The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

The OSU Dept. of Germanic Languages and Literatures
presents two touring photography exhibits commemorating
the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Icons of a Border Installation: Photographic Search for Traces in Today's Berlin will be on display on the Columbus campus from August 10th to September 18th 2009.
and
Ortszeit / Local Time will be on display from August 10th through October 2009.

Ikonen at the Global Gallery

Opening Reception on August 18, 2009

The OSU Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures cordially invites interested parties to attend an opening of the exhibits Icons of a Border Installation and Ortszeit / Local Time on Tuesday August 18th 2009 in the Hagerty Hall Global Gallery. The exhibits will be open from 9 am to 7.30 pm and refreshments will be served from 5 pm onwards. The official program will begin with opening remarks at 5:25 p.m. and continue at 5:45 with a lecture by Professor Katharina Gerstenberger (U of Cincinnati) titled "The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz."

The exhibit, Icons of a Border Installation: Photographic Search for Traces in Today's Berlin, is the result of a photo-practical seminar at the University of Paderborn, the goal of which was to track down visible and invisible remnants of the Berlin Wall with cameras and acoustic recording devices. This involved finding both forgotten remnants of the physical wall, deserted watchtowers or still visible border strip, as well as mental traces of a possible "Wall of the Mind," which on occasion become evident in the seemingly anachronistic attitudes of Berlin residents.

An additional photography exhibit, Ortszeit / Local Time by Stefan Koppelkamm, will also be featured. In his photographic journey through time in Ortszeit / Local Time, Koppelkamm used the historical moment of the fall of the wall between the two German states to photograph buildings and townscapes in East Germany where time seems to have stood still. He captured these spaces right after the fall of wall in the early 1990s and from the same viewpoints again between 2001 and 2004. The photographs, taken with a large-format camera, make it possible to read the traces time has left in detail, revealing the dramatic social and economic changes that have taken place over the last fifteen years.

Professor John Davidson comments: "Alexander Kluge once remarked that 'every structure left to us by history expresses the spirit of its builder, even if later used for other purposes.' But what traces are left of the structures that have been removed? What spirit finds its expression in the spaces where the goal has been to eradicate such traces? That, too, must be pursued."

The exhibits are free and open to the public between 9 am and 5 pm in the OSU Hagerty Hall Global Gallery (100 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road, Columbus main campus). Parking is available in the Ohio Union Parking Lot South, 1759 N High St.
High school groups should make advance arrangements for bus parking with Pattie Strope (strope.1@osu.edu); Tel. 614-292-4361.

If you're in Dresden between 18. September 2009 and 24. January 2010, you might be interested in this exhibit by local photographer Fredrik Marsh:

Transitions. The Dresden Project.