Haiku Review 1: Andreas Gedin

Andreas Gedin’s “Ich Bin Ein Berliner”
Freespace, Sydney, May 11 - June 8, 2002

May 13, 2002

"Ich bin ein Berliner" means "I am a Berliner". In1963, JFK went to West Berlin. His visit came just a year after the ignominious Wall had sliced the country and its people in two. Kennedy gave his speech right beside the Wall so that it would be heard by the people of East Berlin. Andreas Gedin’s video begins with a voice over of JFK's speech. At the time, his famous words "Ich bin ein Berliner" were a message of political solidarity with West Germany. But in today's Germany, what is the meaning of "Ich bin ein Berliner"? In Gedin's video this famous line is pulled from the news reels of history and transformed into a mantra of power and exclusion.

“Ich Bin Ein Berliner” centres on a student and a teacher. Over many unrelenting minutes a beleaguered student, with innocently imperfect pronunciation, attempts to say the famous line. The teacher is dressed in black, the student is dressed in red and the backdrop to their unsuccessful efforts is yellow. The patriotic colours loom large, the camera is coolly detached and the actors' faces deadpan. Facing front, the pair never once look at each other. Their body language is stiff, formal and unforgiving.

In this minimalist video there is the awkward trinity of the native/the teacher, the foreigner/the student and the omniscient German flag. The student’s articulation remains to the end unacceptable to his teacher. Why is this? Gedin says: "Identification through language is something very important. To belong to a group you need to speak the same language. The poor Greek man in my video will never belong to Germany."

“Ich Bin Ein Berliner” is as much about the politics of language as it is about the power play between teachers and students. It brings to mind Ionesco's Absurdist play, “The Lesson”, where an innocent student is so victimised by his teacher that by the end of the play she can only mumble in monosyllables, whereupon the teacher murders his student. Gedin says: "Another, connected interest of mine in this video is the sadomasochistic situation in teaching/learning."

When JFK uttered those iconic words it was with a heavy American accent. "It is obvious that he never could be taken for a German. On the other hand it doesn't matter because he's from 'The Free World'", says Gedin. This is, of course, in stark contrast to the student. For all the student's desire to be a Berliner he never can be because the status of the foreigner is irrevocable. Language alone is no guarantee of acceptance. The video ends with the same bloated colours of the German flag. Whereas they had initially only seemed humorous, they now appear cynical and forbidding. ◊

“Ich Bin Ein Berliner” has previously been exhibited at: Kristiansstads Konsthall, Sweden, solo show (2002); Galve Knostcentrum, Sweden, solo show (2001); in “Utopian Landscape”, Zinc Gallery, Stockholm, group show (2001); and in “As If You Mean What You Say”, Tokyo, group show (2001).

Haiku Review was started by renowned Sydney-based visual artist and writer Ruark Lewis back in the dawn of electronic journals.