Gabriel Heimler (Paris)
Mauerspringer / Wall Jumper

Since its construction in 1961, the Berlin Wall has served as the world’s most famous symbols of political repression. Once the wall was opened, two artist associations, the VBK from the East and the BBK from the West, decided to invite artists from around the world to paint a section of the wall that ran along the Spree. Extending 1.5 km, it was the first joint art project between the two Germanys. The project, titled the East Side Gallery, was completed in 1990 with the participation of 102 artists.

One of these artists was Gabriel Heimler, who painted his Mauerspringer (Wall Jumper) on site.

This motif has now also taken up residence in Room 421 at Luise but has been adapted to its current time and place. Whereas in 1989 on the East Side Gallery the “wall jumper” sprang from West to East, from Kreuzberg to Friedrichshain, in a symbolic gesture of bringing freedom (which Heimler represents as a straw hat), at Arte Luise he jumps “out the window” — jumping from history into the reality of the present. Hotel guests find themselves quasi in a fourth dimension: in a room situated between then and now, between reality and its mirror image. What does the “wall jumper” bring with him today?