Berlin am Kabel

The introduction of new telecommunication technologies is closely linked to the history of Berlin: In 1922 the first regularly broadcasting radio station was founded in Berlin, in 1967 the starting signal for West German color television was given in the city, in 1980 West Berlin participated in the field test for interactive videotex of the Deutsche Bundespost (BTX), and five years later it was one of four locations of the cable pilot project. During the decade before the fall of the Wall, the high cabling density of the island city offered favorable technological conditions for testing the electronic net-working of households and the commercial expansion of the television landscape. For some, the leap to the digital age was the opportunity to provide universal information and communication offers, others saw a threat to privacy and civil rights in the commercialization and computerization of the worlds of life and work. In addition to this year's anniversaries of BTX and the cable pilot project, "Berlin am Kabel" refers to a second historical development: the increasing importance of video as an artistic production, presentation, and distribution format in the 1980s.