Take, for example, Berlin: both the imaginary city as constructed through pictures, stories and visions culled from an array of mediated time, as well as the actual city currently in the midst of reconstructing itself as the new capital of Germany. Now, one might say that the development of the urban fabric of post-war Berlin is a product more of a process of erasure than one of construction. Both the carpet bombing campaigns of the second World War, and the construction and subsequent removal of the Berlin Wall, marking the duration of the Cold War, have left the city with a series of urban erasures: gaps within an otherwise continuous built environment.

These gaps contain, through absence, the presence of the historical events by which they were produced, evoking an image of an event through traces registered on the surfaces that remain. Taken at the scale of the city, the collection of these gaps becomes a dispersed anti-monument, committing to memory not an official narrative of an historical event but a series of enigmas whose significance is ultimately constructed in the present through the interplay between visual evidence (what i see before me), memory (what i've brought with me) and the imaginative act (how i reconcile the two). Within the montage of the city these gaps invoke a pause: an interruption or stoppage within the flow of the functioning city. Operating as conduits between the imaginary city and the actual city, the sites themselves become little films wherein the interval between the real and the imaginary is constantly negotiated.

With the reunification of Germany and the relocation of the government to Berlin, these gaps are rapidly being filled as the city prepares itself to once again serve as the country's capital. For example, Potsdamerplatz, the pre-war heart of Berlin which was devastated by air raids in 1945 and engulfed by the 'death strip' created by the Wall in 1963, is currently one of the largest construction sites in Europe.

When completed, the new multi-block complex will house corporations such as Daimler-Benz, Sony, A+T (investment group), Deutsche Bahn, and Deutsche Telekom, among others. The programming for this site alone says much about what this place will be: Sony is constructing an 8 screen theater capped by an Imax; adjacent to the Philharmonie we find a hybrid theatre/casino; distributed throughout the 'pedestrian streets' we have shops, restaurants, and the hotels to house the tourist and travelling businessman alike. Much of this passes under the local rubric of 'Critical Reconstruction', reinforcing the notion that Germany is now strictly 'reunified' and becoming 'restored' to its natural state (and not annexed and being remolded by a politically conservative wave of speculation.)

Significantly, the bright red 'Infobox' - a piece of 'temporary' architecture perched in the midst of the construction site that presently engulfs Potsdamerplatz and Leipzigerplatz - plays a primary role in the dissemination of this party line. Through highly elaborate computer animations, the visitor is projected into a future of the seamless transnational corporate development of perhaps the most valuable real estate Berlin has to offer. This is coupled with interactive displays of the massive infrastructural overhaul the city requires to fluidly function as a capital for the next millennium, as well as detailed information regarding the logistical challenges posed by a construction campaign of such scale.

Leaving aside for the moment the spectacle of Germany reinventing itself through the agency of the TNC, what is striking here is the calculated program of forgetting that this enterprise mobilizes. The erasures of 20th century Berlin, and the historical events they bear witness to, are themselves in the process of being erased by the frenzy of construction currently in progress.

Confronted with a city literally inscribed with a history that most would soon leave behind, it is not at all surprising to encounter a publicity campaign that attempts to counter the pauses provoked by these stubborn, resistant urban gaps. In the interim period between 'now' and the completion of construction is inserted a high-resolution picture of a future-Berlin brand-spanking new ('see the city of tomorrow, today'), rendered credible through the technological prowess deployed; a multi-media extravaganza on par with the best the Epcot Center has to offer; fun for the whole family! Certified by the State itself! It's no surprise this shiny bright red symbol of social revolution has become the #1 tourist attraction for the city of Berlin.

@