Berlin isn't renowned for it's beauty. It is far more typically associated with alternative fashion, pulsating clubs, a thriving cultural scene and, of course, its tumultuous history. On exploring a few areas, however, I have found myself impressed by the facades of the apartment buildings which seem to dominate many parts of the city. I am drawn to their symmetry and order; lined up neatly down long streets they can sometimes look like cardboard cut-outs. In response to this structural similarity each apartment block seems to have made an effort to be distinctive, presumably attempting to distance the city from the grey uniformity of Soviet era concrete architecture. They vary in colour and decorative detail, some are are quite sparse others more elaborate. I have learnt that since the fall of the Berlin Wall the city has undergone an extensive facelift and many of the apartment buildings have been done up to look old. I did encounter this idea of revisiting or refreshing the past again on visiting the East Side Gallery and learning that the graffiti and paintings adorning the wall were quite recently re-painted by the artists. While the images are often striking, I feel that they have become almost meaningless due to their pervasiveness in popular culture. They seem to have been created to be photographed. Millions of people around the world must come away with exactly the same photographs. This seems somewhat ironic, since many of the artists sought to convey a subversive message and opposition to mainstream politics. Berlin, like any other city, is full of contradictions, and discovering them is part of the fascination of getting to know a new piece of the world.
A selection of some of the facades I have come across.
My photography does not convey them particularly well.
Striking but well past saturation point:
Pictures from the East Side Gallery.
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