The record
Six segments with the word SALE on them, commissioned by the city from an artist who bought the Wall in order to accuse himself of buying the Wall.
Six segments of the Berlin Wall have stood in front of the Trondheim art museum at Gråmølna since 2015, arranged with the word SALE. The city commissioned the work from Lars Ø. Ramberg for the twenty-sixth anniversary of the opening of the border. Ramberg, born in Oslo in 1964 and long resident in Berlin, called it Capitalist Realism after the movement of Gerhard Richter, Konrad Fischer, Sigmar Polke and Manfred Kuttner, who in the 1960s turned a critical eye on West German capitalism and consumer culture — Richter having fled to Düsseldorf in 1961, the year the Wall went up.
The target is the commercialisation of art and of historical heritage, the Wall included, and the argument is made locally as well. The museum building was a soup kitchen before it was a police station; the harbour district around it was redeveloped with luxury apartments and marinas, and renamed in the process from Gråmølna, the grey mill, to Solsiden, the sunny side. Ramberg sets the recent demolition of wall remnants in Berlin for property development, and the sale of segments to corporations and collectors, against the gentrification outside the museum door.
He is explicit that buying six segments to make the point implicates him in it. That is unusual in this catalogue. Most owners explain their acquisition as rescue, education or tribute; this one bought the object in order to stage himself as part of the problem.
The record was held back until now on the strength of a tertiary lead — a list that reported four pieces beside the Solsiden centre with SALE painted on them, with no source behind it. The Foundation's entry gives the number as six, names the artist and the commission, and explains what Solsiden is.
How did it get here?
Commissioned by the city of Trondheim from Lars Ø. Ramberg for the twenty-sixth anniversary of the fall of the Wall and installed in 2015.
Sources & verification
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
Six segments in front of the Trondheim Kunstmuseum Gråmølna since 2015, the city's commission to Lars Ø. Ramberg for the twenty-sixth anniversary, the title Capitalist Realism and its reference to the 1960s movement, the history of the building and the renaming of the district from Gråmølna to Solsiden, and Ramberg's stated argument about commercialisation and his own part in it.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Source accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 1365
Last verified: Not yet verified
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