FOR ASA

is a collection of sweet child-friendly mini videos.

Review of Berlin’s Wound

(Laura Krauss’ photography exhibition, Berlin’s Wound, is mounted until June 15th at the LINC Library Innovation Center, 501 8th Ave., Greeley, CO 80631 (888) 861-7323)

Berlin’s Wound

Review by David Caldwell

Photographer Laura Krauss invites us to explore a part of Berlin that is both famous and little known. The photographs in her exhibit Berlin’s Wound juxtapose enduring tangible traces of the Berlin Wall with empty spaces that betray few signs of the border’s once inescapable existence. More profoundly, Berlin’s Wound examines the fluid relationship between absence and presence. Ethereal memories and historical legacies persist, as do palpable scars. Such hallmarks of human experience exist between, on the one hand, our grasp of seemingly immutable physical evidence, and on the other hand our equally compelling awareness that what has disappeared still lingers, and that healing leaves a mark behind. In his poem “The Wall” (“Die mauer,” 1997), Reiner Kunze refers to the Wall as he thinks back to the first Day of German Unity: “When we took it down, we had no idea / how high it is / inside us.” Laura Krauss, in her description of Photograph 15, “I Spy with My Little Eye,” reveals a similar sentiment: “Although the vast majority of the physical walls and fences have been removed, making the Berlin Wall nearly invisible, many Berliners still sense its emotional shadow.” Her photographic “little eye,” the aperture of her Nikon N80, detects the ethereal and makes emotional shadow observable. At the same time, Krauss’s images disintegrate concreteness with an invitation to wander away from the observable -- to ponder, reflect, remember, and imagine.

Apertures allow us to peek through to the other side, and like the edges of an analogue photograph, the framed view determines how much we can spy. At the same time, a limited view through the gap stimulates us to imagine more. The photographer describes her image of the Bornholmer Strasse Border Crossing (329) as the site of “the first crack” in the Wall, which subsequently grew wider as the border was opened. In other images, see-through chinks are evident in remnants of the Wall hammered by souvenir harvesters. The collectors pierced a border that no longer separates East and West, rather past and present. In Photograph 77, “Reversal of Fortune,” one photographer confronts another through the aperture provided by a window in a McDonald’s hamburger restaurant. The view overlooks the former Soviet-American crossing point known as Checkpoint Charlie, where photographer Frank Thiel’s larger-than-life outdoor photograph of a Soviet soldier stands at attention. To use Laura Krauss’s interpretive terminology, this point along the path of the former Wall could be seen as a commercial coverup of the historical confrontation with communism. On the other hand, the Soviet soldier who seems to peer into the capitalist world of an American burger joint may represent the open wound of unresolved differences in a Berlin still marked by Cold War history. As another possibility, the contemporary normalization of this strange juxtaposition could indicate a healing scar.

Laura Krauss repurposed a battered metal fence as a display surface for her black-and-white images. Walking the length of the dividing line can conjure impressions akin to a cinematic experience. Long shots intermingle with images taken from medium distance, both of which are occasionally intercut with zooms into a detailed close-up. The ambulatory flow of her pace during photographic expeditions in Berlin, as well as the viewer’s engagement with the finished products, sometimes parallel the ability of motion pictures to take us seamlessly from one place to the next, and even from one time period to another. The circular strip of cityscape that cumulatively represents the location of the dismantled Wall includes transitions from dense urban settings to rural open space, from terra firma to invisible waterline borders, and from sites of fatal forbidden border crossings to other locales where sheep peacefully graze. An isolated historical structure such as the Alexander Haus (222), built by a subsequently exiled Jewish family in the 1930s, contrasts with a more recently settled residential neighborhood once bisected by the Wall (295).

A parallel display on the opposite wall of the exhibit space juxtaposes the black-and-white fence line with color images. The uniquely individual perspectives afforded by the photographer’s iPhone 11 were subsequently treated with Lightroom and Photoshop. The results include images of Wall graffiti that bear the constantly overlaid colors of enthusiastic spray painters who randomly contribute to layered messaging. Competing with the polychromatic graffiti, the silvery gray and dull blue of winter skies arch over the verdant green of mosses growing on fallen trees.

