FANS OF A FAKE HISTORY

Monuments Reconstructions in the former East Germany.

It was a difficult question to which it was decided to respond, in the most central areas, with an anachronistic reconstruction of the most representative buildings. This reconstruction, carried out after 70 years, effectively cancelled a decade-long phase of the city's development.

This "historicist" approach, was lead by the rich and powerful West Germany, which imposed its idea of city identity, to the detriment of the urban stratification that had developed in the city centres of the GDR. The choice was to reconstruct parts of cities as they were before the Second World War, thus hiding some decades of controversial urban development of the city.

The 20th century left Berlin, and East German cities in general, with a complex urban structure, the result of the Second World War and the subsequent period in which the separation of East and West Germany froze the urban development of many parts of the city. In the GDR (East Germany) a city identity linked to the current ideology developed: rationalist institutional buildings and prefabricated residential buildings began to grow alongside the few old buildings that had survived the bombings.

With the end the Cold War, the reunited Berlin presented itself as a heterogeneous urban landscape, composed of a mix of empty lots, areas where the pre-war urban structure had survived and new areas.
Within this heterogeneous urban scenario, the need to recover an identity that was not linked to either Soviet or Nazi ideology began to grow.

Another controversial project was developed in Potsdam: the reconstruction of the GarnisonKirche. Politics and the local church pushed for its reconstruction. The old demolished church had a symbolic value in the past, as it was the place where the pacts between the Evangelical Church and the Nazi party were made.

"Fans of a Fake History" aims to highlight a controversial urban/architectural approach that has clear intentions, but at the same time is a source of doubt and criticism. This strategy of selective preservation reflects the confusion of identity in contemporary Berlin, where attempts are being made to erase from memory much of the 20th century in order to recover the thread of identity lost almost 100 years ago. Is this a political act?

The Monument is an architecture that aims to generate a strong relationship in those who observe and experience it. This process defines a shared local identity. The people who interact with the monument convey a feeling of loss that is the same loss as this Fake History.

"Fans of a Fake History" aims to highlight a controversial urban/architectural approach that has clear intentions, but at the same time is a source of doubt and criticism. This strategy of selective preservation reflects the confusion of identity in contemporary Berlin, where attempts are being made to erase from memory much of the 20th century in order to recover the thread of identity lost almost 100 years ago. Is this a political act?

The Monument is an architecture that aims to generate a strong relationship in those who observe and experience it. This process defines a shared local identity. The people who interact with the monument convey a feeling of loss that is the same loss as this Fake History.

This photographic project focuses on these iconic buildings that are being reconstructed in the centre of Berlin and Potsdam as a result of arbitrarily selected history.