erdal inci stacks the berlin wall's 45,000 concrete segments in a single frame

erdal inci stacks the berlin wall’s 45,000 concrete segments in a single frame
all images © erdal inci

it is often the things most monumental in size that are the hardest to comprehend the scale of. when thinking about the berlin wall, for example, turkish media artist erdal inci noted he couldn’t easily envisage its actual extent. despite knowing its length, it is complicated, if not impossible, to truly understand the wall’s physical range.

with this in mind, inci decided to create a computer generated, 3D model of the berlin wall compressed in a single frame, so that its distance is perceived vertically, rather than horizontally along the ground. all 45,000 separate sections of the barrier’s reinforced concrete — each 3.6 meters high and 1.2 meters wide — are visualized as an animation, and in the context of a landscape: alexanderplatz in berlin.

the first step was to make a 3D model of a single segment from its blueprint, and duplicate it 45 thousand times. ‘I needed to decide how to compose all the pieces, so I ended up ordering them together in the same proportions all from of a single segment,’ inci says. ‘doing this ensured that we are able to see both the shape of a single segment — on a larger scale with more detail — and the entire quantity that makes up the wall — exactly 45k segments — together.’

inci has created a 3D model of a single segment of the berlin wall and duplicates it 45,000 times

in visualization of this process, inci has created an animation that illustrates all 45,000 components of the fractal structure in a simulated state of vertical collapse. to render the actual size of the wall, inci has virtually inserted the colossal structure, which spans 240 meters into the air, in berlin, surrounding by neighboring residential buildings that appear to be minuscule beside the mammoth construction. 

the structure has been virtually inserted in the context of alexanderplatz, berlin 

an animation illustrates all 45,000 components in a simulated state of vertical collapse
the segments collapse to the ground and scatter throughout the frame

via [the creators project]