The artist Tadashi Kawamata and the landscape architect Christoph Schonhoff have chosen the balcony of the former Berlin City Palace as a point of departure for their project Balconies. It was from this balcony that Karl Liebknecht proclaimed the Free Socialist Republic in 1918. Today it is integrated into the former GDR Council of State building and represents the only remaining fragment of the City Palace, which was torn down by the GDR government. Against the background that many GDR buildings today must make way for new ones, the team poses such questions with Balconies as: "What will remain in the future?"

Various balcony extensions are planned along the Spree Canal between the Schloss Bridge and the Schleusen Bridge, perhaps even up to the Insel Bridge. The balconies will be secured directly along the banks and will invite passers-by to stop for a while and take a longer look at the canal. A new perspective onto the city will be achieved - onto the bridges to the right and left of the balconies, as well as onto the Spree Canal, and in particular by the deep shadows the balconies cast in the water.

Project Leader: Vincent de Boer, Amsterdam
Structural Engineer: Helmut Drewes, Hanover