were placed in the same space as Bowie . Despite his constant nods to the past , everything that he writes and records during his time in Berlin shows a real sense of yearning for the future and is extremely hopeful and optimistic in that sense . Everything that inspires Bowie exists in the same space , his influences and reality all blend into one . This is made possible by the collapse of bourgeoisie culture in the postmodern world . The middle space in which the dominant culture inhabits opens up , culture becomes fluid and enables different cultures and art forms to move into the mainstream . This grants Bowie complete agency over the construction of his own identity , where he is free to be whoever he wants to be , unrestricted in terms of class or status .
David Bowie ’ s ever-changing identity draws into question the elements of his “ performative self ” 16 . It is as if Bowie continuously ‘ kills ’ himself , or rather , the artistic representation of himself . This is discussed further in the text Enchanting David Bowie , which explores the ways in which “ This process of renewal means that Bowie constantly ‘ kills ’ himself , an artistic suicide […] Bowie has killed Major Tom , Ziggy Stardust , Halloween Jack , Aladdin Sane and The Thin White Duke […] In this environment of death and resurrection , Bowie becomes a heightened , exaggerated enigma , a figure who seems to be artificial or constructed and yet whose work consistently asks us to look for his real self behind the mask ” 17 . Baring that in mind , it is a fair assumption to say that many would have seen the persona that Bowie inhabited in Berlin as something that was very close to the “ real ” him as he hadn ’ t appeared to have created a new “ performative self ” in the way that he had with his other alter-egos such as Ziggy , for example . However , I would argue that the David Bowie of the Berlin era was yet another reinvention of his “ performative self ”. Bowie was wearing the mask of a regular man , living a regular life in a pretty regular neighbourhood in Berlin . It could be said that the composition of Bowie ’ s
16
Sean Redmond , Enchanting David Bowie ( Bloomsbury Publishing Plc , 2015 ).
17
Sean Redmond , Enchanting David Bowie ( Bloomsbury Publishing Plc , 2015 ).