ChristineKühn

TouchtheWall

1990
2009

Christine Kühn was born in 1953. She studied archaeology and art history at the Freie Universität in West Berlin and painting at the Universität der Künste. For her untitled Wall painting of 1990, she asked passers-by to symbolically appropriate the Wall by leaving their handprints on it.

Kühn’s Wall painting shows numerous colourful handprints against a grey background, which is light in the centre and darkens towards the edges. In the original version, the painting was continued on the pavement. Passers-by participated in making the work in 1990. The artist asked them to leave their handprints on the Wall so that by personally marking it, they symbolically appropriated it. The painting was retouched in 2009.

Kühn’s work was first exhibited in 1984. Some other of her works can be seen in public spaces in the city, including a project dealing with the racist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992. Kühn died in 2011.

Christine Kühn in front of her painting at the East Side Gallery, 2000
Christine Kühn in front of her painting at the East Side Gallery, 2000

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„Touch the Wall“ is part of the online-tour: The Berlin Wall in the Artwork

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