East Side Gallery

About

The East Side Gallery memorial in Berlin-Friedrichshain is a permanent open-air gallery on the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall in Mühlenstraße between the Berlin Ostbahnhof and the Oberbaumbrücke along the Spree. It consists of a series of murals painted directly on a 1,316 m (4,318 ft) long remnant of the Berlin Wall, located near the centre of Berlin, on Mühlenstraße in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. In the spring of 1990, after the opening of the Berlin Wall, this section was painted by 118 artists from 21 countries. The artists commented on the political changes of 1989/90 in a good hundred paintings on the side of the Wall that was formerly facing East Berlin. Due to urban development measures, it is no longer completely preserved, and instead of the originals from then, only the replicas from 2009 exist today. The actual border at this point was the Kreuzberg bank of the Spree. The gallery is, for the most part, located on the western wall, which closed off the border area to East Berlin. This wall, facing inwards towards West Berlin, was much thicker and more fortified than its outward-facing counterpart. However, a small portion of the so-called "hinterland" wall has...

The Gallery consists of 105 paintings by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990 on the east side of the Berlin Wall. The actual border at this point had been the river Spree. The gallery is located on the so-called hinterland mauer, which closed the border to West Berlin.

It is possibly the largest and longest-lasting open-air gallery in the world. Paintings from Jürgen Grosse alias INDIANO, Dimitri Vrubel, Siegfrid Santoni, Bodo Sperling, Kasra Alavi, Kani Alavi, Jim Avignon, Thierry Noir, Ingeborg Blumenthal, Ignasi Blanch i Gisbert, Kim Prisu, Hervé Morlay VR and others have followed.

The paintings at the East Side Gallery document a time of change and express the euphoria and great hopes for a better, freer future for all people of the world.

The East Side Gallery was founded following the successful merger of the two German artists' associations VBK and BBK. The founding members were the speche of the Federal Association of Artists BBK Bodo Sperling, Barbara Greul Aschanta, Jörg Kubitzki and David Monti.

In July 2006, to facilitate access to the river Spree from the Mercedes-Benz Arena, a 40 m (130 ft) section was moved somewhat west, parallel to the original position.

A 23m (75ft) section was scheduled to be removed on 1 March 2013 to make way for luxury apartments. None of the artists whose work would be destroyed were informed of these plans. The demolition work actually started on 1 March 2013. According to the German news programme FOCUS, authorities were not aware of the start of the demolition. Due to the involvement of protesters, demolition was postponed until at least 18 March 2013.

Two-thirds of the paintings are badly damaged by erosion, graffiti, and vandalism. One-third have been restored by a non-profit organization which started work in 2000. The objective of this organization is the eventual restoration and preservation of all the paintings. Full restoration, particularly of the central sections, was projected for 2008. Remediation began in May 2009.

The restoration process has been marked by major conflict. Eight of the artists of 1990 refused to paint their own images again after they were completely destroyed by the renovation. In order to defend the copyright, they founded Founder Initiative East Side, with other artists whose images were copied without permission. Bodo Sperling launched a test case in the Berlin State Court in May 2011, represented by the Munich art lawyer Hannes Hartung and with the support of the German VG Bild-Kunst. The court would address the question of whether art should be listed as destroyed and then re-copied without the respective artists' permission. The outcome of the trial would be a landmark declaration for European art law. [ needs update ]

As of 1 November 2018, the State of Berlin has been responsible for the Park and the Spree and East Side Park plots with the elements of the former Berlin Wall known as the East Side Gallery from the property of the State of Berlin in the transfer of ownership to the Berlin Wall Foundation. Parliament approved a proposal from the Senator for Culture and Europe that had passed the main committee. The Berlin Wall Foundation received the mandate for the structural maintenance of the East Side Gallery monument, the maintenance of the associated public green space and the mediation of the historical site of remembrance.

In the future, visitors to the East Side Gallery should receive more information and historical classification. For this purpose, the foundation has launched an extensive management program. The aim all new mediation offers is to illustrate the unique dual character of the historical place: on the one hand, as an artistic testimony and symbol of joy over the peaceful overcoming of the German division, and on the other hand, as a testimony to the German Democratic Republic border regime. Both narratives need to be related in a common narrative. [ citation needed ]

Condition of the Mural on July 25th 1991 Condition of the mural in 2005 Dimitri Vrubel during restoration in June 2009 Condition of the mural in 2009 after restoration Featured here is a depiction (painting #25) of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing as painted by Dmitri Vrubel. On the left is the condition of the painting in 1991 and at the right is the condition after restoration in 2009. The Russian words at the top read "God! help me stay alive"; and continue at the bottom "Among this deadly love."

- Narenda K. Jain: Die sieben Stufen der Erleuchtung

- Kikue Miyatake: Paradise Out Of The Darkness

- Siegrid Müller-Holtz: Gemischte Gefühle

- Bodo Sperling : The Trans-formation of the penta gram to a peace star in a big Europe without walls

- Barbara Greul Aschanta: Deutschland im November

- André Sécrit, Karsten Thomas : Du hast gelernt, was Freiheit ist

- Theodor Chezlav Tezhik: The Big Kremlin's Wind

- Irina Dubrowskaja: Die Wand muss weichen wenn der Meteorit der Liebe kommt