Art is Forever

Artwork from the Berlin Wall

Presenter: Charlize Gilmour

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Sakina Bryant

Department: Philosophy

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1BDMue3kSl1vVIoST-28QnYy1wmhjJPzn

Abstract:
I recreated artwork from different parts of the Berlin Wall, this artwork is artwork people will remember and a symbol of the time the people of Berlin went through. I think this artwork was a way to cover up this horrible wall that stopped them from seeing loved ones. In August of 1961, the wall was put up by the communist government between east and west Berlin. The wall was built because many kept fleeing to West Germany so they said it was to keep out “unwanted” people but in reality, ended up ruining people's chance to see friends and family and it was about the future of their country, not the people. Many tried to cross over and escape, but many failed and lost their lives. It was made with concrete and protected by guns, mines, and watchtowers, the wall was 28 miles long and went another 75 miles around East Germany. They came up with creative ways to cross over like an air balloon, jumping out of windows, etc. About 5,000 made it successfully but about 5,000 were captured attempting to cross over.  In class, we talked about Berlin and the underground and how creative the people of Berlin were. We looked at many cases in Philosophy of the way people are viewed/treated, in Handmaid's tale we saw women being oppressed and treated unfairly. In Berlin people did not have the freedom to do what they wanted, they had to follow rules or else there would be consequences that were not deserved for whatever they did that was against the rules. In 1989 during the democratization of Germany,  the Berlin wall was opened up and everyone was able to reunite with their loved ones, the wall no longer stood as a political barrier anymore and was later on torn down.