MONUMENT TO FREEDOM

Open art in construction competition, Berlin, Germany, 2009
with Christof Schlegel, unrealized

„Decisive for the constitution of the space is the social action … Only by the passers the road becomes a space, only by them.“
(Michel de Certeau: Art of Action, 1988)

The competition concept for the monument for freedom and unity directly in front of the Berlin City Palace starts from the street as the scene of bourgeois resistance. Germany’s fight for freedom and unity has taken place and manifested on the street. Both in 1848 and in the peaceful revolution of 1989, the street, especially Schlossstrasse, was the scene of the struggle for civil rights.

The competition entry plans an extension of the road network of Berlin around a street of the freedom and unity as a space of the memory and reflection.

Branch lock freedom
The street branches off from Schlossstrasse at the Schlossfreiheit and rises above the existing pedestal of the former Wilhelm equestrian statue.

Riot / outside staircase
Subsequently, this turns into a flight of steps: The course of the steps parallel to the historical axis describes the direction of freedom and unity. These can only be reached transversely to the prevailing direction.

Division of the way
On the third landing of the outside staircase, the road divides into two paths at different levels. This division represents the division in East Germany and West Germany. While a path draws on a staircase on the top pedestal, the other runs over a ramp.

Gallery of freedom and unity
The street ends in the outermost, protruding part in a platform over the Spree: In the walk-in area are the two inscriptions „WE ARE THE PEOPLE | WE ARE A PEOPLE (WIR SIND DAS VOLK | WIR SIND EIN VOLK)“ embedded in the asphalt surface along the median strip. The outermost part of the street is inaccessible: it points to the future, to the fact that freedom and unity are not a state, but ideals for which there is a constant struggle.

Säulenhain – unity through multiplicity
The load-bearing element of the road is a multitude of thin pillars that could not withstand the load individually. They are a sign of all people who have risked or lost their lives for freedom and unity. The movement through this grove is possible in wide areas due to the close arrangement of the columns only for a single person. The constantly changing views and views can only be experienced individually. The pillars form a permeable curtain that constantly re-forms when one is moving.