Urban Nation Artistic Residency
Berlin / Germany / 2018-2019
Curated by Yasha Young and Marcin Rutkiewicz
I lived in West Berlin between1986 and 1990. The city was still divided by the Wall. I went to an German elementary school in Stieglitz, but at the same time I had to study at a Polish elementary school in East Berlin. Three times a week I crossed Checkpoint Charlie, border crossing between two worlds. In both parts of the city I had friends with whom I spent time after the school, with my parents I went for walks and shopping on both sides of the Wall. It may be strange, but for me Berlin was already one, undivided city.
Today memories of those times are a mix of images. Sometimes I’m not sure on which side of the border something happened. Was it Ku’damm or Alex? A friend from school on the West or East side?
“Copy + Paste” is a project inspired by the mosaic of childhood memories of Berlin, it is his material representation. In the places that were important to me in the past, I have collected clay prints of walls and sidewalks. After drying and burning, I swapped them places. Those from Ku’damm I glude somewhere on Alexanderplatz, those from the school in Stieglitz – in Mitte…
