Between the prefabricated buildings that tower like giant sculptures into the misty December sky, you find the unexpected. Extensive parking areas that make you feel good even in the cold winter. Anyone familiar with the satellite towns of southern Europe can only sing the praises of the GDR’s urban planners here. Lichtenberg is in large parts a park landscape that makes it possible to retreat into the private sphere. Dreams of some of the most innovative architects of the 20th century became reality here. For artists, this should be the ideal place to work. Doesn’t a flat in a high-rise also mean concentration?
There are still numerous sculptures and murals in the green spaces of the district. The ‘Art in Buildings’ programme, which was also cultivated in the GDR, has left lasting traces here. Lichtenberg is a sculpture museum the likes of which you don’t often find.
In the cold December, it was not always easy to come into contact with people. The wonderful parks between the point and slice skyscrapers rarely served for a longer stay. I set up a temporary memorial to the people I was allowed to meet after all. I hung up drawings of them at the places where we met. There they are exposed to the weather and passers-by. Just as some of the sculptures and murals have disappeared over the past decades, so have these pictures. Only much faster. A testimony to the brief encounter of people in the district.
