PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Imaginary Berlin is a research and art project aimed at examining Berlin, both at close range and from a distance. This project brings together a group of people with a broad range of experience in Berlin - from self-proclaimed native to total stranger. Each brings a unique viewpoint to this exploration of a city and to the question of how cities are known and experienced. Findings were presented at the Humboldt University in Berlin on June 23rd, 2005 as part of the arts festival Loving Berlin. Imaginary Berlin was created by Johanna Linsley, in collaboration with Shana Negin, Hilke Schellmann, Jesse Shapins and Jonah Spear, with support from the Institute for European Ethnology at the Humboldt University.

EXAMINATIONS

Imaginary Berlin explores two strategies for understanding space. The first strategy focuses on the physical space of the city. Using the form of a narrated walk, each Examination is limited to a single route Ð the walk from U1 Prinzenstra§e to an apartment at Dieffenbachstrasse 76. Examination 1 consists of a description of this route as remembered by a former resident of the apartment, Jesse Shapins. This remembering takes place at a distance, from his current home in Brooklyn. Examination 2 is narrated live by Johanna Linsley. She has no prior experience of Berlin, but having listened to Examination 1, she has the advantage of familiarity. This examination focuses on the discrepancies of memory and the degree of accuracy between her imagined walk and her real walk. The final walk, Examination 3, is taken by Jonah Spear, who is not only a stranger to the city, but has actively avoided learning anything about it for the past six months. He has ended conversations and left the room whenever the subject inadvertently came up. His Examination is also a process of discovery.

Taken together, these three narrated walks suggest the multiplicities of experience contained in the simplest of spaces. They also emphasize the role of past experience in present perceptions. If an imagined city is incomplete without its physical counterpart, still a real city is meaningless without the stories of its inhabitants.

EXAMS

The second stance the Imaginary Berlin project takes is theoretical and from afar. Reading, thinking, talking, comparing and imagining Ð the goal is to construct a total and experiential understanding of Berlin without setting foot inside the city limits. The results and necessary failures of this strategy are represented by a series of Exams.

The Written Exam is the result of an attempt to read and report on everything written about Berlin, ever. As the endeavor erodes, a series of sketches and tangential thoughts emerges.

The Geography Exam is an emotional map of Berlin. An American and a German, both adopted Berliners, respond to neighborhoods with a word that resonates most strongly for each. The map is made of photos taken in Brooklyn, Chicago, Portland (Maine) and Paris with a cell phone camera.

The Oral Exam is a live interrogation by students at the Institute for European Technology at the Humboldt University. This Final Exam tests the participants of Imaginary Berlin on their progress and represents a meeting of the imaginary city and the real one.