Mister Sandman

The Berlin Wall separated families and friends from one day to the other. Some of them never saw each other again. Children on both sides, East and West, had one evening ritual in common – they all watched the children’s TV series Sandmännchen. For almost 30 years, Germany had two versions of Sandmännchen: one produced by Deutscher Fernsehfunk in East Germany (Title: Unser Sand-männchen) and the other one by the ARD in West Germany (Title: Sandmännchen). After the wall came down, a reunited Germany adopted the East German Sandmännchen. Even 30 years after the reunification, children are still watching Sandmännchen in the evening. For me the two Sandmännchen were at the same time a symbol of the separation of Germany and a connection all children had during this period.The lyrics of the song that was always played before the Sandmännchen show started say: “Sandmann, lieber Sandmann, es ist noch nicht soweit, wir sehen erst den Abendgruss, ehe jedes Kind ins Bettchen muss, Du hast gewiss noch Zeit!” It translates roughly as: “Sandman, dear Sandman, it's not quite time yet. Let us watch the good-night story first, then every child must go to bed. Surely you can give us a bit more time!”In my art piece I changed the lyrics to express the feelings of thousands at that time:“Sandmann lieber Sandmann, wir sind noch nicht so weit, wir sagten gerad den Abschiedsgruss, als jedes Kind auf seine Seite muss, uns blieb keine Zeit!” In English: “Sandman, dear Sandman, we are not ready yet, we had just said goodbye when every child had to go to his side. We didn’t have enough time!”.The two wooden pieces represent the wall oneach side, West and East. The center part between the walls, which was the former death strip, shows pictures of children playing close to the wall. The whole scene is covered with wire.