Point and shoot. Vanishing Berlin ist ein sehr persönlicher Blick auf die Stadt, in der ich geboren und aufgewachsen bin. Seit jeher ein passionierter Flaneur und Beobachter, dokumentiere ich seit vielen Jahren flüchtige Sehenswürdigkeiten, quer durch alle Bezirke. Vor allem Brachen, Ladenfronten und Brandmauern. Orte, die Berlin charakterisieren und die gleichzeitig in rasantem Tempo aus dem Stadtbild verschwinden. 

Dank des Vertrauens von +220 Unterstützern konnte ich ein außergewöhnliches, professionell gestaltetes Fotobuch produzieren. Erscheinungstermin der Erstauflage Ende September 2016, inzwischen ist eine zweite Auflage des Titels erhältlich (ISBN: 978-3000560408). Ich möchte das Vanishing Berlin Projekt auch in Zukunft fortführen und weiterentwickeln und freue mich weiterhin über jede Unterstützung.

Die schnellste und unkomplizierteste Möglichkeit Vanishing Berlin Art zu bestellen, ist diese "In demand" Kampagne bei Indiegogo - einfach entsprechenden "Perk" auswählen. Ihr könnt mir aber gerne auch eine e-mail schicken (alexsteffen@berlin.de) und Eure Bestellung per Banküberweisung bezahlen. Das Buch gibt es inzwischen auch bei Amazon. Für diejenigen, die das Buch erst sehen wollen, gibt es eine Liste mit Buchhandlungen und Concept-Stores meines Vertrauens. 

Einzelhändler können das Buch zu handelsüblichen Konditionen bestellen. Bei Interesse am Vertrieb des Vanishing Berlin Buchs bitte eine e-mail an mich, 

Markise. Flottwellstraße, Schöneberg, 2009 / Awning. Flottwellstraße, Schöneberg, 2009

Reclaim Your City. Der Ausverkauf der Innenstädte, die Verdrängung von Sub- und Kiezkultur und damit verbunden ein Grundgefühl des Verlusts sind ein weltweites Phänomen. Das Bild vieler Großstädte ist heute geprägt von seelenloser Architektur, Konformität  und steigenden Mieten. Vanishing Berlin dokumentiert Orte, an die wir uns mit Wehmut erinnern werden, obwohl wir nicht einmal ahnten, dass wir sie jemals vermissen würden. Das Buch markiert für mich den Ausgangspunkt für die weitere Auseinandersetzung mit den aktuellen Entwicklungen des städtischen Raums.

Gartencenter Alfred Bajon. Spandauerdamm, Spandau, 2013 / Garden centre Alfred Bajon. Spandauerdamm, Spandau, 2013

Point and shoot. Vanishing Berlin provides a very personal perspective on the city in which I was born and raised. Being a passionate flâneur and observer, I have been photographing transient landmarks all over Berlin for many years, focusing mainly on wastelands, storefronts and brick walls. These places characterise Berlin, but equally they are vanishing at an unprecedented pace. 

Thanks to the kind support of +220 backers, I was able to publish a first edition of Vanishing Berlin, an extraordinary, professionally-designed photo book (release date : End of September 2016). Meanwhile there is a second edition available (ISBN: 978-3000560408) I want to continue and enlarge the Vanishing Berlin project in the near future. For that I appreciate any further support.

The easiest way to order a copy of the book or Vansihing Berlin Art is to use this Indemand website on Indiegogo. Simply choose your favourite "Perk" and pay via creditcard or Paypal. If you like you can order also via e-mail (alexsteffen@berlin.de) and use banktranfer. You can also order the book via Amazon. For those of you who want to touch and feel the book first,  here is a list of bookstores and shops of my choice. If you want to distribute the book, just let me know. For resellers I am happy to offer commercial conditions.

