There are some art concepts that could only be transformed into reality in Berlin. The people that really make this city are indeed characterized by a certain tolerance to all things wild and free, regardless of how weird or inappropriate they may be at the same time.
On his arrival in Berlin, the Czech artist Martin Gabriel Pavel set out to explore the city and its colorful people. But although this still sounds pretty usual, I’d venture to say he made a little more of an impact in this field than you or me. The photography project he started out could only succeed under some very particular circumstance, the most vital one of them being that people would allow others to take picture of them naked, which will result in hundreds of such portrayals getting back to Pavel.
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by Michalina | Books, Videos
photos: Alexander Steffen
Should you ever talk to people who have lived in Berlin for decades, there is no chance that they won’t underscore how much the city has changed through time. Unfortunately, they are not pleased with what Berlin has turned into and while each of them might have a different account of what exactly the core of the problem is and who is to blame, they would all agree that gentrification has exacerbate the situation. Without intending to initiate another debate on how to tackle this alarming phenomenon, I would like to raise awareness for a beautiful photo project by Alexander Steffen. Having grown up in West Berlin, he started the project Vanishing Berlin in 2009 by taking pictures of transient landmarks all over the city. Wastelands, storefronts and brick walls are central elements of his work. While some of the photographs seem to have been captured decades ago, they were all taken in the last seven years. Alexander’s focus doesn’t lie on the past, but on the process of change instead. In October 2016 the book was officially released and can be ordered online here. On September 8th 2017 Alex will open his new exhibition revisiting his Vanishing Berlin series.
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by Nikos | Photos, Products
photos: Christian Reister
We’ve all seen them: The colorful lights, the crazy excess, the happy and wasted faces, the empty Club Mates and Jägis, the shabby “ironic” disco balls. Berlin nights are intense, they are fun, they are rough. But what happens outside of the usual clubs that we know and go to? There seems to be an endless amount of parallel worlds in this city, places and scenes and people we never come across. Hidden strip clubs, private parties, ball rooms and Kneipen, strange places and strange people. Well, maybe they are all not that strange, for them, we are the strange ones.
Photographer Christian Reister has captured this other side of Berlin’s nightlife in his photo book Alle Katzen Grau. The title is a short form of the German proverb “At night all cats are gray”. Through his lens he takes us on a trip through the night to places that look so foreign, yet they are in the same city that we know so well. He shows us a world beyond the hip clubs, crowded bars and popular streets – a world beyond youth culture, beyond techno parties, beyond boundaries. The photo book is available in a beautiful limited edition of 200. Have a look inside on our favorite images of the book after the jump.
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by Frank | Art, Books, Photos
When the word “wall” comes up in any other city in the world it doesn’t really stand out. When it comes up here in Berlin it suddenly gets this super heavy meaning. Yes, the Berlin Wall will forever be a scar that the city is wearing across its heart, in some places more visible than in others. But Berlin has so many more walls than just THE wall. I’m talking about the so-called firewalls or “Brandwand” in German, the walls on the sides of the typical townhouses. Not that they are something specific only to Berlin, but due to the destruction of the city so many of them are visible because houses are missing in the row.
At first site these walls look raw and unintentional, but if you look closely you can see that they sometimes have a kind of footprint that was left by the house that used to be in front of it. It’s like a shadow of the past that won’t go away. Many fire walls look really run down, some have graffiti and tags, others more elaborate and commissioned murals. Some are just painted and clean, and others have received some windows (something that is actually illegal because it defeats the purpose of the fire security).
The German photographer Harf Zimmermann, one of the founders of the famous Ostkreuz photo agency, has dedicated a whole photo book to the most charismatic walls of the city. It’s a beautiful Berlin documentary piece about this lonely and often neglected part of the city. It was released by Steidl last month. After the jump we have a little preview for you.
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by Frank | Books, Photos
