Collaborative team BULL.MILETIC’s compact video sculpture transforms a journey through a politically charged landscape—the site of the Berlin Wall—into a dreamy meditation on eroding memory. With this work, titled Wiegenlied (Lullaby), 2005, the artists cast a hypnotic spell by coupling the sound of a soothing music-box tune (Paul Lincke’s classic march Berliner Luft [Berlin Air]) with footage projected onto a crisp white pillow. The images slowly, mechanically revolve within a circular frame, creating a narrative of navigation—trawling through verdant vacant lots, residential neighborhoods, and urban thoroughfares. The sites all bear evidence of the architectural barrier that was demolished in 1989; with time, that absence has evolved into a normalized part of the landscape. The piece was photographed with a remote-controlled camera, a novelty piece of equipment that captures images that seem simultaneously clunky, otherworldly, and unexpectedly captivating.

— Glen Helfand