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SOFIA BEMPEZA
 

A TEMPORARY LANGUNAGE MEMORIAL. KARL-MARX-ALLEE IN BERLIN-MITTE

The case study of the Karl-Marx-Allee area, which is a protected monument for its historical and architectural identity, deals with the evolution of post-socialist architecture in former east European cities. Therefore I am interested in the socio-political transition in this specific modern socialist ensemble. By working on the manifestations of power and unity in monumental socialistic architecture and by reflecting post-modern trends and impacts of internationalization and globalization, my aim was to discover socio-mental shifts. Within this framework of creating “place” out of “urban space”, I planed a temporary language memorial. My approach focused on how we perceive, define or maybe associate ourselves with an urban space within a post-socialist context.By developing this concept a new plastic (language)-form arose. This approach should be linked to that specific space, and its historical as well as socio-political connotations, concerned with an ambiguous identity referring to the post-socialist era.


Therefore speaking about a language memorial I point out the symbolic use of language in the GDR, whose function was essential for the socialistic regime. According to the Marxist concept, language is the base as well as the superstructure of society. It is understood as a productive force. In communistic theory it is the commodity (die Ware), which has to become an ideological statement; the language itself is the medium that can induce those statements in the public sphere. On a historical level propaganda speeches or posters were obviously instruments for the State and the authorities in order to control the citizens. However the exact meaning of propaganda is constantly debated. By reflecting on these aspects of the communist Language apparatus, my intension was to change the arrangement and revaluation of notions. At the same time this memorial is not only a form of dedication to the Failure of the former language but also an attempt to rethink on the significance of the collapse of a collective language.


Quote from the text on the monument.

LOGIK (...) das Aktuellste, Dringlichste und POLITISCH Wesentlichste im Kampf gegen den Anarchismus, nämlich das Verhältnis der Revolution zum STAAT wie überhaupt die Frage des Staates, VÖLLIG zu umgehen! WARE
Soll man die alte Staatsmaschinerie ZERSCHLAGEN? (...) DASS alle die Funktionen der KONTROLLE und Aufsicht verrichten (...)
(...) und WODURCH ist sie zu ersetzen? AUSSAGE (...) Hier wird wohl vom politischen MASSENSTREIK gesprochen (...) Das allein bedeutet SCHON einen Sieg des Opportunismus. (...) MATERIE (...) die NACH seinen eigenen Worten der Erörterung der FRAGE gerade der "POLITISCHEN Revolution" gewidmet ist (...)
ÜBERBAU (...) Vor uns liegt ein weites TÄTIGKEITSFELD zur Entwicklung der Weltrevolution. (...) Ersetzung der bürgerlichen DEMOKRATIE durch DIE proletarische Demokratie (...) DIE "revolutionäre Ära HEBT an" (...)


Sofia Bempeza 2010