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I just came in from taking part, in a very small way, in Berlin’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s interesting how this city seems to have a knack of capturing the attention of the world in moments like this… or perhaps it’s more than that: Berlin seems from time to time to assume a role as a kind of microcosm of the rest of the world (at least the Western world), its struggles and its constantly evolving ideas about itself. Tonight was a re-enactment of a moment 20 years ago when the eyes of the world were upon this city, and saw something many never thought they would see: the victory of people over a repressive regime, the fall of a Wall that was supposed to last 100 years.
Berlin has been my home for almost 10 years now and has taught and given me much during that time. As a gesture of my gratitude and affection for this fascinating city I am choosing this moment to launch the online stage of my new project, ‘Symmetricity’. I wonder if the people that brought about the amazing changes and events of 20 years ago felt then the way I feel now: a little dazed, unprepared, uncertain of where all this will lead – but ready to face the adventure that opening this door will inevitably lead to…
I had hoped to have more pieces in place than I do, I envisioned a much grander presentation, but perhaps this very quiet beginning is appropriate. My story is about Berlin, but it is about Berlin in that larger, more universal, metaphorical mode that it sometimes takes on, when it becomes a symbol for how we understand ourselves. This project is a journey towards self-knowledge, and self-knowledge takes courage… so I am launching it tonight so as to invoke the courage and certainty of those people 20 years ago that wrote their own story on the Wall of history.
I hope you enjoy ‘Symmetricity’, and see (and hear!) something of yourself in it…
tobias tinker
Nov. 9th 2009
Berlin, Germany
