Ghosts of the Berlin Wall: 8,000 Glowing Orbs Span 10 Miles

RSS

Ghosts of the Berlin Wall: 8,000 Glowing Orbs Span 10 Miles

31 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

berlin wall art project

For the 25th anniversary of its fall, this Berlin Wall installation project will illuminate the historical divide between East and West, temporarily recreating the infamous border with balloons on tethers in place of concrete with barbed wire.

light border animated

The work, titled Lichtgrenze by creators Christopher and Marc Bauder, will go live over the weekend of November 9th for just three days, inviting residents and visitors alike to retrace a path that in many places has been obfuscated by time and intentional attempts to bury the past.

light border installation aerial

berlin wall anniversary installation

The biodegradable light-filled balloons will then be released in unison at the end of the weekend, floating away with messages attached by those who choose to contribute.

berlin wall installation art

Every 500 feet along the path of the lights there will be historical footage and imagery of what each area was like when the wall was still intact, leading up to its world-watched destruction in 1989.

berlin wall night lights

While there were walls, mines and no-mans-land zones outside of Berlin as well, there is something particularly powerful about the way the boundary impacted Germany’s capital, slicing it brutally through its center, often cutting streets and even buildings in half.