October 31 – November 14, 1992
Object: Golf course created on landscape and golf played
The art event HAUPTSTADT BERLIN WORLD OPEN (Capital Berlin World Open) created a vision for the unified center of Berlin. The artwork focused on one of the most important sites in Europe during the 1990’s, an area that continues to be central to Germany and politically essential to Europe. The area symbolizes many dreams and has a profound history, a location that embodied the ending of the Cold War and the development of political, historical and economic German and European ideals entering the 21st century. For a brief instant after the Berlin Wall was removed, the open landscape and its potential for development were unparalleled. Berlin’s center was unified and open. A historic opportunity had arrived for the spatial design of Berlin’s central area.
HAUPSTADT BERLIN WORLD OPEN contained a comprehensive plan for the entire site Spree Bogen, Brandenburger Tor/Pariser Platz, Ministerial Gartens and Potsdamer Platz. The HAUPTSTADT BERLIN WORLD OPEN artwork questioned the city’s planning process for the area and particularly that of Potsdamer Platz. The game of golf was used because it had many symbolic references to the developing situation. The flag and tee sites were a way to compare the historic identities of the land with the developing situation. Each tee, green and fairway were designed to recall a historic situation, represent the current state of affairs and point to the development and future being designed. In 2002, I revisited the locations and topics during a thesis investigation and plan continue my documentation and examination of the areas transformation in subsequent publications.