Travel · Art

C/O Berlin · Berlin, Germany

Scroll

Name: C/O Berlin
Images: David von Becker
Words: Alice Finney

Located in the historic Amerika Haus in Tiergarten, C/O Berlin brings much more than an exciting program of photographic events to the city: it puts Berlin on the global map as a unique center of artistic exchange.

Founded in 2000 by photographer Stephan Erfurt, designer Marc Naroska and architect Ingo Pott, C/O Berlin is one of the city’s most respected and renowned not-for-profit exhibition spaces. With a focus on photography, C/O Berlin has seen works from the likes of Annie Leibovitz, Joel Meyerowitz, Martin Parr, Nan Goldin, and Irving Penn grace its walls. The 2,000 square meter space also exhibits young, lesser-known photographers on the brink of stardom. Aside from an impressive schedule of exhibitions, C/O Berlin stands tall as a house of education and learning, providing the public with a variety of workshops, lectures and events. Using material from art collections, archives, stock photography agencies and galleries worldwide, the public learning programs here offer invaluable insight into the visual histories of our culture.

Some of C/O Berlin’s magic is no doubt rooted in the architecture of the actual building. The Amerika Haus was built in the mid-1950s following the second world war. Designed by revered German architect Bruno Grimmek, it was a place where German citizens could come to learn about American culture and politics through film, books, events and historical archives. For the next fifty years, the building would become a pivotal space in transatlantic discussion and debate. Fast forward to 2014 and C/O Berlin had claimed Amerika Haus as its new home. Organisers reopened the simple, linear building to a large cultural audience, in a move that saw the new and modern collide with the historical and monumental.