WeAll

The concept of “free” walls in the ZHdK university’s environment is perhaps the most directly related to politics. This is because the walls have become a sort of stage for students to express their opinions, views, and questions, while also allowing some to remain anonymous. Upon closer inspection, it is possible to find statements, quotes, and expressions addressing all current societal and political dilemmas. There are quotes like: “Destroy gender roles” and “Refugees are welcome,” which are highly pertinent to various political discussions. Such an environment creates a sense of freedom to express oneself, even encouraging it. After leaving a mark or thought in a public space, one can feel a sense of bravery and excitement. In this essay, walls will be examined in different cases and scenarios to identify the diverse roles they play for people as an essential part of the environment, as a mediator, as a canvas for expressing feelings, and as a political artifact.

Sometimes in high school, teenagers leave inappropriate messages on school walls, but in these cases, teenagers use walls as an instrument to communicate messages or feelings they are afraid to demonstrate openly while remaining anonymous. Walls are an essential component of our living environment from childhood to death. People use this environment as a mediator to communicate or reflect their inner world conditions.

Nowadays, some social media platforms use the metaphor of “wall” for the personal content that users post online. In “Vkontakte,” every user has his own “wall” where all information about the person appears. Interestingly, users try to make their wall look a particular way, which again reflects their interests, persona, or views. The use of walls as a metaphor was intentional, chosen because the concept is familiar to most people.

Philosophies view the functions of walls in various ways. For instance, Social Constructivism promotes the idea that walls are socially constructed, meaning that they are created by humans as a way to divide up space. This view is often associated with the work of philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard.

Liberal Individualism holds that walls are a way to protect the individual from the outside world, a view championed by thinkers like John Locke and John Stuart Mill.

In Marxist Dialectical Materialism, walls are seen as a means to divide the world in a way that benefits the ruling class, a perspective linked to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

The political significance of walls is evident in examples like the Berlin Wall. Today, the graffiti on this wall is categorized distinctly as Berlin Wall graffiti art. The history of artwork on the Berlin Wall illustrates how much the wall reflected the political state at the time. While the Western part of the wall was covered with artwork, the East Berlin part was kept completely clean, as citizens were not allowed to approach or paint on it. This stark difference caricatured the varied approaches to the walls and their roles in the political process. After the fall of the GDR, not only was the wall dismantled, but many artists also began to paint on the East side, establishing a symbol of freedom on a monument that had always signified the opposite. The most famous piece on the East side by Russian artist Dmitri Vrubel is based on a photograph of USSR and GDR leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing. The painting alludes directly to the political intimacy between East Germany and the Soviet Union, while the title adds a critical or satirical tone to the piece, questioning who hopes to “survive” and why this love is “deadly.” This construction of the Wall in 1961 completed the separation of governance systems in East and West Germany. It served as a sign of division, but later, it became a place of political discourse, uniting people from both sides as the wall belonged to their shared experiences.

The design of walls can also play a role in the messages they communicate. For example, in George Orwell's "1984," the architecture is used metaphorically to represent governmental dominance over society. In this novel, the built environment is a key weapon in the author's symbolic arsenal.

In political contexts, the most significant characteristics of walls are that they serve as agents of division, alienation, and demonstration of superiority. History provides numerous examples where walls have symbolized the dominance of one political power over another. However, walls often change their function depending on the surrounding political context. As William Callahan noted, recognizing walls as sites of negotiation allows them to be renegotiated, which is a productive understanding of politics. This process transforms walls into political artifacts embodying political negotiations.

William Callahan also observed that, when considered as a political artifact, the Great Wall can reveal much about human relations and how people relate to the material culture of massive infrastructure projects as visual artifacts that provoke affective responses—even eliciting the sublime. In some cases, people use walls to reflect their feelings or as instruments for doing so.

These examples show the multifaceted nature of walls. Walls can become political artifacts in several ways: as dividers between groups of people, as in the case of the Berlin Wall; as symbols of power or authority, like the Great Wall of China; or as mechanisms to control or exclude people, as in the Israeli West Bank barrier. Yet, the functions of walls are contrasting; they can act as barriers or canvases for establishing statements supporting freedom or unity, depending on the political context. The controversial nature of walls is reflected in a quote by Plato: "Walls are for the preservation of order, not the hindrance of it." The function of walls will largely reflect the political context and the intentions of the people involved.

Walls can be used not only to demarcate territory but also to promote circulation, movement, and exchange. The concepts of governmentality and loosening/tightening help shift our perspective from viewing walls as sovereign barriers that separate and exclude the outside from the inside, to seeing them as productive sites that regulate flows based on degrees of loosening/tightening and function as uniting elements.