Wasteland Twinning Berlin

Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik,

The audience arrive to find the twinning party in formation

Sunday 23rd September: the Chairperson on behalf of the Wasteland Twinning Network leads an audience to a remote area nearby to the ZK/U (Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik), where two figures stand with clasped hands in preparation for the additional members of the Non Twinning Party. By way of introduction to the ceremony a short statement has been prepared:

“…the Network understands that there is an increasing trend in the un-twinning of Sister Cities or Twin Towns. This situation is not helped by instances of novelty twinning agreements such as the Scottish village named Dull becoming twinned with a U.S. town named Boring in 2012… While city twinning continues to provide a meaningful indicator of a city’s symbolic partnering with another, we are beginning to see a certain reassessment of official city twinning arrangements in the world-view of some societies.”

The Agreement Not to Twin, co-authored by the representatives of the two sites is delivered in English, German and Dutch during which the two figures, hands remaining clasped, swap their shirts,

“We see no reason to enter an official relationship over something so fluid as water and so fleeting as an urban wasteland. Twinning would merely be a symbol with little significance.”

Finally the pair loosen their grip on one another for the official closing of the ceremony followed by a celebratory glass of port.