Matter of memory
Our relationship with the city includes thousands of relics connected to memories in our minds, most of which are primarily meaningful on a personal level.
Berlin is a disjointed, juxtaposed and above all heterogeneous city.
Berlin is truly a city of process. A city that is always going somewhere but never arriving and standing on its own in its own right.
Berlin is full of attempted Utopian projects that were intended to forge an identity for the city.
However, for most people today, this heap of failed Utopias IS the identity of Berlin : a comprehensive, unified identity is not what Berlin is about ; heterogeneity is what sets the city apart from other European capitals ; the celebration of differences is the essential, inalienable freedom of this city.
The process of historical relics being absorbed and yet having their shape preserved is by no means unique to Berlin.
Bunkers’s static nature contrasts with Berlin’s otherwise dynamic history – hence, the discrepancy between a relic’s life and the speed of history becomes more obvious in these rigid relics which cannot be destroyed or manipulated beyond their original intention. The bunkers’ context is manipulated to either accelerate or decelerate time while the object remains fixed and intact. The city of Berlin bends aoround the bunkers as it attempts to (re)write its history.
Berlin in the process of writing its continuous history is a fascinating place. Time speeds up and slows down alternatingly in different locations across the city.
It is exhilarating to be here in Berlin during the process. At the moment, everything is in flux, especially history and time, creating a dynamic city changing its future throught cosmetic alterations of its past.
It is a fantastically fascinating and unique experience to wander around the city and feel time alternatingly speed up or slow down.
History, in Berlin more than many other places, is very, very subjective. The city of Berlin is realigning itself with its history, and at the same time realigning its history through the city.
The history of Berlin is a history of conflicting systems attempting to realise their Utopian visions in an urban setting. The city has been a laboratory of built ideologies, each one treating their subjects like a Tabula Rasa.
The conflicting systems have all left their imprint on Berlin, and while many habe been forgotten, converted or destroyed, countless others remain today. Some are incorporated in the urban fabric, while others have become useless and obsolete.
One aspect of particular interest is the significance of the physical void left behind by the Berlin Wall. (death strip)
The cultural capital Berlin has evolved into since the end of the Cold War would be unthinkable without the voids ; this is where nightclubs, art-installations, concerts and flea markets thrived to make Berlin what it is today. These spaces can be used for anything or for nothing. Experimental culture can burgeon and evolve. For all intents and purposes, these ‘unprogrammed’ spaces are the cornerstones of cultural innovation in this city.
The voids give Berlin a distinctive spatial character and create unique opportunities in regard to public space. The voids are free spaces, to be used or inhabited in different ways as long as they are a temporary nature.
Berlin will never be as picturesque as other German cities, but it can offer a unique urban landscape of spatial opportunities unrivalled by any other European city.
Berlin is a city with a lot of variation in its built environment. It is by no means one of Europe’s more beautiful cities, but can’t best be described as a city with endless variation in its architectural heritage.
The (a)mending of history creates a city with a dynamic concept of time, alternatingly accelerating and decelarating and sometimes even shifting from linear to cyclical in an effort to rearrange the city’s past.
As of yet, it is unclear when – or if – time will return to its normal linear pace or wether the city will spiral deeper into chronological chaos.
Berlin as a city has never stopped moving.
This image of a manufactured history is mirrored by an image created by a number of relics from the 20th century ; relics that continue to tell the history of Berlin as discontinuous process, a history of opposing sysytems and revolution ather than evolution.
Berlin is a city of failed utopias, each piled on the top of the last, with people living in between.
Berlin’s history read through its relics and voids provides a more acurate history and image of contemporary Berlin than its monuments ever could.
(Extracts from "Berlin- matter of memory" by Fredrik Torisson)