beirut – berlin

“Beirut – Berlin” tries to compare two capitals in reconstruction with the means of photography and painting, in texts and conversations. Beirut and Berlin have much in common. Due to war and division, both cities are missing their original center (Potsdamer Platz/ Beirut Old Town), both are in reconstruction. The discourses, the emotions and the decisions in Beirut can be compared to those in Berlin at that time. The core of the artistic interest lay in taking stock of the respective urban structure in the short period between partition and the construction of a new center – of whatever kind – to fill the wastelands of history. Not only the problems and the proposed urban planning solutions, but also the real extent of the reconstruction plans in the centers were astonishingly similar. “Beirut – Berlin” offers views of seams and associative cross-connections and, with its interdisciplinary approach, points to connections between sociology, urban planning, and art.