photo: Philipp von Recklinghausen / bobsairport
The true difference a book can make, in a time when it’s pretty much all said and done, is have a clear, authentic voice, and this is exactly what ‘Berlin Heartbeats’ has. ‘Berlin Heartbeats’ is a collection of intense photo stories and essays, of people who experienced the 90’s in Berlin and the time right after the wall fell until the early 2000s, and a new reality revealed itself to them; “old structures dissolved giving space for improvisation and experiment”. Frank, genuine perspectives and testimonies, not of a romanticized Berlin, but of a city as experienced by them, giving raw, simple, but magical accounts. You see the abandoned and run-down areas of the once divided city, you see revolts in the streets, the crazy underground art and music scene, alternative living projects, street parades and so much more.
photo: Rolf Zöllner / bobsairport
It is a peek into a world those of us who recently arrived in Berlin cannot fathom, but, weirdly enough, can relate to. The photos and stories speak of a time when there was ‘endless space for anything’; a sudden emptiness and openness, much different to 1920’s Berlin when it was the 3rd most populous city in the world, but which people of the divided Berlin didn’t recognize. This emptiness and openness still exists today, under very different conditions of course, Berlin offers a refuge to those who seek it. It’s an honest account of an era, without nostalgia or sentimentalism, as it is also a promise to the future: Berlin always resists and survives.
photo:Rolf Zöllner / bobsairport
The book Berlin Heartbeats is available in many bookstores all over Berlin and online on this website.
photo: Hendrik Rauch / bobsairport
photo: Hendrik Rauch / bobsairport
photo: Ben de Biel / bobsairport
photo: Hendrik Rauch / bobsairport
Photo:Philipp von Recklinghausen / bobsairport
photo: Philipp von Recklinghausen / bobsairport
photo: Ben de Biel / bobsairport
