Walls Photo (detail): Andreas Levers, CC BY-SA 2.0, via flickr Walls Whether physical, mental or digital – walls can provide a sense of security by protecting and providing order. But they often block our view of others, of what we share with them and of new developments and situations. Foto: Design Pics / Bert Klassen © Picture Alliance/DPA. Focus: Walls Gated Communities – Virtual Walls Wealthy people in many countries are withdrawing into gated communities. These closed-off housing estates have not caught on in Germany so far, however. How come? Foto (Ausschnitt): Hao Wei (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons Focus: Walls Chinese Walls: A Paradox Walls are constructed for reasons of safety, order, and stability. Do they live up to these promises? Photo: Giant Humanitarian Robot, CC-BY-2.0, via flickr Focus: Walls Suffocation 2177 A short story by Zhong Chufu Photo (detail): "Castle Square" (CC BY 2.0) by Jorge Lascar @flickr.com Focus: Walls A public sphere without walls People often bemoan the lack of a European public sphere. But a public sphere does exist – it’s fragile, lively, and different than expected. Source: Internet Census 2012 (Carna Botnet) Focus: Walls "Digital walls must come down too" Do walls on the web have a future? Anke Domscheit-Berg makes the case for a free Internet. © David Urbani Focus: Walls Of Walls Great and Small Writer Nina Bussmann on her experiences of walls in Nanjing and in Europe. Courtesy: Empfangshalle Focus: Walls Walled in and free: Art in jail Artists are free. Art is free. Article 5 of the Basic Law, Germany’s constitution, protects art against walls. But what if art goes behind prison walls of its own free will?
