A project by Goethe-Institut
The German cultural center Goethe-Institut presents an interactive installation aimed at enhancing the plurality of European thought.
“The wall that disappears” was born from an idea of the artist Maria Yablonina, reworked by the architect and engineer Werner Sobek. The work consists of a Plexiglas structure in which are inserted about six thousand wooden blocks with engraved quotes in the original language, German or Italian. A hundred sentences engraved on the blocks are the result of a competition that Goethe-Institut involved its audience with: everyone was called to send a favorite quote of European thinkers. The most profound phrases were selected to compose this participatory installation that celebrates the linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe. The project invites visitors to choose one of the wooden blocks, read the quotes and exchange them with others, so to have a tool to start a dialogue with other people present.
Visitors may take the blocks they have chosen with them, emptying the installation of its contents. Once the structure becomes transparent, it will fulfill its task by becoming the wall that disappears.
“The wall that disappears” is a project by Goethe-Institut, funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the semester of the presidency of the Council of European Union by Germany in 2020.
Photo Credits: Natalia Cheban
