Street Scenes

Nicolas Whybrow

Description

Always the focal point in modern times for momentous political, social and cultural upheaval, Berlin has continued, since the fall of the Wall in 1989, to be a city in transition. As the new capital of a reunified Germany it has embarked on a journey of rapid reconfiguration, involving issues of memory, nationhood and ownership. Bertolt Brecht, meanwhile, stands as one of the principal thinkers about art and politics in the 20th century. The 'Street Scene' model, which was the foundation for his theory of an epic theatre, relied precisely on establishing a connection between art's functioning and everyday life. His preoccupation with the ceaselessness of change, an impulse implying rupture and movement as the key characteristics informing the development of a democratic cultural identity, correlates resonantly with the notion of an ever-evolving city. Premised on an understanding of performance as the articulation of movement in space, Street Scenes interrogates what kind of 'life' is permitted to 'flow' in the 'new Berlin'. Central to this method is the flaneur figure, a walker of streets who provides detached observations on the revealing 'detritus of modern urban existence'. Walter Benjamin, himself a native of Berlin as well as friend and seminal critic of Brecht, exercised the practice in exemplary form in his portrait of the city One-Way Street.

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Architecture
• General
• Photography
• General officer

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841509082
• Langue: English

Extrait

Street Scenes:Brecht, Benjamin, and Berlin
Nicolas Whybrow
First Published in the UK in 2005 by
Intellect Books, PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE, UK
First Published in the USA in 2005 by
Intellect Books, ISBS, 920 NE 58th Ave. Suite 300, Portland, Oregon 97213-3786, USA
Copyright 2005 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Electronic ISBN 1-84150-908-6 / ISBN 1-84150-114-X
Cover Design: Gabriel Solomons
Copy Editor: Julie Stradwick
Contents
Acknowledgements
Photographs
Introduction
Preamble
1. Terra Terror: the Unlikely Event
Part 1
2. Chaussee Strasse: the Last Place
3. Chaussee Strasse: Brecht s Spectacles
Part 2
4. Oranienburger Strasse: the Space of Recurrence
5. Grosse Hamburger Strasse: the Space of Disappearance
6. Niederkirchner Strasse: Wall Wounds
7. Potsdamer Platz: White Noise
8. Strasse des 17 Juni: the Space of (Dis)unity
9. Karl Liebknecht Strasse: the Space of Light
Bibliography
Index of Names
Acknowledgements
Formally I wish to thank the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board for two funding awards, one a small grant (in 2000) that enabled me to spend two months living in Berlin, the other a research leave grant (2001-2) that permitted the completion of this book. I am also grateful to the British Academy for enabling me to deliver two PSi conference papers based on the research material for the book, one at the Universit t Mainz, Germany in 2001 ( Schauspielplatz Berlin: the performing city ), the other in Singapore in 2004 ( Der Bev lkerung / For the People : performative interrogations of nationhood in the new Germany ). Further relevant conference papers were given at the UK universities of Lancaster, Bristol and De Montfort in 2000, 2003 and 2004 respectively ( Locating Brecht in Berlin: performativity and the city , Wracked Reichstag: performative interventions in the Berlin Republic s seat of power and Encountering the City: on not taking yourself with you ).
Some of the book s content has also appeared in journals in one form or another, and I would like to thank the editors concerned for permission to include it here. Performance Research published two pieces, parts of which are distributed throughout chapters two, five and six: Leaving Berlin: on the performance of monumental change (6i, 2001: 37-45) and Foot-notes (7iv, 2002: 27-37). Chapter eight meanwhile has appeared more or less as it stands in New Theatre Quarterly as Street Scene: Berlin s Strasse des 17 Juni and the performance of (dis)unity (76, 2003: 299-317).
Most of the quotations in the book come within fair use ; permission to use copyright material has been sought from all relevant parties concerned and I am grateful for their consent (though replies have not been received in all instances). I mention here those that have specifically requested to be given separate credit. Thus Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main holds the original rights to both Brecht and Benjamin. Excerpts from Illuminations by Walter Benjamin, copyright 1955 by Suhrkamp Verlag. English translation by Harry Zohn, copyright 1968 and renewed 1996 by Harcourt, Inc., reprinted by permission of Harcourt Inc. Extract from Illuminations by Walter Benjamin published by Pimlico. Used by permission of the Random House Group Limited. Methuen Publishing Ltd holds the UK rights to all Brecht's writings in translation and has granted permission for excerpts cited. In the US the plays are published by Arcade Publishing, New York. Copyright 1995 and 1997 respectively from Journals 1934-1955 and Poems 19131956 by Bertolt Brecht. Reproduced by permission of Routledge/Taylor and Francis Books Inc, New York. Excerpts from Brecht on Theatre translated and edited by John Willett. Translation copyright 1964, renewed 1992 by John Willett. Reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The copyright for Norman Ohler s Mitte 2001 is by Rowohlt. Berlin Verlag GmbH, Berlin. I am, moreover, pleased to thank both the Brecht-Archiv and the Brecht-Weigel-Gedenkst tte for their respective supplying of research material. All photographs appearing in the book are by me.
