Jae-An Lee - The Garden under the Check Point

The project started from my personal curiosity. I was born in the last divided country, Korea, but don’t have any specific political opinion about it like other young Korean people. When I was grew up I was educated to sing the song, ‘Our wish is to be reunified’, and saw reunion of separated families on TV though. Just I wondered how Berlin was, how Berlin people were because Germany was one of two divided countries in the world, and reunified before Korea. While I was staying in Berlin, I met various people on the street, cafés and the garden under the check point. They are ordinary people who have lived in Berlin, and I heard about Berlin before and after reunification and their personal stories. The project’s title, the Garden under the Check Point is symbolic. The check point symbolizes the division and tension, and the garden symbolizes peace and relaxation. Ironically the garden has been under the check point for about 100 years, before the check point was build, and the old check point and the older garden was harmonized. I met the people, if it had been before reunification, I might have been unable to meet them, because they lived in the Eastern German side of Berlin. Their stories attracted me to the garden under the check point. The Garden under the Check Point tells the stories of the people who lives in Berlin now.