Jean-Ulrick Désert
New York. Frankfurt. Berlin.
Tegel Airport, 1.November 2007.
M109 to Bahnhof Zoo and U12 to Kreuzberg, then to Neukölln.
2.November 2006, Gropiusstadt. DS in conversation with Jean-Ulrick Désert
I’ve been here all my life. My Family (my mother) as well as a large part
of the original inhabitants here were relocated many years ago from the Berlin
districts of Wedding and Reinickendorf. So many people knew each other before.
I’ve been in my apartment here since I was twelve years old, I’ll
be thirty years old this month. My family lives throughout all the different
parts of Gropiusstadt. My mom and her boyfriend live very nearby and they sometimes
stay over. I was raised here by my grandmother, my mom’s mother. Ten of
us lived in her apartment, I’ve always been surrounded by my family. Today
my cousins, my uncles and my aunts still live here as well. One of my other
uncles even knew and slapped the real Christiane F. during that time when the
buildings were really smelling like piss and shit like they say in the book
and movie. Yeah he hit her, right in the face, because he knew the real one
– not the movie version. Things are much better now and it’s not
so dirty and smelly anymore. I like living with and around my family. Another
of my uncles is still addicted and lives in that
direction here in Gropiusstadt. The whole situation is calmer – many areas
including this one here in this photo I took shows children play areas and garden
landscaping that didn’t exist before. Before it was all concrete. Now
Baumarkt garden fences make it friendlier. There are many different people here
now but sometimes people are still committing suicide. They fall right here
on my balcony. Some of the dead are from Gropiusstadt but also other people,
from other parts of Berlin come to Gropiusstadt to kill themselves, like a famous
television actress did. The police always have to take the dead body through
my apartment to get them off the balcony. They don’t want to use a ladder,
there’s no other way. It’s really annoying.
The artist will continue his interviews with “DS” and document it in various mediums as an ongoing exploratory diary inspired by the artist in residence experience of the Pilotprojekt Gropiusstadt.
www.jeanulrickdesert.com
Arbeit von Jean-Ulrick Désert 2005