored by:
Tracey Morgan Gallery – NC Arts Council – Durham Arts Council – Center for European Studies at UNC Chapel Hill – New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fiscal Sponsorship - The Puffin Foundation - NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Partners: Stiftung Berliner Mauer – Universität der Künste, Berlin (UdK)
2.8 km (2022-23) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches
11.2 km (2022-23) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches
72.8 km (2022) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches
86.8 km (2021-22) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches (Fall 2021 series)
112 km (2021-22) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches (Fall 2021 series)
156.8 km (2022-24) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches
159.6 km (2022-23) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches
165.2 km (2022-24) archival pigment print, 70 x 105 cm / 27.56 x 41.33 inches
This project consists of three parts:
- 61 composite images. I cycled along the 160-km long Berlin Wall Trail starting from the Brandenburg Gate, and every 2.8 km – representing the 28 years of the Wall’s history - I photographically recorded those places where the divided city used to be reality. I took six photos at each location (front, back, left, right, sky, and ground) and combined them as composites in Photoshop.
-Interviews with and portraits of twenty-seven Berlin Wall witnesses. I also photographed the witnesses’ objects relating to their memories of the Berlin Wall and German reunification.
- 23 Collages of Berlin Wall archive images from the Stasi Records Archive (Archive of the Ministry of State Security of the former German Democratic Republic). I cut out the death strip from each panorama image and collaged the remains of the images to envision new landscapes without the Wall.
- 134 cut-out death strips/Berlin Wall pieces.
-134 Scanograms of the Berlin Wall pieces.
Neue Landschaft 1 / New Landscape 1 (2024), Collaged archival pigment prints, acid-free tape, 3.46 x 10.5 inches
Quelle/Source: BArch, MfS, HA I, Fo Nr. 1, Bilder 123, 16, 69
