East Side Gallery

At the east side gallery, the Berlin Wall, an edifice to oppression and indifference to humanity has been transformed into a canvas where artists can reflect on their history and make hopeful portrayals of a united and peaceful future.

The east side gallery was created in 1990, a year after the Berlin wall came down, and it brought together artists from all around Berlin.

There artists could express their joy that the Cold War had ended, and that freedom had won. Here, artists could communicate that the Human spirit is stronger than oppression.

Using the wall itself was a powerful message, and it invites the audience to explore the broader neighborhood and connect the message of the art directly to the space it exists.

A lot of the pieces were abstract, using symbols of the cold war, like gasmasks, to call attention to the fear and anxiety people used to feel.

Abstraction also helped connect images of open and free landscapes to symbols of different cultures to demonstrate diversity and connection.

A lot of the art was humorous, calling attention to just how absurd and pointless it was to try and control people through fear.

And nothing beats a good ol’ reference. The East Side Gallery featured an appropriate reference to Pink Floyd’s The Wall. This album is very much about living with trauma as a response to WWII and the cold war, so I liked the reference.