A third section of the exhibit includes numerous small-format black-and-white photos from the Berlin Wall path, interspersed with production materials that give the viewer a revealing glimpse into the photographer’s process.

In the latter years of the Wall’s existence, creative minds who contended with the structure often envisioned a porousness to the border. Guerilla artists hung window frames on the west side of the Wall, reminding West Berliners that they, rather than their Eastern counterparts, were the isolated population that had to look outward. At the same time, the imaginary windows suggested structural openings, perhaps even in anticipation of a door that might appear one day. Peter Schneider’s novel Der Mauerspringer (The Wall Jumper, 1982) reminds that attempts at East-to-West intra-German migration run counter to prevailing West-to-East weather movements. Schneider’s unconventional main character feels the wind under his wings when he jumps over the Wall from West Berlin to East Berlin. Perhaps unintentionally, Krauss playfully echoes the conceit in Photograph 30 “Can You Give Me a Leg Up?” It depicts two young people as they mimic an assent of the Wall, which, if successful, would land them on the eastern side of the former border. Five years after The Wall Jumper was published, director Wim Wenders secured permission to film in the no-man’s-land on the east side of the Wall. In Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, 1987) Wenders’ main characters seem to anticipate the events of 1989, not only by strolling along both sides of the dividing line; they also traverse the fortified border as if the Wall were not there. Rock on to 1990, when the musical group Pink Floyd reunited where the Wall once stood and performed The Wall. The open-air concert momentarily sutured the wound of the hauntingly vacant Potsdamer Platz, once Europe’s busiest traffic intersection. 

Earlier photographic projects likewise preceded Laura Krauss’s recent study of Berlin’s wound. In his collection The Berlin Wall, Shinkichi Tajiri’s images from 1969-1970 offer stark black-and-white views that often anticipate Krauss’s more expansive circumnavigation of West Berlin. With great difficulty, Matthias Kupfernagel wrangled permission from GDR authorities to photograph much of the encircling border from normally restricted vantage points. His collection Die Berliner Mauer 1989 finally appeared in 2009.

However, among the important differences between these predecessors and the work of Laura Krauss is an intentional temporal dimension. Photograph 110, showing a snowy thicket of bare trees in the industrial niche known as Rudower Höhe, illustrates the significance of her decision to shoot during the winter months of 2023-2024. The photographer writes, “As I disembarked the bus, I was surrounded by silence; the fresh snow muffling any speech or movement.” The absence of sound is remarkable in part because of the nearby presence of Germany’s largest metropolitan area. Additionally, winter naturally conveys the dialectical relationship between absence and presence that informs Krauss’s tracing of the Wall’s footprint and that further distinguishes her collection. Just as the absence of the Wall evokes its presence, we are more likely to imagine the presence of full summer foliage when observing a stark winter scene than we are to contemplate the absence of greenery while enjoying a summer day.

With fewer fellow trekkers present in the cold conditions, a winter study also provided the photographer with greater opportunities for solitude. One detects a smile of satisfaction behind her discovery that “No one was around.” Rather than deprivation, the absence of other people presents the photographer with the opportunity for intimate reflection on her surroundings. At Rudower Höhe the camera captures and generously shares an unexpected urban experience by an American photographer who stops by woods on a snowy evening. The quiet interiority of Berlin’s Wound seems to contradict our expectations for an investigation of a notoriously noisy chapter of external conflict, until one considers the intention Laura Krauss declares in her artist’s statement, to “collect emotions” with a “wondering pace.” The photographs in this exhibit did not arise from a checklist of important border sites, rather they are physical manifestations of an emotional pilgrimage. Notably, the word “wall” is absent from the title of this photographic collection. As fellow wanderers, we each create its presence as befits our particular sense of wonderment.

