Tourism and West Berlin as Destination
How did West Berlin become a tourist destination? From the rebuilding of its tourism infrastructure after World War II onward, historical upheavals shaped the marketing of the metropolis.
Image gallery
Pfannkuchen-Dose, 1970er Jahre.
After the Berlin Wall was built, the city’s isolated location made traveling here more complicated than to other major cities. Once they arrived, however, many visitors felt as though they were experiencing the Cold War up close. At the same time, experiential tourism increasingly took center stage and shared space with alternative culture, which simultaneously subverted the tourist image. This history of tourism is one angle explored by the exhibition “We’ll Be Back.” The exhibition highlights the tensions inherent in the phenomenon of tourism.
One of the contradictions of this phenomenon is that it seeks to remain invisible while producing a vast number of images. At the same time, engaging with tourism means grappling with our own contradictions, for the promise of relaxation is ambivalent when we are aware of the social and ecological upheavals that accompany tourism.
As a joint exhibition by the Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Kunstraum Basement Berlin, it combines artistic and historical approaches. The exhibition at Basement focuses on contemporary artworks, some of which are also on view at Villa Oppenheim.
Funded by City Tax funds for special tourism projects in the district administered by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy, and Public Enterprises
Additional information
Hours of Operation
- Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Sunday, and holidays 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Free admission
