Grünverbindung Halemweg/Popitzweg („Gedenkregion Charlottenburg-Nord“), Berlin
Realised - October 2025
Winning proposal for Art in Architecture Competition „Kunstwettbewerb für die Grünverbindung Halemweg/Popitzweg“ - October 2024
Brushed Stainless Steel, Corten Steel
Maximum Dimensions: 3.067 x 2.911 x 1.308 m
Who we are is shaped by memory. Remembering history is part of our identity—it makes us aware of what is fragile, what has been lost, and what we can build together. This project is not only about the past, but also about us today: it creates spaces to listen, reflect, and encounter one another. For Galina and uns takes the form of two oversized ceramic bowls that have been broken and lie close together as fragments in the grass. Their size and arrangement suggest that they once formed a whole. But their different colors, surfaces, and fracture lines show that they come from different vessels.
Bowls are everyday objects, but at the same time they are deeply symbolic. They can nourish, receive, and give care. In this function, they also recall the gesture of two hands formed into a bowl – an image of devotion and service, as in the care provided by doctors. The work is dedicated to Galina Romanova, a young doctor who was forced into labor in Berlin during World War II. She joined the resistance and was executed in 1944 at the age of 25. Her unfinished life stands for many others whose courage to resist injustice cost them their lives.
Unlike in kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, these fragments cannot be put back together again. They remain unfinished – a symbol of broken lives. And yet the fragments create a space. They invite you to sit or stand between them. Not a spectacle, but a place for reflection: a place to hold difficult memories and conversations, to encounter the irretrievable – together.
The sculptures are made of weathered Corten steel and polished stainless steel, whose contrast emphasizes both rupture and coexistence. A stainless steel plaque on the ground bears an engraved poem that takes up images of brokenness and duality. It recalls Galina's fate and at the same time emphasizes the ongoing need to listen to one another and seek peace – instead of forgetting, dividing, or dehumanizing.
The sculptures speak of irretrievability—of vessels and lives that cannot be healed. At the same time, they offer a space of presence: a space where people can listen, speak, and deal with what is difficult. They remind us that identity is shared—there is no “them,” only “us.”
two hands – two states of being
before and after / being and broken
two pieces, irreparable
two seats – two places to reflect
two opinions and one place, there
a way to intimately navigate a path of middle ground nurtured and gently pushed
towards making peace amongst the broken remnants of what happens when we forget
.to listen to one another
zwei hände – zwei formen des seins
vorher und nachher / ein leben zerbrochen
zwei scherben, für immer entzweit
zwei plätze – zwei orte zum nachdenken
zwei meinungen in einem raum geschaffen
um in seiner schützenden Nähe nach Wegen zu suchen, gemeinsam geborgen und doch sanft gedrängt
frieden zu schließen inmitten der zerbrochenen
erinnerungen an das, was passiert, wenn wir vergessen
.uns und anderen zuzuhören
Production Partners:
metallbildnerei Philipp Schreiner - Fabrication and Installation
David Bizer - CAD drawings
EnBuCo Konstruktionsbüro - Structural Engineering
Elliott Walker - Poem Layout / Typography
Grunflaechenamt Ausbildungsabteilung - Brick Underlay
Lechner Landschaftsarchitektur - Park Design, Location Selection
Neumeister - Foundations and Groundworks
Ecke Design - Historical Information Panel
Ökumenisches Gedenkzentrum Plötzensee - Historical Text
Berliner Forum für Geschichte und Gegenwart e.V. - Historical Text