IS THIS STILL BERLIN

Berlin is growing. It is spoken of a stressed market. As a result, interest is increasingly shifting to the 'second tier' of the city, behind the ring of railroad lines. Here, in contrast to the more and more homogenous inner city, Berlin is rich in diverse typologies, lifestyles and landscapes. Especially in times of overlapping crises, the question should be asked how the city and its surroundings could develop. In this debate, it is essential to actively incorporate the periphery. In order to find answers and strategies for an adequate future of the periphery, it must first be understood and questioned. An Inventory of the Border.

In a photographic field research I have circled Berlin once on its city border to Brandenburg. Through an alternative, subjective view on the city's edge, its identity as well as possible potentials are renegotiated.

The intuitive observation and the subjective selection hereby become the method. The visual research attempts to systematically record phenomena, atmospheres, situations, details and breaks. Parameters are on the one hand the length of a research area of the border, on the other hand the number of photos that could be taken. The border of Berlin is about 230 kilometers long, it is divided into 10 research segments. One analog 35mm film of 36 photos is exposed per section.

10 x 23 km x 36 photos = 360 photos + 360° border.

The selected images were taken on different sections and subsequently combined and curated, in order to identify overarching themes, relationships and identities of the urban fringe.