Berlin photography exhibition highlights urban decay and change
May 19, 2010When West and East Germany reunited in 1990, seven photographers formed a collective in Berlin called "Ostkreuz." Ten years later, they became a photography agency called "C/O Berlin" which focused on the subtle documentation of changes in society.
Today, the agency has 18 members and is one of Germany’s most distinguished. C/O Berlin has been awarded national and international prizes and its work is part of numerous art collections around the world.
To celebrate C/O Berlin’s 10 anniversary, the young artists are currently exhibiting 250 works of an acclaimed project called "The City" - a long-term documentation of urban growth and decay in 22 cities. For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas.
The photographers show human beings in their urban environments - places such as Ordos, a city built in the middle of the Chinese steppe with modern architecture created for a million residents who still have not come to inhabit it; or Prypjat in the Ukraine, which was abandoned by its residents after the disaster in Chernobyl and is gradually being reclaimed by nature.
The Berlin exhibition offers a comprehensive look at modern-day urban existence and the dramatically changing ideas about city life the world over.
Author: Peter Zimmermann
Editor: Kate Bowen