Twenty years ago at this time, groups of ecstatic Germans were standing atop a wall that would no longer divide Berlin in two. Some even took pickaxes to the concrete blocks. A year later, Germany would be reunited.
A wall of talent
Twenty years ago at this time, groups of ecstatic Germans were standing atop a wall that would no longer divide Berlin in two. Some even took pickaxes to the concrete blocks. A year later, Germany would be reunited. The fall of the Berlin Wall stands as a highlight in German history, and this week the German American Society of Portland commemorates the event with German Culture Week 2009.
The German American Society of Portland has cooked up seven days of culture from the fatherland for the event, from photo exhibits to puppet shows. A number of artists, dancers and musicians have travelled from Germany to share their work.
One such group is Grotest Maru, a dance project based in Berlin that presents theater in public spaces. In preparing for a performance at Pioneer Square, they have been working with local high school students and Portland’s Jewish Theatre Collaborative.
“We are developing something that has to do with the people here,” said Ursula Maria Berzborn, artistic director and founder of Grotest Maru. “We are creating theater through the process.”
The group’s work is site- and participant-specific, forcing the dancers to think creatively. Taking a cue from the graffiti that used to cover the Berlin wall, they improvised a mattress pad donated by the German American Society and let local high school students write what they would have written at the time of the wall. The mattress pad will be incorporated into the performance.
Contributing music and sound to the event is Corin Arnold, a DJ from Berlin also known as ed2000. Integrating music created 20 years ago in Berlin, he will be mixing a variety of electronic-based sounds and ambient noise, even throwing in recordings of local high school students voicing their feelings about the fall of the wall. You can also find him spinning contemporary German electronica and dubstep at Holocene on Nov. 10.
While the event is to commemorate the reunification of Germany, Arnold notes that it serves a much broader purpose in exploring culture and taking lessons from history.
“It’s a euphoria of having got rid of something you really didn’t want,” Arnold said. “That’s not a cycle that’s limited to the Berlin Wall.”
After an opening reception on Nov. 9, featuring some notable Portlanders like Mayor Sam Adams and Steven Fuller, professor of German and international studies, City Hall will open its After the Wall exhibit, a display of photos of the Berlin Wall taken by ordinary Germans before and after its destruction. The exhibit will stay open until the end of the month.
Other chances to check out the festivities include a showing of German films at Hollywood Theatre, a puppet show by German puppet theater, Wilde Hummel, and a concert with Germany’s jazz trio, Luftbrücke.
The hope is not only to commemorate a great moment in history, but also to celebrate the progress in unification that has followed and the culture that exists today.
“This is much more like a cultural exchange,” Berzborn said.
And it is that spirit of cultural exchange that makes unity possible.
