With MadeInBerlin, George Messaritakis gives us an insight into the contemporary architecture of Berlin through his personal perspective as a photographer.
With MadeInBerlin, George Messaritakis gives us an insight into the contemporary architecture of Berlin through his personal perspective as a photographer. The goal of George Messaritakis is not so much to create a reportage of Berlin but rather to interpret the city through the filter of his sensitivity as a photographer. Indeed, the bold contrast between light and shadow strips these buildings of their meaning and puts them at the centre of the photography project for their visual qualities, for the geometries and for the balancing act between solids and voids.
The work took place over several stages. Messaritakis was charmed by the contemporary architecture of Berlin, and first took an interest in the transformation of the city after the wall fell in 1989. The photographer studied historical photos and extensively researched the architecture across the whole city but that was only the first step in this project.
After that work, the photographer visited the most outstanding buildings in Berlin, the ones that distinguish the city and its new, post-wall image. He went back to the same places a number of times during the year and at different types of the day. The ones that excited him the most became the final “subjects” in this project.
The next step was to actually take the photos that make up MadeInBerlin. By using an analogue camera, with black and white film, Messaritakis was able to focus on studying the frames. While on the one hand, the subjects of the photos are the construction features of the different buildings, on the other the composition was studied to highlight the most formal and abstract aspects of the architecture.
With MadeInBerlin, not only can we see a personal interpretation of a complex city like Berlin, but we are also given an insight into the expression of intense artistic freedom, light years away from the more and more commonplace documentary format. And it is with this overlapping of objectivity and subjectivity, of order and tension that the output of George Messaritakis leaves its mark.
Barbara Esposito
Sito: http://gmessaritakis.com
