Remaining Visible: The Visual Trajectory of a Demolished Gasometer in the conflicting Discourses about Socialist Heritage in the former East Berlin since the 1970s

Abstract

The urban landscape is more than just its structural manifestation. It is subject to ongoing transformations as a result of everyday usage, narratives, and long-term social changes. It represents a materialisation of socio-spatial discourses and practices. In the historical transition process, the urban space becomes a palimpsest of shifting appropriations, interpretations, and thus multiple realities. We need to critically reflect on these layers of attributions to understand the complex interrelation of built space, cultural heritage, and constructions of identity. Analysing them in terms of visual relevance and transformation offers a new approach. This chapter traces the social-discursive negotiation and narrative of a visual symbol derived from the structural form of the gasometers in the East Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. In the early 1980s, the gasometers formed a landmark within an outdated industrial plant. With the modernisation of the gas supply, the area was to be transformed into a large, green park. As identification points visible from afar due to their size and metal construction, the gasholders were recognised as possessing architectural value and were even considered by some to be historic monuments.