Berlin, arena of the Cold War

A discussion on the relationship between ideology and art in post-war Berlin – a look at the visible shapes it took in a divided Berlin, and how power was reflected in the city’s architecture. We will talk about how cultural policies in East and West Berlin became instruments of the Cold War, and the role played in that by the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF).

Thomas Flierl is a freelancer in the fields of architectural history, cultural studies, and public relations. He is a fellow of the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture and Planning at Bauhaus University in Weimar. He was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives off and on from 1995 to 2011. Among other positions he held there was as the Left Party faction expert on urban planning policy, and chairman of the committee for urban planning and transportation; from 2001 to 2006, he was also the senator for science, research, and culture in Berlin. From 1987 to 1990, he worked at the ministry of culture of then East Germany.

To the biography of Anselm Franke