Berlin Wall 30th anniversary: Handshake project tries to create connections where there was division
A special art project is trying to get thousands of Berliners to shake hands to symbolise German reunification.
It comes ahead of preparations for November 9, when the country will mark 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The project wants to gather 10,957 clay moulds of people shaking hands — one for every day since the structure tumbled in 1989.
Dutch artist Meike Ziegler got strangers to chat and then bring their hands together with a ball of clay in the middle.
This creates a unique mould impression of their encounter. The plan is to use the moulds to make a symbolic wall of unification.
“As this was a divided city for a long time, I thought let’s take the ingredient of the division, the wall, and create connection,” said Ziegler.
“That’s as simple as it is and brings East and West Berliners together.”