Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm Blog

Charlottenburg today, an exhibition

The upcoming exhibition at C/O Berlin, entitled “To the West. A new Perspective on Charlottenburg”, takes a closer look at the area of Charlottenburg around the Amerika Haus, which has a reputation for luxury and grandeur, to reveal the many contradictions and inconsistencies that make this district so unique. From the Prada and Gucci shops on the Ku’Damm to the prostitutes outside Bahnhof Zoo; the animals in Europe’s largest zoo to the scores of homeless people begging on the streets; the Jewish community that never fully recovered from the Holocaust to the thousands of students at the Technical University Berlin; the city’s most luxurious hotels to the mini-Chinatown around Kantstraße.

The exhibition, comprised of works by 14 photographers from Berlin’s renowned Ostkreuz agency, is C/O Berlin’s second open-air exhibition since it moved from the Postfuhramt – a former imperial post depot – in Mitte to its new home, the Amerika Haus on Hardenbergstraße. The first dealt with the the long and illustrious history of the building itself, which was built to help “re-educate” the West German population after the war, but which soon became a target for anti-Vietnam war and anti-America protests, and even violence, before the Americans finally moved out in 2006. 

The upcoming second exhibition at C/O Berlin is another attempt to get to grips with its new home, this time in the broader sense of the Amerika Haus’ immediate surroundings. Most importantly, the exhibition deals with West Charlottenburg as it is today – a contradictory and transitory district, fast losing its dark, poverty-stricken underbelly with the emergence of each new prestigious building project.

The Amerika Haus is currently undergoing extensive renovation works before C/O Berlin’s first exhibition inside its new home, which is planned for spring 2014, but until then, visitors can enjoy the open-air exhibitions in front of the building, which are free and open 24/7.

C/O Berlin
Amerika Haus
22-24 Hardenbergstraße, Charlottenburg

To the West. A new perspective on Charlottenburg
by OSTKREUZ–Agentur der Fotografen
Exhibition opening: 19 September, 7pm
20 September to 24 November 2013