44) Official Monument
Richard Serra sculpture, a Serra corten specific called “Berlin Junction” that was standing temporarily in 1987 in front of the Martin-Gropius-Bau, is purchased in the same year by the city of Berlin and placed in front of the main entrance of the Philharmonie, a location that pleases Serra because of the curvy shape of the building. Immediately ensues the protest of an initiative of citizens demanding a monument for this area, the former Tiergartenstraße 4 and headquarters of Euthanasie-Zentrale “Aktion T4” during the Third Reich. At this point Serra’s Berlin Junction is declared by the city into the monument for the victims of Aktion T4. A more explicit bronze plaque is added in the proximity in 1989, in the attempt to provide clearer information on the history of the place.
Despite all efforts Berlin Junction still looks and feels like Berlin Junction sitting on Aktion T4. Since 2007 there are plans, and now even a construction site, for a more real and official corten steel monument, with the decision to move Serra’s sculpture to the south side of the Philharmonie in the Kulturforum, restoring it to its original name of Berlin Junction.
Richard Serra sculpture, a Serra corten specific called “Berlin Junction” that was standing temporarily in 1987 in front of the Martin-Gropius-Bau, is purchased in the same year by the city of Berlin and placed in front of the main entrance of the Philharmonie, a location that pleases Serra because of the curvy shape of the building. Immediately ensues the protest of an initiative of citizens demanding a monument for this area, the former Tiergartenstraße 4 and headquarters of Euthanasie-Zentrale “Aktion T4” during the Third Reich. At this point Serra’s Berlin Junction is declared by the city into the monument for the victims of Aktion T4. A more explicit bronze plaque is added in the proximity in 1989, in the attempt to provide clearer information on the history of the place.
Despite all efforts Berlin Junction still looks and feels like Berlin Junction sitting on Aktion T4. Since 2007 there are plans, and now even a construction site, for a more real and official corten steel monument, with the decision to move Serra’s sculpture to the south side of the Philharmonie in the Kulturforum, restoring it to its original name of Berlin Junction.