A Section of the Berlin Wall in Los Angeles...

This is something I never expected to see...  Across from LACMA, there were segments of the Berlin Wall.  It was an installation by The Wende Museum.  When I went it was at 5900 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA; however, I'm not very familiar with that museum or if they have additional locations that they display their pieces at.  If you're inclined to go in person, I would check their webpage at http://www.wendemuseum.org to be sure of where it is.

Front Sections of the Berlin Wall

This is the placard they had on the front section of the wall:

"The Wall Project

Presented by The Wende Museum

The Wall Along Wilshire features ten sections of the original Berlin Wall.  Measuring nearly forty feet wide, it is the world's longest stretch of the Wall outside of Germany.  The Wall Along Wilshire was assembled in 2009 as a component of The Wall Project, the Museum's public art initiative commemerating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  The Wende Museum invited L.A. based artists Kent Twitchell, Farrah Karapetian, and Marie Astrid Gonzalez to participate in the project and paired them with French-born, Berlin based muralist Thierry Noir who was one of the first artists to paint on the Berlin Wall in 1984.  Through their participation, the installation recalls the outdoor "Eastside Gallery" in Berlin, made famous by the international artists whose collective intervention transformed the Berlin Wall into a canvas reflecting real and imagined divisions.  The last four segments contain original graffiti from Cold War era Berlin, including an iconic image of Bimer's green bear.  The Wall Along Wilshire is part of the Wende Museum's permanent collection."

Detail of front sections of the Berlin Wall

This is the placard they had on the back section of the wall:
"Behind the Wall
Presented by the Wende Museum

As part of the Wende Museum's Surveillance Project, Behind the Wall brings together street artists from Los Angeles, London, and Berlin to interpret the role of surveillance in our lives from the Cold War until today.  From left to right, the murals by Herakut, Retna, and D*Face, cover nine segments belonging to the "east side" of the original Berlin Wall - the side that faced the East German death strip and was never painted.  In order to preserve the segments and to prevent moisture from rusting the WAll's inner skeleton, a special water-resistant primer has been applied and the artists' paints provide an additional layer of protective coating.  With continued care, The Wende Museum's Berlin Wall segments will remain a historical and vibrant outdoor canvas that connects contemporary issues with significat historical events that impacted the globe - the East German peaceful revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Cold War."

Back sections of the Berlin Wall

Detail of back sections of the Berlin Wall

It was really something to see this piece of history in person.

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