Trigger
Point
Nick Crow
Ian Rawlinson
Both Statues Have Wings
There are two statues of
Otto Lilienthal in Berlin. One
in Steglitz, and the other at
Tegel Airport. Tegel’s official
title is Tegel Otto Lilienthal
Airport – although the name
is seldom used in everyday
speech, and warrants speech
marks and brackets when
mentioned online. The renaming
of Tegel as the Otto
Lilienthal Airport occurred
in 1988, just one year before
the event that would eventually
lead to the airport itself
becoming redundant.
The statue at Tegel is situated
near the viewing deck and lies
prone among the debris and
cigarette ends from the nearby
bar. Lilienthal is depicted
with wings spread across the
ground and laid out as though
having come to earth, Icaruslike,
from a failed attempt
at flight, his wrists bound
together. In this way it is quite
unlike Peter Breuer’s 1914
Lilienthal Memorial in Steglitz,
which stands erect atop a high
plinth as though preparing to
take flight. Created under two