The East Side Gallery: An Attempt at Incorporation
Polina Bondarenko
12/08/2026
The East Side Gallery is a 1.3 kilometre stretch of the Berlin Wall which was preserved after 1989 and painted by artists in 1990 as a response to the fall of the Wall and to German reunification. This paper explores the East Side Gallery as a space that enables the expression of the emotions triggered by the events of 1989. It turned from a symbol of division into a site of public memory. The main question of the study is whether the East Side Gallery is a good example of incorporation, a concept that describes how architecture can absorb trauma into its own material. Through the analysis of five artworks, the study examines questions of narrative, power and emotions with reference to the site’s historical context. It shows that the Gallery is a battleground over who controls the story: the state wants to make it appealing for a global audience, while the artists keep pushing for their work to be understood the way they intended. The research concludes that the East Side Gallery is a successful, yet unfinished, example of incorporation, and that what distinguishes it from an ordinary monument - the presence of an authored art. The existence of the Gallery in a state of permanent conflict is essentially its primary function. Its ongoing conflicts are actually what define it, keeping the trauma alive and sparking constant debate.