Ever since moving to Berlin 30 years ago, I have been fascinated by the television tower, locally known as the “Alex”. At 368m in height and Germany's tallest buiding, it defines the skyline and acts as a trusted guide when navigating the city. I began to question the motivations behind its construction. Built by the GDR in a cold war climate amidst the political controversies of the late 1960s and at a time at a time when wall construction was already costing the state 1.82billionDDM, the tower must have served a serious purpose, I thought.  I searched in vain for concrete answers, but research revealed only inadequate facts: built at a price of 30.8million DDM to broadcast two East German TV channels for 4 hours a day thereby blocking western television transmission. Questions remained. Who financed it? Was espionage the incentive – the ultimate observation post of the surveillance state? Was it a display of power, merely a phallic object? In the end, my attempt to unravel the mystery of this mythic symbol of the German capital intellectually, culminated in colours and shapes as everchanging and open to interpretation as history itself. I found no answers, only colours in my own personal perspective. Ultimately, “Alex” the East German television tower now exists as the great glittering disco ball of the party city Berlin.