                                                                                                                                      --David Caldwell

Review of Vernissage

(Gene) Robin Johnson’s Review of the Vernissage

DEDICATION, CONCEPT AND LAYOUT

First of all, I wish to take a moment to appreciate the genuine devotion to the project and attention to detail that shone throughout. Following through on any artistic venture may prove difficult, but committing to a vision and curating it for months can definitely be challenging. Motivation may sometimes eventually falter when the goal in mind is far from sight. It is therefore all the more apparent that you have managed to maintain a true affection for the photographic pilgrimage, without compromise or short cuts (figuratively and literally). This is of course an achievement worth acknowledging and celebrating on its own.

 Furthermore, the core concept of embarking on a trekking journey and utilizing physical movement to evoke emotional motion and subsequently intertwining the two counterparts into an artistic amalgam is a captivating idea. Because this amalgam is then also able to set the spectators' contemplation mechanisms into motion, rendering it a symbolically significant and ingenious concept. One could say that it has successfully covered and demonstrated the breadth of the definition of 'movement'. By following the historical footsteps of others, you have simultaneously paved a new path. A pathway that heeds the lessons to be learned from history, but does not restrain or define the future by the past's principles. Perhaps, best described as using the boulders of the past as stepping stones rather than unscalable obstacles.

 Something that also accentuates the core concept is the layout of the exhibition; the fact that it follows a wall. The visitor therefore gets a sense of the emotions you experienced, partly from the photos themselves, partly from the act of walking alongside a wall as they view the collection.

MEDIUM AND CONTENTS

Your chosen medium of analogue black and white photography is an intriguing and apt choice. Monochrome photography heightens the emotional intensity of an image because it portrays the very essence of its subject and forces the viewer to engage with it. The subject and setting remain unfettered by vibrant hues, hues that at times may distract from or indirectly romanticize the photographs. In regards to the undeniable intellectual and societal 'black and white' prejudice that permeated the city's past; the black and white photography effectively depicts this dichotomous and complex past. Additionally, the monochrome image also allows the viewer to mentally color it with their chosen pigments, hence painting their interpretation with whichever palette they desire.

 The analogue aspect of your chosen medium is naturally also a precious addition. It offers a solemn salute to the technological wonders of the past and also invites the spirit of nostalgia and the conservation of history, all whilst maintaining the profundity of a single moment in time. It also showcases the many contemporary elements and inventions that have taken up residence on historical grounds, such as graffiti for example. The directness and instant quality of the Nikon therefore offers a unique snapshot; where the trinity of the past, the present and the future are seamlessly combined.

 The contrast between the urban and the rural landscape that is featured throughout the exhibition, may also be perceived as a metaphor for the contrast between captivity and freedom, a theme that is vital to address in a city that has been extensively plagued by such conflict and contradiction. This is also successfully highlighted in your anecdotes and reflections that accompanied the photographs.

 The selection process that resulted in the seven highlighted and enlarged photographs is also interesting because it directly displays the inner workings of the creative process. In addition, it also relates to the way life is navigated; by choice and the accentuation of the utmost important. In our life we constantly rummage through countless memories, impressions and interpretations and are tasked with navigating and extracting the most significant. The artist's selection process is thus a mirror image of the choice in life and the multitude of options. With our many selected pieces we eventually complete numerous puzzles, collectively making up the master puzzle of life; a process akin to the artist who completes his exhibitions to create his portfolio. In your exhibition, this topic is also prevalent because of the fact that the photographs literally are pieces of a larger puzzle (the puzzle of the exhibition as a whole). Making up a photographic mosaic.

 SUMMARY

A Berlin Winter Pilgrimage; a skillfully depicted present, captured through the lens of one camera; a path shadowed by history's troubled presence and illuminated by a future yet to come. An exhibition where concrete and nature wrestle alongside incarceration and liberation in a black and white realm of reflection. From it, one may take away the following; We may not be able to outrun the past, but through our present choices and actions, we may catch up with and capture the future.

