About the Project
In Between. Berlin
An exhibition project by Friederike von Rauch and Jürgen Frank to mark the 25th anniversary of German reunification in cooperation with the German Embassy and Deutsche Bank.
With its checkered past, Berlin is emblematic of the major conflicts and upheavals of the twentieth century. To this day, there is hardly another city in Europe where political, social, and cultural turmoil has been etched so dramatically into the cityscape and lives of its inhabitants. With the fall of the Berlin Wall 26 years ago, the Cold War ended and a city whose inhabitants had previously lived in two diametrically opposed societal systems gradually began to grow into one metropolis again. To mark the 25th anniversary of German reunification, artists Friederike von Rauch and Jürgen Frank have put together a photographic portrait of this new, old Berlin.
For IN BETWEEN, Friederike von Rauch and Jürgen Frank photographed images of Berlin which they arranged in photo diptychs, each consisting of a person and a place and thereby revealing very different aspects of the city, set apart from the common clichés. The photo diptychs do not make any claim to capture the diversity of the metropolis in its entirety. Rather, the two artists touch on issues, moods, and trends in Germany’s contemporary history, which they portray with great sensitivity for the subtle spaces “in between” the urban fabric of Berlin.
The two artists’ approaches could hardly be more different. In her works, Friederike von Rauch portrays Berlin’s special places, which sometimes fall outside the traditional tourist itinerary, and thereby finds new, aesthetically highly stimulating perspectives that reveal surprising insights into the urban landscape. The observer can thus aesthetically experience the complexity and fragility of life’s reality in Berlin. Her works evoke the profound transitory nature of things and, through the pointed omission of people, draw out the city’s very essence in iconic patterns and structures.
By contrast, Jürgen Frank’s intimate portraits are bursting with the rich diversity of Berlin life, inhabited by people from the most distinctly different nations, cultures, and social backgrounds, who use the integrating city’s creative atmosphere as a point of departure for their own pioneering projects. Jürgen Frank’s intricately composed, interpretive portraits breath life into Friederike von Rauch’s poetic urban spaces, giving a face to each of them. In keeping with classic double-slide projection, which is used as a means of picture analysis in art history and on which the visual pairings are based, the motifs enter into a silent dialogue with each other and invite the observer to engage in the conversation and to reflect further on it individually. Thus, a fabric of faces and structures rich in association emerges from the tension created “in between” the individual motifs. IN BETWEEN is a very personal snapshot of contemporary Berlin acting as pars pro toto, where the city is always more than the sum of its individual parts. Therein lies the enormous fascination with this place and its inhabitants, who are continuously changing and producing new narratives.
About the Artists
Jürgen Frank lives in New York
After studying photography in Dortmund, Jürgen Frank began his career as a photo editor and was most recently Director of Photography at ELLE. The photographer, who lives in New York, has since turned again to his great passion of portraying people worldwide – from New Delhi to Berlin. In his creative process, he searches for a special moment, succumbs entirely to stories and ways of life, and then finds an unmistakable photographic language for his specific portraits. He is able to inspire people to open up spontaneously before the camera, imbuing his photos with a natural intimacy.
Friederike von Rauch lives in Berlin
The artist, who resides in Berlin, is fascinated by spaces, architectural atmospheres, and seemingly unimportant details. She interprets her city with an eye for the unusual. Through keen observation and a great sensitivity for the beauty and fissures of a city, the artist creates abstract compositions that reveal an astonishing view of familiar and unfamiliar spaces. Her work at home and abroad and particularly in Berlin enable the observer to rediscover numerous, sometimes neglected, cultural treasures. Friederike von Rauch studied at Berlin University of the Arts and has received many stipends and awards. Her works have been presented in several individual and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad.
Our Team
Trine Skraastad - Photo Editor www.trineskraastad.com
Ul Vohrer - D'mage - Image Processing and Printing www.dmage.net
Andrea Mayr - Maske Berlin - Grooming www.maskeberlin.de
Steffen Zarutzki - Manuscripts steffenzarutzki@hotmail.com
Johann Clausen - Assistant www.johannclausen.com
Anton Andalus - Assistant www.antonandalus.com
Bilderrahmen Landwehr - Lamination www.bilderrahmen-landwehr.de
FAS-Fine Art Service - Framing www.fas-art.com
Heinz Pabst - Phase One - thank you very much for your help!
Our Supporters
Thank you!
Thank you very much to all the people that helped realizing this project - to the people that spend time with us and had their picture taken, and all the ones that helped making things possible without being seen. Without you we could not have done this!
Copyright © by Friederike von Rauch & Jürgen Frank. All rights reserved.