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The Berlin Wall: Borders and Barriers in the Past and Present

A Student Project Exhibition
Organized by German and Scandinavian Studies at UMass Amherst and 
the UMass Chancellor’s Office

Opening reception in the Bromery Fine Arts Center Lobby
April 24, 5-6:30 PM

When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, its fall was celebrated as the start of a new era without walls. Since 1989, an additional 62 border structures have been erected around the world. There are 77 border walls and fences in the world today. For almost three decades the Wall divided not only Berlin but also East Germans from West Germans. The German unification in 1990—one year after the fall of the Wall—ended the existence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany.

This spring, UMass Amherst will unveil a section of the Berlin Wall painted by the artist Thierry Noir. The wall segment was generously donated to the University and will be installed on the UMass campus in front of Memorial Hall. 

Because walls are not a relic of past histories but very much a part of our lives today, in various contexts and permutations, we invite undergraduate students from UMass to engage creatively with the topic of walls in the past and present, and to submit their projects to be exhibited in the Fine Arts Center on the UMass campus. The project submissions will be judged by a jury of Five College faculty and there will be prizes for the best work ($100 for first prize; $75 for second prize; $50 for third prize).

In their work, students should engage with one or more of the following themes: 

• Walls as canvas
• Rebellion and reactions against fortified borders and political lines around the globe
• Street art and art in public spaces
• Responses to policing and surveillance by state authorities: collaboration and resistance
• Documentary film and the construction of memory narratives
• The wall as a subject of study in the sciences 
• Environmental impacts of border walls 

Guidelines for Submissions

• Undergraduate students from any of the Five Colleges are invited to submit individual or group projects.
• Students may create projects in any format: visual arts (paintings, drawings, photography, etc.), audio or video content, posters presenting research, websites, etc. However, all submitted materials must be in a format that can be exhibited in the gallery space on display walls or tables.
• Digital and multimedia projects should be presented in poster or flyer form with a link or QR code directing viewers to a website with the content.
• The submitted projects must be in English or German.
• Students may only submit one project per person.
• Each entry must include the writer’s name, the year, college affiliation, and an e-mail address. 
• Each project must be the sole work of the author/artist.
• The Program in German and Scandinavian Studies (GSS) reserves the right to publish images or recordings of projects on our GSS website.

Dates & Exhibition 
Students must drop off their final projects in Herter Hall 524 or 541 between April 17-20, 9am-5pm.
Projects will be exhibited in the UMass Fine Arts Center, April 24-28.

For questions, please email Professor Kerstin Mueller Dembling: muellerdembling@german.umass.edu.