German Junkmail

We receive considerably less junkmail in Germany than we did in the US. Possibly it is because of the 'keine Reklame' (no advertisements) sign on our mailboxes, or because Germany is slightly more ecologically conscious, or that whenever junkmail as a phenomenon began to saturate the US, with the advent of cheap color printing methods in the 1970-80's, capitalism was not exacty thriving in Germany?

Whatever the reason, this is an image of a pamphlet we received in the mail last week. It is not junkmail, but was nearly thrown into the same recycling bin. The title itself taunts you into paying attention. 'Entlassen', or Dismissal, materializes what registers in your mind as you begin to sift through the mail, important or ignore. Honestly it was the cover photo that caught my attention, due to my delayed comprehension of the German language. As I said this is not junk advertising but a political pamphlet distributed in our 10 block radius to raise awareness about the changes taking place to the architecture and the surrounding urban fabric. Which continues to change on a day to day basis in this part of the former East Berlin.

The sub-heading for this publication translates to something like a 'Publication for all residents and business owners for the formal abolition of for-profit development in this quarter', ie. anti-gentrification. It is filled with essays and imagery that focus on the process of refurbishment and develpoment in this segment of the Mitte over the past 15 years. I would be proud if there was an intelligent discussion about architecture in America that was public enough to arrive in your mail box. However, few cities in the world share Berlin's understanding of the political capacity of architecture.

One set of images recurring through out the newsletter caught my attention because they are photographs of the block we are living on, taken in 1987 and 1989. These images show a comparison of how this specific corner changed over a two year period. I found myself driven to find this corner and update the comparison.




Corner of Stein and Alt Schönhauser Str, 2008