In summer 1990 118 artists from 21 countries designed the Berlin Wall in Berlin-Friedrichshain
with their art. The open-air gallery has become world-famous as a symbol of the end of the Cold
War and as a historical reminder of the inhumane border regime. The preservation of the
monument was controversial for a long time: it was only in the 2000s that Berlin began to
preserve the historical traces of the once divided city. By then building permits had long
since been granted for the Spree properties while the artworks fell into disrepair. In five
essays the exhibition catalogue of the Berlin Wall Foundation describes the transformation of
the monument and its surroundings and explaines the uses appropriations and displacements.
