Many thousands of Berliners celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall yesterday, reported Der Spiegel. The centrepiece of the jubilant celebrations was an installation ‘Lichtgrenze’ created by artists Christopher and Marc Bauder consisting of 8,000 glowing white balloons perched on 11-foot masts retracing the 15km stretch of wall. Many Berliners participated in the installation by attaching notes revealing their personal experience of the division of East and West Germany onto the masts of the work.
Luminous balloons were released one-by-one into the night sky to an orchestra playing Beethoven’s 9th symphony, the gathering crowds responded by bursting into cheers and applause.
The installation of light by the artist’s precisely retraced the locations where the wall once stood. The work is designed to illustrate the vastness of the separation.
The mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit has recently commented on the events by saying: “25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the once divided city presents itself today as a liberal and open-minded metropolis, we place ourselves in solidarity with those who have raised their voices for freedom, democracy, and human rights back then as well as now, Berlin, after 25 years, has become a place of creativity, openness to the future, and internationality” – According to a press statement.
As part of these celebrations, the artists Christopher Bauder and Marc Bauder had conceived a poignant piece of public art at the site of the wall’s divide. This is a visual reminder of the German capital’s division, illuminating the dark history of the divide where many East German’s attempted crossing to the West. The installation precisely retraces the locations where the wall once stood. The work, was designed to illustrate the vastness of the separation.
In her speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was born and raised in East Germany, stated that “Dreams can become reality. Nothing must stay as it is,” she went on to condemn the “walls of dictatorship, of violence, of ideologies and of enmities” around the world.
In contrast, the former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev found a negative position from which to comment; in reference to the ongoing Ukraine crisis he warned that “The world is on the cusp of a new Cold War. Some say it has already begun.”
Yet Gorbachev’s words did little to dampen the spirits of the revellers last night, who continued to celebrate into the early hours.