12 March, 2008

East Side Gallery



This famous strip of the Berlin wall that is still standing has become the largest open air gallery in the world. It is 0.62 miles of wall with art from both unknown and acclaimed artists. The art on this particular gallery took place after the wall fell because before that, only artists on the west side could paint this enormous canvas. When the wall fell in '89, hundreds of paintings were done to capture the times - feelings toward politics, the city and life in general are like a snapshot into what the city was like then. Today the wall is suffering, however, do to neglect, additional bad graffiti and tough environmental conditions. Some efforts have been make to protect and restore parts of the wall, but there are serious concerns for the future of this piece of history. Im going to Berlin in a few days and I really hope I get to see this piece of art and city history. I saw a piece of the wall in New York City this past semester and even completely out of complex tucked into a little side street park, it was still powerful so seeing the remaining parts of the wall and where it actually stood is going to be pretty intense and an awesome experience.

The first image is of a famous painting on the East Side Gallery called The Fraternal Kiss and it is of the former leader of the Soviet Unior, L. Brezhnev kissing the former head of East Germay, E. Honecker
The second image is the portion of the wall that resides in New York City, tucked in a park with a bunch of tables and trees around it.

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