WE, Wie, W/E
Berlin Poster
In 1961, just as I was beginning to see a world larger than my own small town, Berlin became the site and symbol of the next world war. The very beginning of my life as a sentient political being was the division of Berlin and the iconic JFK stand against it.
"Let them come to Berlin...
"Ich bin ein Berliner...
and my personal understated favorite:
"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect. But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people."
My seemingly permanent reality for nearly 30 years was shattered when the wall came down. It was the first of a cascade of change including the fall of the USSR, the iron curtain, and my joining Pentagram in 1991.
This poster was occasioned by the opening of a Berlin office of Pentagram by Justus Oehler. Over a background of a 19th century Baedecker Guide map of Berlin is an architectural collage spelling We, Wie (why?) and W/E, a demarcation of the former West and East Berlin.