In 2021, 60 years will have passed since the beginning of the construction of the Berlin Wall, but, above all, it will have also been 30 years since Berlin returned to being only Berlin again, without East and without West, officially becoming (20.06.1991) the capital of reunified Germany.
The act that actually certifies the fall of one of the many walls that, in the course of history, man has built to divide himself from other men.
Probably, as some parts of the physical wall have remained standing, some parts of the ideological wall have also remained firmly standing, or perhaps, having much deeper foundations, have now become customary.
The title of the project, Good Bye Berlin, deliberately refers to the title of Wolfgang Becker's beautiful film, Good Bye Lenin, which poses an interesting analysis of those transition days of 1989. Days that changed the political fortunes of all of Europe and probably of the world.
In Good Bye Berlin, as in Becker's film, the images and icons of the two Germanys overlap, showing a Berlin that no longer exists or perhaps has never existed.
To tell about my Berlin, I wanted to use a traditional medium, the Polaroid, re-reading and updating its modus operandi, because in times which everything must be immediately, ready to be sent worldwide, in immediate social sharing, instant photography is the faster way to have a photo, also giving a concrete and lasting dimension to the “everything and now” that usually gets lost and drowns in the social seas in the short time of a few comments.
I wanted to use the Polaroid because at a time when we are asked to stay away one of each other, with its small size, it is an invitation to get closer, to understand, to learn, to look, to see, a goal that should be primary for photography.
I wanted to use the Polaroid because not being editable in post production, paradoxically, it certifies a Berlin that perhaps no one will ever find.
The act that actually certifies the fall of one of the many walls that, in the course of history, man has built to divide himself from other men.
Probably, as some parts of the physical wall have remained standing, some parts of the ideological wall have also remained firmly standing, or perhaps, having much deeper foundations, have now become customary.
The title of the project, Good Bye Berlin, deliberately refers to the title of Wolfgang Becker's beautiful film, Good Bye Lenin, which poses an interesting analysis of those transition days of 1989. Days that changed the political fortunes of all of Europe and probably of the world.
In Good Bye Berlin, as in Becker's film, the images and icons of the two Germanys overlap, showing a Berlin that no longer exists or perhaps has never existed.
To tell about my Berlin, I wanted to use a traditional medium, the Polaroid, re-reading and updating its modus operandi, because in times which everything must be immediately, ready to be sent worldwide, in immediate social sharing, instant photography is the faster way to have a photo, also giving a concrete and lasting dimension to the “everything and now” that usually gets lost and drowns in the social seas in the short time of a few comments.
I wanted to use the Polaroid because at a time when we are asked to stay away one of each other, with its small size, it is an invitation to get closer, to understand, to learn, to look, to see, a goal that should be primary for photography.
I wanted to use the Polaroid because not being editable in post production, paradoxically, it certifies a Berlin that perhaps no one will ever find.