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December 2020

- The World Clock -

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A long time ago, when Germany and Berlin were still divided by an inhumane border strip, my parents and I lived in West Germany and my grandparents lived in the East. When I was a child, during our visits to the GDR, I became friends with Annekatrin, a neighbour of my grandparents. In 1975 we met for the first time as young adults at the World Clock on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. Both of us called our meeting place the 'Navel of the World' and from then on we dreamed of a future where our country would be reunited and we could meet anywhere in the world.

'Alex' – as we call the square – seemed almost as deserted then as he did in November 2020, when I decided that now was the time to paint our old meeting place, the World Clock. It was a sunny, much too mild autumn day when I positioned myself in front of the small Berlin sight. It is a machine for representing the movement of time: a rotunda stands on a column. The minutes glide along the column clocks, the hours on the rotunda unswervingly. Above them, the planets circle evenly and quickly around a central point on their orbits. Much has changed since 1975, Germany is reunited, Berlin the new, old capital. But fortunately, our 'Navel of the World' still exists at Alexanderplatz.

I'm standing in front of the Central European Time Zone, a young mother and her little daughter are playing the violin for passers-by. A woman of my age surprisingly buys me a coffee. She tells me that until recently she used to meet her friends at the World Clock every first Saturday of the month. To see and be seen, a bit of fun, that was their tradition. Due to Corona, none of her friends come to Berlin. Shame. Are the good times gone forever? 2020, what a year. Few people on the square, all with masks on their faces. "I mean, it'll soon be the case again that people meet just like in the old days, won't they?" said the woman in her native Berlin dialect, encouraging us as she hangs her bag over her shoulder. She mumbles as she says goodbye: "Sure, time is passing by. Just like me, I have to get going."

The afternoon has arrived by the time I finished my painting. I circle the World Clock once more, read all 146 city names aloud to myself, wonder what people in the different time zones are doing right now: getting up or going to bed, working or sleeping? Is the sun or the moon shining, do they have winter or summer or no season worth mentioning? For me, the Berlin World Clock is something like the 'Navel of the World' because it connects the world community in a unique way by putting time in the centre of the world. This is exactly why I decided to paint the World Clock in 2020 at the time of the second corona wave. Just the thought of movement and change can have a calming and comforting effect. On the way home I buy the accordion player a coffee in the underground station. Until times get better again, you just have to encourage and cheer each other up.


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