Counterpoint to Putin's victory parade: An art project connects Berlin with Kyiv
In a cemetery in Berlin-Mitte, a work of art brings the war in Ukraine to our attention: the "Kyiv Berlin Metro Construction" by Eric Pawlitzky and Norman Behrendt.
In the small St. Nicolai and St. Mary's Cemetery across from Soho House, blue and white tiles shimmer among the greenery. What kind of tomb is this? At first glance, it looks like an oversized Babylonian sarcophagus, but the tiles look too industrial for that, and then a large white U comes into view.
What's a subway station doing in a cemetery? Grating covers a shaft from which the sounds of traffic waft like a murmur from hollow bones. The train of thought that one undergoes daily as a subway passenger in reality takes on an occult dimension here: In the cemetery, a subway staircase forms the entrance to the underworld. Or is it an exit? An emergency exit?
It is a work of art by Eric Pawlitzky and Norman Behrendt. They draw on projects byMartin Kippenberger's "Metronet" (1993-97), which envisioned a global subway network, and on the work "A Metro in Gaza" by the Palestinian artist Mohammed Abusal, who in 2015 proposed a network of seven subway lines in the Gaza Strip , where tunnels already exist. Pawlitzky and Behrendt claim that the line, via the Friedhof subway stop, connects us directly to Kyiv. The small Verwalterhaus gallery will celebrate its opening on May 9, the day Putin, who invaded Ukraine over three years ago, will inspect the Victory Parade on Moscow's Red Square, marking the day of liberation from Hitler's fascism .
The Kyiv subway serves as a bomb shelter during air raids, just like the one in Berlin 80 years ago. Images have been seen of families with children camping out in trains, on platforms, and on stairways, trying to sleep, fighting their fear by searching for information, while Russian bombers and drones destroy Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.
A pile of stones that weighs on the conscienceWho would have thought such images would emerge again in Europe? And who would have believed that people would become so accustomed to them so quickly, and in order to relieve their burden, push them out of their consciousness? It's easier when you separate your own reality from the one a few hours by Flixbus to the east, let the news get to you less, and perhaps even become annoyed by the war in the East, which you wish would end so you no longer have to deal with your conscience and your fear.
And then this pile of stones comes to mind. What if the shaft opens now and the Kyiv residents stream in, in bursts with the subway, if they exercise their right to security, which they are no less entitled to than we are here in Berlin? Even if we separate ourselves on the surface, we remain connected underneath. The work of art helps us to transcend distance and think of those closest to us again.
Kyiv Berlin Metro Construction. May 9 to June 8, daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the caretaker's house of the St. Nicolai and St. Marien Cemetery, Prenzlauer Allee 1, admission free.
Berliner-zeitung
