NARRATIVE

Two days after forces from East Berlin sealed off entry into the ally-occupied West, East German forces erected an impenetrable concrete wall - the Berlin Wall - to permanently divide the East from the West. For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified wall served as the most unmistakable symbol of the Cold War; it physically separated Europe.
The discovery of smuggled communication devices should come as no surprise, especially when considering the resulting fractures of families. These devices, which resemble flattened modern-day sensors, seem to have travelled between East and West Berlin, across the Berlin Wall. Two sisters, who each owned second-hand bookstores on opposing sides of the wall, addressed speculation of their involvement in the coordination of reuniting families through books.
Stefanie, owner of Nitty’s Bookstore on the western side of Berlin, acknowledged the exchange of illegal books. “I learned of a man who knew how to cross the wall. I never inquired about his methods, but I always suspected it involved swimming across some lake near the northern end of the wall. Originally, I only intended for him to pass along letters to my sister, Svenja. After a few letters were sent back-and-forth, thanks to our friend, she had the idea to help reconnect other families.”
The sisters decided to distribute pairs of sensors by concealing them in the spines of two matching books. They hoped that broken families would be drawn to certain books based on their shared relationships with the titles in the past, so half of each pair lived on the shelves in either sisters’ bookstore - on either side of the wall. The task of secretly drawing people to the hidden sensors seemed a daunting task, but after the first few families revived their communication, word-of-mouth assisted in circulating the knowledge of the sensors in the books.
Family members who discovered their sensors were directed to embed it inside any chosen artifact that they would feel comfortable carrying throughout the day. When reading the book, they would encounter underlined paragraphs. With the knowledge of Morse Code and hints from neighbors, the families quickly understood that the underlined letters corresponded to dots and dashes, which translated into the motion of squeezing and shaking the sensor. This pattern of movement, which would be transmitted through vibrations through the paired sensor, ultimately reestablished the lost connection between fragmented families.
Researchers uncovered a diary entry from Anja Muller, a user of the device who described her first experience with utter excitement: “I’ve worried about my family since the day the wall was built. I didn’t even know if they were still alive! After feeling Thomas talk to me through the vibrations, I was overwhelmed with happiness. My heart is so full.”
Astonishingly, these illegal artifacts escaped notice from the East Berlin authorities, even when users interacted with them in public arenas. Their inconspicuous character allowed families to gain reassurance of the wellness of their relatives on the other side of the wall, sometimes even providing proof of actual life.

SYSTEM

RENDERINGS

PROCESS | previous iteration

Final Story