ONE WALL by Gizem Erdem

For her ONE WALL, Gizem Erdem created a mural approximately 50 meters long that incorporates motifs drawn from a survey of neighborhood residents. As part of the “Stadtraum!Plus” program organized by the foundation Berliner Leben and in collaboration with Gewobag, people from the neighborhood were invited to share activities they particularly enjoy doing together with others. Reading, playing, dancing, walking, and daydreaming form the thematic starting point for the artwork. Erdem translates these everyday motifs into a unique visual narrative that oscillates between figuration, abstraction, and a comic-like visual language.

A defining feature of Gizem Erdem’s mural in the passageway at the Staaken Center in Berlin-Spandau is its open, fluid composition, in which figures, animals, plant elements, and symbolic forms come together to form a continuous visual whole. The painting unfolds horizontally along the architecture, thereby responding directly to the spatial context of the passageway. As a covered walkway, it connects residential areas, social facilities, and everyday routes within the Heerstraße Nord housing complex. Rather than presenting a self-contained single image, Erdem creates a sequence that is perceived as one passes by and is fully revealed only through movement. In this sense, the work should be interpreted less as a spatially expansive series of images and more as a connection between the viewer’s acts of seeing, walking, and lingering.

Formally, Erdem works with clearly defined outlines, minimalist forms, and a color palette that combines vibrancy with accessibility. Her visual language draws on strategies from illustration, comics, and urban painting. The deliberately accessible iconography creates a sense of closeness while also leaving room for different interpretations. The mural does not present an idealized depiction of the neighborhood, but rather an associative network of activities and moments of movement in which everyday life is articulated as a collective experience.

The work can thus also be understood as an exploration of the social function of art in public spaces. It emerges from a dialogical process in which local perspectives serve as the source material for the artistic conception. This participatory foundation is inscribed in its motifs and atmosphere. The project was complemented by contributions from children from KiK—Kinder im Kiez—who worked on the pillars of the passage as part of their participation, thereby adding another layer of local engagement to the overall project.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Photos: Britta Leuermann