Berlin: History from the perspective of a building

Every year our family travel together to Germany for a company meeting, and to host the annual Summer Academy. Here we have learned how in Germany, especially in Berlin, the community can reflect on the past in order to participate in the present and better navigate the future. Our family is always struck by the many museums and events  that looks not only at German history, but also mistakes and darker periods in Germany’s past.

One such event is the annual Media and Light display that is projected against the facade of the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus over the river Spree. This thirty-minute  installation is entitled “Dem deutschen Volke – Eine parlamentarische Spurensuche. Vom Reichstag zum Bundestag” (To the German People – A journey through parliamentary history from the Reichstag to the Bundestag). It shows the history of parliamentarianism in Germany and of the Reichstag Building in Berlin. This journey through the past 130 years shows how the Reichstag building is used and has always been a reflection of the state of German democracy.’ The official site of this show is hosted on the Bundestag website. The show is 30 minutes long and is repeated every evening from mid May to Mid September

Imagine we could do this in South Africa? Would that not allow us to have a more meaningful discussion of our past, to help us understand how we are all shaped by decisions, actions and influences from the past? What would the Union Buildings tell us?

This display is special to our family for several reasons:

• there are several light sources.  Video footage, shadows and colors are projected onto several buildings, while music from Paul van Dyk (Wir Sind Wir) and Die Toten Hosen (Tage Wie Diese) fades in and out around the narrative. When the narrator talks about the wall, a spiked fence shadow is projected over one of the facades (see picture above), while later the whole building is behind barbed fence.
• the sound is amazing, even if the narrative is in German.
• the people we take with us are touched by the footage, even if they don’t understand a word. These are typically participants in the Mesopartner Summer Academy from many developing countries where they too tend to sweep past decisions under the carpet.
• this display also reveals something about the German culture that we admire, the ability to debate, discuss and deliberate in a very transparent way. Even if it is about taboo decisions.
• we get the idea of one nation, even there are different opinions. Even if this is expressed in German.

Head over to Youtube. Here is one link to a show recorded in 2016. Here is another link. Alternatively, search for Film- und Licht­projektion im Parlaments­viertel.

If you have seen the show, share your thoughts, your photo or your impressions. Some German translations of some of the text would also be welcome!

Pianos in Prague

During July 2018 I visited Prague with my family. In the parks they had pianos that people could simply play on. They were tuned. And no, they were not bolted down! For us South Africans the idea that something as expensive as a piano can stand in a public space is just mind-boggling. Then the finer details, like the paving, a chair and nice roof.

Piano in park in Prague