Satire, Erasure and Deadly Love: The story behind the Berlin Wall’s Fraternal Kiss

<p>Even if a certain clich&eacute; would have us believing otherwise,&nbsp;<strong>nothing ever vanishes without a trace</strong>. One brilliantly cornucopious affirmation of this is the Berlin Wall: although dismantled during the&nbsp;<em>Wende</em>, enabling Germany to officially reunify on 3rd October 1990,&nbsp;<strong>fragments of the once-impenetrable Cold War border evidently remain extant</strong>.</p> <p>For Janet Ward, this complicated persistence equates to &lsquo;<strong>spectral longevity</strong>&rsquo;, with the Wall&rsquo;s remnants and consequences, lines and projections, traces and staging all engendering an&nbsp;<strong>&lsquo;inverse, imaginary status&rsquo;</strong>&nbsp;similar to that of a &lsquo;<strong>photographic negative</strong>&rsquo; (2011:59). Equally, Sunil Manghani has foregrounded the particular visuality of the Wall&rsquo;s absence, since those visiting Berlin today&nbsp;<strong>paradoxically witness its disappearance</strong>, situated in a&nbsp;<strong>&lsquo;curious hinterland between memory and actuality&rsquo;</strong>&nbsp;(2008:36).</p> <p>For fear that the Wall&rsquo;s physical demise would prompt&nbsp;<strong>the erasure of such a vital part of Berlin&rsquo;s history</strong>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.visitberlin.de/en/east-side-gallery" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>East Side Gallery</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;</strong>was established in 1990. Comprising over 100 murals painted on a 1.3km long remnant of the Wall, this open-air exhibition features works created by artists from all over the world.</p> <p><a href="https://emilygracewalters.medium.com/satire-erasure-and-deadly-love-the-story-behind-the-berlin-walls-fraternal-kiss-6b832f949ac4"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>
Tags: Fraternal Kiss