Past Exhibitions

Berlin Wall Walk/ Berliner Mauerweg

 

1.     A Tiny Show

  Madrid, Spain

April 20, 2024

“WhatsApp” web-based illustrated lecture for clergy gathering of the International Congregations of Europe and the Middle East

2.     Vernissage

3 Étage, Leberstr. 7, 10829 Berlin

April 27, 2024

afternoon Open House art exhibition, “Circumnavigating the Edge: A Berlin Winter Pilgrimage”

3.     POP-UP Gallery

American Church in Berlin, Dennewitzplatz 1, 10783 Berlin

July, 2024

side chapel gallery, “Circumnavigating the Edge: A Berlin Winter Pilgrimage”

4.     Pilgerrundreise entlang der Grenze: Eine Berliner Winterwanderung

Alexandra Haus, Am Park 2, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

September – October, 2024

outside exhibition mounted on construction fence along the line of the former backyard section of the Berlin Wall

5.     Berlin’s Wound

      www.laurakrauss.com

live - May 13, 2025

webpage constructed to highlight the Berlin Wall Walk/ Berliner Mauerweg photographic exhibition

6.     Berlin’s Wound

LINC Library Gallery, Greeley, CO

May – June, 2025

One Person show of B/W (enlarged and postcard size) images mounted on construction fencing in addition iPhone color photographs photo edited at the LINC. QR codes created for commentaries and leading questions.

Reiner Kunze’s Die Mauer/ The Wall Poem

             

The Wall 

             Reflection on October 3, 1990

              Reiner Kunze

When we took it down, we had no idea

how high it is

inside us

We had become accustomed

to its horizon.

And to the calm

in its shadow

no one cast a shadow

Now we stand stripped

of every excuse                                                                      (trans. David Caldwell)

     Die mauer

              Zum 3. Oktober1990

                     Reiner Kunze

Als wir sie schleiften, ahnten wir nicht,

wie hoch sie ist

in uns

Wir hatten uns gewöhnt

An ihren horizont

Und an die windstille

In ihrem schatten warfen

alle keinen schatten

Nun stehen wir entblößt

jeder entschuldigung

Berlin, mit deinen frechen Feuern. 100 Berlin-Gedichte. Ed. Michael Speier. Reclam, 1997, p. 100.

Color

“Lightroomed”

Due to the generosity of the LINC Library, Greeley, CO, I have begun to learn how to edit digital images. I was tutored on one of the library’s computers. LINC is one of the few libraries in the US with free access to both LIGHTROOM and PHOTOSHOP photography editing software.

(images and full narratives below)

A Berlin Country Winter Sky

Lichtenrade

The whole southern edge of the Berlin Wall runs along the boundary between City and County: Berlin and Brandenburg. In the dead of winter, one can quietly contemplate the distant horizon. In the summers, one can meditate on the fertile fields growing right up to the historic and current borderline.

Rolling over the Wall

Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

 Throughout the Mitte, Central Berlin, the former Berlin Wall is marked by hand carved sandstone bricks. The double line crosses streets, sidewalks and across buildings’ lobbies.

 How long does it take for humans to no longer recognize the significance of these bricks and allow them to simply fade into the urban landscape?

Smack Down the Middle of the Havel River

Heilandskirche, Sacrow

 People from the West had to be careful not to swim or boat to close to the border. Otherwise, a simple summer’s outing would turn into a multiday imprisonment followed by deportation back to the West.

Why Art?

Eastside Gallery, Berlin

Along the longest remaining piece of the Wall is art. Facing the street are global commissioned pieces and facing the river, free style graffiti.

 What is the place of art in creating a Memorial Space?

First You Whitewash…

Mauerpark, Berlin

What are the unwritten rules concerning when one can whitewash over another artist’s work?

Souvenirs

Berlin Wall Memorial Park, Berlin

Souvenir hunters soon descended on the Berlin Wall to collect evidence. Along the Berlin Wall Museum are examples of the remains of the reinforced concrete after people have chipped away samples.

 An infamous object transformed into a collectable.

Together in Freedom

Bornholmer Strasse Border Crossing, Berlin

 This spray-painted message is just outside the first gate to be crossed on November 8, 1989. Is it a statement or a question? (Note the anarchy symbol below it.)

Low Populated Messed Fencing

Teltow

 Deep in the rural central southern walled section, is a rare example of metal messed fencing. Nature has taken over the role of destroying its purpose of creating isolation.

