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Folke Köbberling & Martin Kaltwasser
Turn it one more time, 2007

In their piece, Turn it one more time, Berlin-based artists, Martin Kaltwasser and Folke Köbberling, dug deeper into the history and location of the park. The site has undergone many historic changes. For a time it was the Newspaper District, and in another, the militarized zone separating East and West Berlin (1961-1989). Buildings erected, buildings destroyed; density increase, populations devastated. It was a place for a community, a Wall, a parking lot, and an urban wasteland. Today, the site sits in restless anticipation as real estate values grow and interest accumulates. At the same time, bushes, grass, and small trees break through the asphalt and city foundations. Seasonal vegetation grows and covers the ground.

Kaltwasser & Köbberling excavated three sites in the park and literally turned over the site’s historic and archeological foundations. The excavations mirrored the form of viewing platforms once erected by West Germany along the Berlin Wall. These original platforms allowed citizens to see beyond the division. Now, rather than leading upwards, the excavations led downwards and offered a new view into the history of a place. The holes uncovered former building foundations, cellars, toilets, coal furnaces, and more.

The stairway represented not only a symbol of historical significance, but provided an experiential path. It invited visitors to observe the site’s intrinsic, biological processes. Viewers were brought eye-level with the ground where the territorial appropriation by wild plants could be observed. This overwhelming presence of flora presented the the natural potentials of the place typically beyond the interests of its potential developers.

The excavations were situated on 3 different lots within the park. On the park's billboard, the artists recorded the diverse array of plants which they encountered.