On a more informal but no less important note I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of certain colleagues and friends. I am particularly indebted in both capacities to Ulrike Zitzlsperger of not only Exeter University but also Berlin, past and present. Without her comprehensive support - which has included making available successive Berlin apartments for extended sojourns, maintaining an ongoing dialogue on the city, directing me towards likely places, events and publications of interest, as well as commenting critically on aspects of the material - this book would simply not have been possible. In many respects it is Ulrike s tireless enthusiasm for Berlin life in general, based on an intimate association reaching back to late Cold War times (when I first met her there), that has sustained my own interest in the city from a more detached standpoint.
I also wish to credit Baz Kershaw of the University of Bristol, Gerry Harris of Lancaster University and Richard Boon of the University of Leeds for their welcome assistance with various funding applications. May Yao and Lucinda Sanders of Intellect deserve recognition for their responsiveness and diligence. And thanks, finally, to a range of occasional and informal interlocutors, among them Kate, Jo, Jutta, Andreas, Donald and Susanna, Bernhard and Ulrike, John and Felicitas; to Marlinde for the kind bequethal of Brecht s entire St cke and, not least, to the old Leeds crowd for commissioning, on the occasion of my fortieth birthday, Ronald Arthur Dewhirst s droll Warholian portrait of Bertolt Brecht (who told Bert).
Photographs
1. Passport with GDR stamps (bottom left: Brandenburg Gate, 17 June 1990).
2. Chaussee Strasse street sign.
3. Brecht House, Chaussee Strasse 125.
4. Brecht/Weigel gravestones, Dorotheenst dtischer Friedhof, Chaussee Strasse 126.
5. Chaussee Strasse street sign.
6. Brecht Bookshop, Chaussee Strasse 124.
7. Neue Synagoge, Oranienburger Strasse 30.
8. Ampelm nnchen (red), Potsdamer Platz.
9. Ampelm nnchen (green), Potsdamer Platz.
10. Plaque ( Never forget ), Neue Synagoge, Oranienburger Strasse 30.
11. Anti-Neo-Nazi demonstration, Neue Synagoge, Oranienburger Strasse, 2001.
12. Damaged police vehicles, anti-Neo-Nazi demonstration, Oranienburger Strasse.
13. Tacheles (rear), Oranienburger Strasse 54-56a.
14. Tacheles (frontage), Oranienburger Strasse 54-56a.
15. Grosse Hamburger Strasse/Oranienburger Strasse street signs.
16. Boltanski s The Missing House , Grosse Hamburger Strasse 15-16.
17. Ernst Th lmann monument, Greifswalder Strasse.
18. Libeskind s Jewish Museum, Linden Strasse 13.
19. Graffiti, Markgrafen Strasse.
20. ETA Hoffmann Garden, Jewish Museum, Linden Strasse 13.
21. Holocaust Tower, Jewish Museum, Linden Strasse 13.
22. Brecht bronze, Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Bertolt Brecht Platz.
23. Der Verlassene Raum , Koppen Platz (Grosse Hamburger Strasse).
24. Will Lammert s maquette for Ravensbr ck, Grosse Hamburger Strasse 26.
25. Niederkirchner Strasse street sign.
26. Anhalter Bahnhof portal, Askanischer Platz 6-7.
27. Anhalter Bahnhof terrain, Askanischer Platz 6-7.
28. Anhalter Bahnhof portal (detail), Askanischer Platz 6-7.
29. Berlin Wall (remnant), Topographie des Terrors, Niederkirchner Strasse 8.
30. Berlin Wall (detail), Topographie des Terrors, Niederkirchner Strasse 8.
31. Copper strip Wall memorial, Niederkirchner Strasse (tarmac).
32. East Side Gallery, M hlen Strasse 47-80.
33. Graffiti, Savigny Platz S-Bahn Station.
34. Graffiti, Friedrich Strasse Station.
35. KPM advertisement, Ebert Strasse.
36. Info Box, Leipziger Strasse 21 (Potsdamer Platz).
37. Europa Centre, Tauentzien Strasse 9/Kaiser Wilhelm Ged chtniskirche, Breitscheid Platz.
38. Potsdamer Platz building site, 1998.
39. Sony Centre (northern side), Potsdamer Platz.
40. Hotel Esplanade (interior fragment), Sony Centre, Potsdamer Platz.
41. Headquarters of German Railways (DB), Sony Centre, Potsdamer Platz.
42. Sony Centre (interior), Potsdamer Platz.
43. Strasse des 17 Juni street sign, Brandenburger Tor.
44. Soviet T-34 tank, German-Russian Museum, Berlin-Karlshorst.
45. Reichstag/Bundestag building portal (with Behrens s 1916 inscription).
46. Poster for exhibition of Christo s Wrapped Reichstag project, Martin Gropius Bau, Stresemann Strasse 110.
47. Foster dome, Reichstag/Bundestag (interior).
48. Foster dome, Reichstag/Bundestag (interior).
49. Foster dome, Reichstag/Bundestag (terrace).
50. Haacke s Der Bev lkerung , northern courtyard installation, Reichstag/Bundestag.
51. Love Parade 2000, Strasse des 17 Juni.
52. Karl Liebknecht Strasse/Alexander Platz street signs.
53. Palast der Republik western facade (detail), Schloss Platz.
54. Group of visitors gathered round The Empty Library , Bebel Platz.
55. The Empty Library , Bebel Platz.
56. Marx-Engels monument, Marx Engels Forum, Karl Liebknecht Strasse.
57. Weltzeituhr , Alexander Platz.
58. Fernsehturm (exterior), Panorama Strasse.
59. Fernsehturm (interior), Panorama Strasse.
Introduction
Preamble
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
Fools lament the decay of criticism. For its day is long past. Criticism is a matter of correct distancing. It was at home in a world where perspectives and prospects counted and where it was still possible to take a standpoint. Now things press too closely on human society.
(Walter Benjamin, One-Way Street)
Measurement is thus displacement. One not only displaces oneself, in order to take the measure, but one also displaces the territory in its r