The American Sector

All over the USA, dozens of concrete stelae are to be found. Some are cherished and revered while others are left to fend for themselves. They are the silent witnesses of a bizarre joke of history, for these objects are in fact sections of the Berlin Wall that have been collected by American institutions and individuals over the past 30 years. At a time when there is much debate about notions of public commemoration, Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez’s assiduous piece of urban anthropology surveys a past world order, the remains of which can now be found in the United States. Here they stand, these 3.5-metre-high concrete blocks, as steadfast as soldiers who have not been told that the war is over. Like totem poles, they appear to assert themselves and evoke history in the most unlikely of environments. At the same time, they exhort us to ponder the present. The American Sector asks what became of the symbol that Berlin once was for the rest of the world after its hideous landmark, the Wall, disappeared or found new homes in museums. Was the historical potential of the fall of the Wall used in a meaningful way, or was it squandered?