#ZEROWALLS

 

 

The 30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

 

On 9 November 2019 we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that divided Berlin for 28 years. This was made possible by the peaceful revolution of courageous people in the GDR who took to the streets to demonstrate for their freedom. When the wall fell, anything seemed possible. Wunderbar!

 

30 years later, we still find ourselves in a situation that we thought we had already overcome. Political leaders and populists want to convince us that the Wall is an effective political tool to master our global challenges. But as the philosopher Noam Chomsky already says: walls that separate people from one another are the architecture of violence.

 

 

Walls that separate people from one another are the architecture of violence

 

The #ZEROWALLS GIF Competition 2019 has collected animated GIFs that show how to tear down walls. The visible ones that separate us from other people, the invisible ones that keep us away from important information, and the self-made ones in our heads that block our clear view of life. Invited were international graphic and animation designers, typographers, illustrators, photographers and artists. All submitted GIFs can be seen on Instagram.

 

 

Why participation was worth it!

 

Each of the 5 winners received a high-quality collection of books with over 2000 pages of inspiration. Many thanks to GRAFT Architects, Edition Panorama, bobsairport, Slanted Publishers, JOVIS Publishers, Amberpress, University of California Press and the Federal Agency for Civic Education for supporting this competition by providing us with these great books.

 

 

The International Jury

 

Our highly creative jury members, who awarded the five best GIFs, came from all over the world:

Benito Cabañas Aguilera, Graphic Designer, Puebla, Mexico

Parisa Tashakori, Visual Artist & Graphic Designer, Boulder, United States
Lahav Halevy, Graphic Designer, Tel Aviv, Israel

Melinda Beck, Illustrator, Animation & Graphic Designer, New York, United States

Mariia Norazian, Art Director & Graphic Designer, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Tim O’Brien, Illustrator, New York, United States

Markus N. Beeko, Secretary General of the German section of Amnesty International, Berlin, Germany

Ronald Rael, Artist, Designer & Educator, Oakland, United States

 

 

With a little help from some friends

 

The #ZEROWALLS GIF competition was kindly supported by many international design schools, initiatives, and institutions who promote this competition in their global communities.