



Completed in 2015, the mural "Face Time" is the first large-scale facade work by the Berlin-based artist duo Various & Gould. Spanning approximately 350 square meters on a fire wall at the border between Berlin-Mitte and Kreuzberg, it stands just 80 meters from the former Berlin Wall strip. The work translates the duo's signature style of collage and screen printing to architecture and was created over a twelve-day period, during which even passersby spontaneously climbed the scaffolding to help with the painting. Technically, the mural is striking for its imitation of the classic screen printing process. First, the colored areas were applied, followed by a precise layer of countless halftone dots, which give the portrait its depth and texture. This "Dadaist" approach is an homage to the artists' passion for printmaking and makes the gigantic image appear like an oversized, handcrafted collage that originally began as a wheat-paste poster in Paris. Thematically, “Face Time” explores questions of identity, beauty, and cultural diversity. The face is not a real person, but a patchwork of approximately 20 different faces, whose individual parts vary in age, origin, and gender. It does not portray individuals, but rather creates fictional characters that reflect Berlin's increasing diversity. For Various & Gould, these constructed faces often appear more real than the smooth, perfect faces we encounter daily in mass media.