Linoleum Pannier. Kreuzberg, 2016

Reclaim your city. City centres being sold out, underground scenes and neighbourhood identities being displaced, the associated underlying feelings of loss; all these are worldwide phenomena. Today the faces of many cities are characterised by soulless architecture, conformity and surging rents. Vanishing Berlin captures the places that we will remember wistfully, though we did not think we would ever miss them.

Rütli-Brache. Neukölln, 2015

Nothing lasts forever. Many of the photos look as if they were taken decades ago. In fact, all the images were captured between 2009 and 2016. I am interested in the contemporary; it is not the depiction of the past that I wish focus on, but the process of change. For the viewers each picture should raise the question: Does this place still exist or has it already vanished?

“What is new about the photos is that these images are passing through, they are “in transition”, as if the city is a map to be studied and tossed aside, because we know we will never forget it anyway – whether we want to or not. Though Vanishing Berlin is made of fragments of a dying past that flirt, joke or mumble to us, as if engaging with us for the first time, the picture that arises is one of a city that has been consumed by itself (…). At times yet another Berlin comes into view, images that conjure up memories of a kind of demi-monde, a desolate landscape in which anyone could end up at any time (…)” From the afterword to Vanishing Berlin by Friedhelm Böpple.

Yorckbrücken. Kreuzberg, 2014

The Serengeti of Schöneberg.  I often spent the afternoon exploring the neighbourhoods on my High Riser. My cruising radius stretched from Winterfeldtplatz, which at the time was often engulfed in smoke and tear gas from street fights, to Christiane F’s teenage streetwalker patch in Einemstraße, to the open area at Lützowplatz. An enormous wasteland, covered with high scrub, pieces of broken glass and used condoms, which stretched from the Hotel Berlin to the junction with Tiergartenstraße. Amidst this urban scrubland, which overlooked the skyline of the city’s west, there was only one single building. The Tavern was a big, bleak barrack in which dodgy beer drinkers in fringed leather jackets came together for Country & Western evenings and skat tournaments. In July of every year this wasteland hosted the Spring Festival, kicking off the annual Berlin funfair season. Decades later, postmodern embassy buildings and the headquarters of the German conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) mark the landscape.

Sexothek Kino. Neukölln, 2014

Nothing is true; everything is permitted. What is the point anyway and why now? After years of intensive engagement with this project it is time to take Vanishing Berlin into the public eye – before these spaces become totally occupied by the present and are turned into history. 

The book is not an isolated project. Further exhibitions and editions, as well as both text- and video-based works are already in the pipeline. Creating a dialogue and exchanging ideas with like-minded artists, photographers, and authors will continue to be an important part of my work, and I have already taken the first steps to ensure this project is brought to the international stage.

Who is the target group of Vanishing Berlin? The book is for all Berlin lovers. For natives, newcomers and tourists. For booklovers, for photography and art freaks. For historians, melancholics and urban developers. For beatniks, hipsters and flâneurs. For victims and perpetrators of gentrification. In Berlin and elsewhere.

Why should I support Vanishing Berlin? Out of a love for Berlin and its inhabitants. Out of a passion for authentic and unconventional photography. Out of a desire to sense the vestiges of history. And last but not least for the extraordinary perks. 

Where does your money go? Your money will be used exclusively for furher Vanishing Berlin projects.   

Garagen. Prenzlauer Berg, 2015

Alexander Steffen (*1967) was born and raised in West-Berlin. He grew up in a shared flat in Schöneberg, studied Political Sciences at the Freie Universität Berlin, trained at Dirk Nishen publishing house. Discovered Allen Ginsberg and Reality Sandwiches. Edited a photobiography of William S. Burroughs. Spent time exploring the techno clubs and ruins of Berlin’s new centre after the fall of the wall. Was director of the art gallery transition from 1999-2005. Has been working for the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) since 2005. 2009 marks the start of the Vanishing Berlin project.

© Alexander Steffen alexsteffen@berlin.de /Instagram / Facebook / Website