Have you ever been in the situation where somebody told you they really liked your nose, or your neck or your hair and you thought: “WHAT? It’s the part I actually dislike most about my body.”
We have a certain perception of ourselves and our appearance. Influenced by our biography, our family and friends and also by the city we lived in. For example, I did not like my skin color until the day I moved to Berlin. While growing up in a city in the east of Germany, my skin tone was always standing out in a crowd. And most of the time not in a positive way. In Berlin on the other hand, strangers, friends, and lovers did not seem to mind my color. Not at all.
This perception of ourselves influences of course also the choice we make in the photography that should represent us. Especially in online dating, pics are the crucial part of storytelling. And even if you don’t want to upload pictures of yourself that look completely fake, you also want to show the best part(s) of you. Making the choice of the perfect picture always a bit tricky.
Friend and Berlin-based Turkish photographer Eylül Aslan was fascinated by how our picture selection for our online profiles is influenced by our self-image. For her book Trompe L’oeil she met over 40 men through Tinder and asked them what part of their body they liked and what they disliked most. After that, they had to ask her the same questions regarding her own body. The result of this social experiment is a book colored in all kinds of flesh and skin and full of physical intimacy between strangers. Read on…
by Claudio | Art, Books, Photos
The new exhibition of the painter Jiyeon Kim that will have its vernissage on the 25th of February is probably one of the most interesting art events I’ve seen around. The concept is simple but quite ingenious at the same time. The artist invites us to actually take a closer look at the images that all of us have been dealing with a lot at some time in our lives – the Tinder profile pictures! Find out more and see a preview of the paintings after the jump.
Read on…
by Michalina | Art, Events, Misc.
The profession of the photographer has changed dramatically with the rise of digital photography and especially with smartphone cameras documenting our everyday life snap by snap. The ability of creating images has become somehow secondary. Nowadays outstanding photographers are rather conceptual artists that know how to translate the medium of photography itself into an outstanding piece of art by deeply analyzing social and anthropological dynamics.
More and more photographers became interested in creating work reflecting social media and especially dating apps where everybody uses photography as an act of self representation and key selling point on the meat market. Photographer Andrea Lavezzaro caught our interest with her project “It’s a match”.
Over a year she scouted Tinder users in Berlin. No matter the shape, size, gender or if they were strange, sexy or surreal. Her focus was on capturing the diversity of our city. Every picture was taken at the location where she met her matches (all aware she was doing a photography project of course). The only rule her subjects had to follow while taking their portrait was: no posing allowed. The results are now featured in an exhibition at Gallery Ori in Neukölln that runs until this Saturday. We had a little chat with Andrea about her project and how it will continue in the future. Read on after the jump.
Read on…
by Claudio | People, Photos
photo: Rowena Waack / CC
I never thought that I could be asked a question as many times as I urinate during a single day. Yet, life is full of surprises, sometimes dull ones. Just like the old times, when at every age you were supposed to achieve certain goals, nothing has changed other than the nature of these goals.
Instead of looking for a decent match after completing your studies and starting to procreate, nowadays people tend to experience their twenties by ripping off the benefits of their youth to the fullest. This comes along with collecting as many sexual experiences as possible; experimenting and exploring, discovering yourself and sometimes (re)setting boundaries you would never cross is a prominent part of the contemporary narrative; and there are a few places as fitting as Berlin for diving into the “new normal”.
Read on…
by Nikos | Stories
“Many recent articles have attempted to tackle the subject of dating in Berlin, explaining why and how the dating scene here is seen as a difficult one. People are said to ‘fall in love with the city and only with the city’.” This is the summery of the documentary film Berlin Way of Love.
Does this sound familiar to you? To be honest it sounds familiar to me. And to be even more honest it’s probably about me. Through a combination of funny circumstances I was asked to participate in a short documentary about love in Berlin called Berlin Way of Love. Together with Jule Müller from im gegenteil we had a short interview session where we had to share our “expertise” ( hilarious!) about dating in Berlin and why it is so difficult. The cherry on top of this absurd situation was that I had to talk in English which I did with my strongest, most charming German accent. As you might imagine watching the final documentary is not as fun for myself as it might be for you. But still I have to admit that it is a very charming short movie with some funny insights about dating in Berlin.
Read on…
by Claudio | Movies