B/W

(images and full narratives below)

#329 Looking towards the Mitte from the First Crack

Bornholmerstr’s Bösebrücke

On 9 November, 1989 @ 9:30 pm at the Bornholmer Strasse Border Crossing, the floodgates were unofficially opened. The Berlin Wall only continued to crack open from then and there.

#13 Bearing Witness

Liesenstr and Gartenstr

Between 1961 and 1989, cross-town Berlin transportation routes were a tangled maze. Some abandoned stations were passed through at a steady speed. The S-Bahn line operated throughout Berlin, although in West Berlin it was boycotted until the Wall began tumbling down. This tiny section is left standing in its original location to bear witness to the ever-changing surrounding landscape.

#15 I Spy with my Little Eye

Berlin Wall Memorial

corner of Bernauerstr. and Brunnerstr.

 This photograph records an apartment building’s external wall historically repurposed as a portion of the Outer Border Wall. Note the poignant sticker of an imposing person’s eye “spying” on the area. Although the vast majority of the physical walls and fences have been removed, making the Berlin Wall nearly invisible, many Berliners still sense its emotional shadow.

#30 Can You Give Me A Leg Up?

Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauerstr

This portion of the remnants of the Berlin Wall are in Mitte, central Berlin, easily accessible to tourists and local people. This couple could not resist the temptation to reenact an escape attempt; although they would have ended up in the former East Berlin.

#34 Where Did All the Guards Go?

Nordhafen Shipping Channel

This former border tower, one of only five left intact, is centrally located in Mitte/downtown Berlin, along the narrow banks of the Nordhafen shipping channel. The first Maueropfer/Wall Victim died by drowning, within sight of this tower. After the Berlin Wall was dismantled, this neighborhood was the epicenter for the first wave of new residential construction.

#77 Reversal of Fortune

Checkpoint Charlie

Seeking a new photographic angle at this popular tourist attraction, the main official border crossing station, I ventured into McDonald’s. Knowing that most McDonald’s have a second floor, I entered and climbed the stairs. Out the window, was an unobstructed view of the “Soviet” soldier, Ohne Titel/Untitled, Frank Thiel, 1998. Now communism has been replaced by American consumerism. With this new perspective, I reframed the Cold War political ideologies.

#110 Surprised by Silence

Rudower Höhe, southwest industrial niche

From my apartment, I descended four flights of stairs, walked 600 meters, rode to the very end of the U-Bahn route, and then took the bus #371. After more than an hour’s journey, I finally arrived. No one was around. That 2023/24 winter, Berlin experienced 15 snow days – some only snowflakes to accumulations of 2 cms, as on that day. As I disembarked the bus, I was surrounded by silence; the fresh snow muffling any speech or movement. Right in front of me were long unmarred and unattended sections of the former Berlin Wall. How can such violence be beautifully hidden in plain view?

#184 Land Pockets Surrounded by the Other

near entrance to the Steinstücken subdivision, Wannsee

The borderline between East and West Berlin was not always logical geometrically shaped. Sometimes, streets were bisected straight down the middle but at other times, the dividing line between the two territories was more organic. There were neighborhood enclaves – in both East and West Berlin - which stuck out or into enemy territory. One land parcel was Steinstücken, in the southwest corner of Berlin. Enough fear of a possible invasion was generated to supply the 200+ residents with their own helicopter and flying team, should a emergency evacuation be needed.

#222 This is Different!

Alexander Haus, Groß Glienicke

On the last day of my walking pilgrimage, I spotted this building on the banks of the Groß Glienicker Sea. Its architecture was different than any other domestic dwelling. Months later, I began to learn the identity of this house: the Alexander Haus and its occupants. The original owners, bought the land and built a summer home in 1935. They were Jewish. Not many years later they evacuated to London and had to abandon the cottage. In the next decades, reflecting the trends of the day, numerous families “legally” occupied the house. In the foreground, can be seen pieces of rebar left from the Berlin Wall construction.

#223 In Situ

Groß Glienicker

Along the northwest edge of the Groß Glienicker Sea, are several untampered sections of various fortifications from the original Berlin Wall that still line the lakeside. Being left in situ, is a powerful multi-layered statement by the villagers. What does the monument mean to you? And to others?

