Walking Through Walls

In 2019 Berlin has celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of the inner German border. In 1989 images of East Berliners climbing over the Wall rapidly spread around the world. Since then they have firmly imprinted themselves in our collective memory and have come to symbolise the peaceful end of German division. The Martin-Gropius-Bau is situated very close to where the Berlin Wall used to stand, and remnants of the Wall are still in place in the immediate vicinity. In a reference to its own history and geographic location, the Martin-Gropius-Bau had organised a comprehensive thematic group exhibition to commemorate the opening of the border.

The exhibition “Walking Through Walls” presented works by 28 artists and artists’ collectives from 16 countries. With works of photography, film, painting, installation and performance art, the exhibition investigated the materiality, architectural structure, functionality and emotional impact of walls. At the heart of the exhibition was the utopian possibility of overcoming walls, or in this case, “walking through walls”. Numerous commissioned, site-specific pieces had been displayed inside the rooms of the Martin-Gropius-Bau, as well as on the facade and in open spaces around the museum. A bilingual catalogue has been published, and an extensive accompanying programme had been organised in cooperation with various local partners.

Curators: Till Fellrath, Sam Bardaouil
Artists: Marina Abramović und Ulay, José Bechara, Sibylle Bergemann, Tagreed Darghouth, Jose Dávila, Willie Doherty, Smadar Dreyfus, Melvin Edwards, Dara Friedman, Dora García, Zahrah Al Ghamdi, Mona Hatoum, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Michael Kvium, Gustav Metzger, Reem Al Nasser, Christian Odzuck, Emeka Ogboh, Anri Sala, Fred Sandback, Aki Sasamoto, Regina Silveira, Siska, Javier Téllez, Samson Young, Yuan Yuan, Héctor Zamora and others