Berlin nightlife, architecture and culture come into focus in a series of visual essays
![Stairs in the subway of a train station featuring, grey floors and step, silver steel banister and green tiled walls](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xeciQNDTwWdYe5wuU6SsbD-415-80.jpg)
One train and one subculture arguably define Berlin’s cultural stereotype: the Ringbahn and the underground party. The former, which translates to ‘ring train’, circles a 26-mile long loop, offering tourists and locals alike a way to get from one end of the vast city to another. The latter can come in many forms – a Berghain regular, fetish club addict, house raver, et al. No matter the shape or form, these defining characteristics are explored in Hajte Cantze’s new series of books, Berlin Stories.
Launched earlier this year, the first book, Hundekopf: The Berlin Ringbahn, was created by artists Ama Split and Riky Kiwy. The duo rode the Ringbahn from start to finish – which, without stopping, takes just over an hour and outlines a shape that’s more or less like a Hundekopf, or dog’s head – and photographed the landscapes, people and street life surrounding each of the line’s 27 stations.
You see a typical Turkish market near Neukölln, the Spree river and towering Allianz building at Treptower Park, a group of businessmen at Messe Nord/ICC, and the gentrifiers of Schönhauser and Prenzlauer Allees. Virtually circling the city through the book, you look out the window and watch as the architecture shifts from Eastern bloc housing to the ornaments of the West and back again.
Schönhauser Allee 6, from Ama Split & Riky Kiwy: Hundekopf. Die Berliner Ringbahn. © Ama Split and Riky Kiwy
In the second book of the series, Vagabondage Diary, artist and cultural nomad Ed Broner offers an intimate glimpse of Berlin’s hedonic nightlife. It’s an ironic yet honest compilation, showing real people in the midst of sex, drugs and alcohol juxtaposed with static images of art studios and pristine collections.
For example, on the left side of one spread, someone named Yacine ingests white powder while the opposing page pictures graffiti reading ‘Drugs Kill’. As with real life, however, the book isn’t limited to nightlife in Berlin; Broner also includes images from Paris, Milan and Miami, where he meets his friends and the same kind of debauchery ensues.
Next up are Annette Hauschild’s Last Days of Disco and Ralph Mecke’s Naked Jungle, both of which continue the series’ trajectory of presenting Berlin, its architecture and its inhabitants through the intimate lenses of some of the city’s most well-known photographers.
Alexanderplatz, Detail, Berlin/Germany, 2014, from Ed Broner. Vagabonde Diary. © Ed Broner
King Size Bar, 2014, from Ed Broner. Vagabonde Diary. © Ed Broner
Wedding 7, from Ama Split & Riky Kiwy: Hundekopf. Die Berliner Ringbahn. © Ama Split and Riky Kiwy
Greifswalder Straße 8, from Ama Split & Riky Kiwy: Hundekopf. Die Berliner Ringbahn. © Ama Split and Riky Kiwy
Beusselstraße 3, from Ama Split & Riky Kiwy: Hundekopf. Die Berliner Ringbahn. © Ama Split and Riky Kiwy
Halensee 3, from Ama Split & Riky Kiwy: Hundekopf. Die Berliner Ringbahn. © Ama Split and Riky Kiwy
Greifswalder Straße 1, from Ama Split & Riky Kiwy: Hundekopf. Die Berliner Ringbahn. © Ama Split and Riky Kiwy
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Hatje Cantz website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy culture
In his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
By Tracy Kawalik Published
-
Inside E-WERK Luckenwalde’s ‘Tell Them I Said No’, an art festival at Berlin's former power station
E-WERK Luckenwalde’s two-day art festival was an eclectic mix of performance, workshops, and discussion. Will Jennings reports
By Will Jennings Published
-
Alexandra Pirici’s action performance in Berlin is playfully abstract with a desire to address urgent political questions
Artist and choreographer Alexandra Pirici transforms the historic hall of Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof into a live action performance and site-specific installation
By Alison Hugill Published
-
‘Package Holiday 1968-1985’: a very British love affair in pictures
‘Package Holiday’ recalls tans, table tennis and Technicolor in Trevor Clark’s wistful snaps of sun-seeking Brits
By Caragh McKay Published
-
‘Art Exposed’: Julian Spalding on everything that’s wrong with the art world
In ‘Art Exposed’, Julian Spalding draws on his 40 years in the art world – as a museum director, curator, and critic – for his series of essays
By Alfred Tong Published
-
Marisol Mendez's ‘Madre’ unpicks the woven threads of Bolivian womanhood
From ancestry to protest, how Marisol Mendez’s 'Madre' is rewriting the narrative of Bolivian womanhood
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Lawrence Lek’s depressed self-driving cars offer a glimpse of an AI future in Berlin
Lawrence Lek’s installation ‘NOX’, created with LAS Art Foundation, takes over Berlin’s abandoned Kranzler Eck shopping centre
By Emily Steer Published
-
Photo book explores the messy, magical mundanity of new motherhood
‘Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I’m Back’ by photographer Andi Galdi Vinko explores new motherhood in all its messy, beautiful reality
By Hannah Silver Published