#234 Sheep Grazing Among the Piled Remains of the Berlin Wall

on the slopes of Hahneberg

Except for the multitude of domesticated dogs, animal sightings are a rarity, in both city and rural areas, Germany. Unexpectedly, the wild animals I have seen most frequently were the wild foxes of Berlin Mitte. Along the Berliner Mauer Walk, I hiked for days without seeing any creatures, on the ground or in treetops. Then one day, a small flock of sheep came into view, an urban educational demonstration farm. They were accompanied by the only wild rabbits I observed. I have heard rumors of furious wild boar sightings in select wildernesses of the numerous green areas of Berlin.

#252 Repurposed Bench

Schönwalde-Glien

At the end of one of my longest walks, I spotted a discarded bench in the forest. My first reaction was to assume it was a church pew. Why? How? What? I knew I was in the former East, aka, “Atheist” Germany. Then a Berliner challenged my opinion, asking me, “Is that a breakfast nook bench?” Either way, why was it set up for sitting in a forest.

 That day I also learned the importance of reading bus timetables. I was, so far out of the city that I had to wait 1 1/2 hours for the next Saturday bus. Luckily, it is a beautiful Springlike day, but I still got a deep chill waiting.

#283 Fresh Flowers for Micki

northernmost tip of the Berlin Wall

Near the Invalidensiedlung, the injured soldiers’ housing complex, is an outlier memorial. The only memorial flowers - at any of the 125+ deadly unsuccessful escape routes - were laid at Marienetta "Micki" Jirkowsky’s (25 August 1962 – 22 November 1980) death site. She was one of the youngest, still a teenager, and one of the few women, one of eight, to die from “friendly fire” from one of her own countrymen.

#295 Themes and Variations of Pavement Stones

Veltheimstr. and Schildowerstr. Glienicke/Nordbahn

Near the northern tip of the Berlin Wall, a neighborhood was sliced in half. Note the remaining echo of the past through the different patterned street pavements of the same street.

Artist’s Statement

A Photography Exploration

Berlin’s Wound: a Coverup, an Open Sore, or a Healing Scar

Every human entity leaves behind a vestige of its history. This exhibition is about one piece of Germany’s past, the Berlin Wall.

 The Berlin Wall was constructed to divide; to separate people on geographic, political, military, social, economic, religious, and cultural grounds. The imposing boundary isolated half of Berlin into becoming an island. Then late one evening its purpose vanished. The barbed wire was rolled up. The land mines deactivated. The cement slabs were shipped around the world, as artistic trophies. 

 What happened to the strip of land under the former Berlin Wall?

 Thirty-five years after its demise, Laura Krauss set out to discover what happened to this earth-bound landmark. Would it be hidden, paved over, and reforested; evident only in history books. Or would it be treated as an open wound, still painful for those who lived through that infamous period of time? Or would it be honored as a healing scar for the present and future generations?

 During the four months of Berlin’s 2023-24 winter, Laura Krauss traced, on foot, the former defensive fences of the Berlin Wall (12-13 August 1961 until 9 November, 1989). Over 37 days, she traversed the city by public transport (S- Bahn, U-Bahn, and bus) to reach each day’s starting point. Using the circular Berliner Mauerweg, the developed foot/bike path, she entered a walking meditation space (aka, a pilgrimage). Collecting her emotions rather than trying to document every trace of evidence of the historic series of guard towers, cement walls, and barbed fences. The slow wondering pace allowed for a deep reflection on the lasting impacts of the one-time barrier.

 Along the 100-mile journey, Laura Krauss captured 815 images - with her Nikon N80 camera utilizing analogue black/white film and colored images with my iPhone 11. The collection has been curated down with twenty enlargements in black and white and in color with small images to reenact the long journey.

 In this sampler of the photographs, do you see evidence of a Coverup or an Open Wound or a Healing Scar?

 ***

The artist would like to express her gratitude to the LINC Library for their support, Steelock for the loan of the fencing, and Greeley friendships. This exhibition of photographs is part of the artist’s interest in documenting cultural items precious to a community. Laura Krauss’ homebase is Pasadena, California.