Fernsehturm, Alexanderplatz, Berlin

On our first day of the trip to Berlin in February, as well as getting on a flight in the very small hours of the morning, we will be visiting Fernsehturm in Alexanderplatz.

Image courtesy of berlinperspectivesonarchitecture.com

In the early 1950s, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) planned to build a new facility in Berlin intended primarily for the broadcast of GDR television programmes.  The Fernsehturm (television tower in English) was built in Alexanderplatz and commissioned by Government Leader Walter Ulbricht, who aimed to demonstrate the superiority of socialist societies.  The tower would dominate the skyline and construction showed that a better future was being built in the East.

The original design of the slender tower was devised by the GDR architect Hermann Henselmann. The sphere at the top of the tower was intended to remind people of the Soviet sputnik satellites and was to light up red, the colour of socialism.

The tower was constructed between 1965 and 1969 with only one method considered for constructing it, a method known as “climbing formwork”. The internal steel frame is built first and then the external concrete shaft is built around it.  Mounting the sphere at a height of 200m presented the engineers with a challenge.  The load-bearing steel frame of the sphere was initially precast on the ground and the segments were heaved up using cranes and then secured on the circular platform which forms the final section of the concrete shaft.

The Fernsehturm was also nicknamed "the Pope's revenge" because when the sun shines on the metal skin of the sphere, the reflected light creates the shape of a cross. This was quite unfortunate for the the atheist foundations of the communist GDR government.  Former US President Ronald Reagan once said in a speech that the GDR tried as hard as they could to get rid of the light cross, but without success, the Christian symbol continued to shine on the GDR’s power tower.

Sunlight cross in the Fernsehturm Berlin, and the cross of the Berlin Dome aside, Patricio.lorente, 2015.

At 368 metres tall, the Fernsehturm is the highest publicly accessible building in Europe with  more than a million visitors from 86 countries going up to the observational level with it's breathtaking views of the bustling and constantly changing city of Berlin.

The Lives of Others Film Review

I am currently studying an MA in Creative Enterprise with Management and Arts at the University of Reading.  This term I am doing an International Study Visit module, and we are going to Berlin in February reading week.

One of my aims for the trip is to research further how art is used to depict events that have happened in Berlin and how this has had an affect on the viewers.  In preparation for the module we have a list of films we can choose from that are related to Berlin:

• Aeon Flux, Karyn Kusama, 2005
• Berlin Alexanderplatz, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980.
• Cabaret, Bob Fosse, 1972.
• We Children From Bahnhof Zoo, Christiane F – Wir Kinder From Bahnhof Zoo, Uli Edel, 1981.
• Deutschland 83, Anna & Jeorg Winger, 2015.
• Downfall, Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004.
• Funeral in Berlin, Guy Hamilton, 1966.
• Germany Year Zero, Roberto Rossellini, 1948
• Goodbye, Lenin!, Wolfgang Becker, 2003
• One, Two, Three, Billy Wilder, 1961
• People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag), Curt and Robert Siodmak, 1930
• Rosenstrasse, Margarethe von Trotta, 2003.
• Run Lola Run, Tom Tykwer, 1998
• The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), Florian Henckel von
• The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Martin Ritt, 1965.
• The Mysteries of Berlin, Cordelia Swann, 1979-82.
• The Bourne Supremacy, Paul Greengrass, 2004
• Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), Wim Wenders, 1987

I chose The Lives of Others, released in 2007, and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, an award-winning political thriller set in 1980s East Germany.  Captain Wiesler (pictured below) works for the Stasi, the secret police, and is asked to keep surveillance on a playwright, Georg Dreyman, whose loyalty to the party is under question.  Wiesler arranges arranges for every wall and floor surface of Dreyman's apartment to be threaded with wires, tapped so that, while perched in an upstairs attic, he can listen out for evidence of treachery.  During the surveillance Weisler is slowly drawn into Dreyman's life and begins to question his own ideals.

Image from bbc.co.uk

The film starts with Wiesler teaching a group of students in interrogation techniques.  The captive had been kept awake for many hours and had started to become upset.  Wiesler ignores the emotion being heard from the recording and listens instead to the precise use of language to indicate guilt, advising that an innocent person would be angry and protest, whereas a guilty one sticks to their story and cries at the inevitability of being caught in a lie.

Wiesler's demeanour is very impassive, quietly taking in other peoples' actions, assessing them through his many years of experience as a Stasi officer.  As the film progresses, his detachment weakens.  He becomes thoroughly absorbed in the lives of Dreyman and his girlfriend actress, Christa-Maria Sieland, drawing out their apartment layout in the surveillance room and following them around the rooms, even mimicking them cuddled up in bed.

The film sets themselves are very bland in colouring, as is the functional clothing worn by the characters, reflecting the utilitarian nature of East Germany at that time.  When the Berlin Wall finally comes down there is a shift towards more colour in the scenes and more fashionable clothing.

It is hard to imagine the level of control on peoples' lives when living in East Germany, the daily fears and suspicions they would have endured.  The Lives of Others depicts some of this feeling, however I thought some parts of the story were not covered in detail, and it is only from my additional research into the film that I now understand what it was trying to achieve.  This may be down to the film being subtitled and so the viewer has to concentrate on reading the translation rather than being able to freely watch the action on the screen. I also found that I may have projected feelings onto the actors; I kept waiting for Wiesler to condem Dreyman with the information he had gathered on him based on the first scene of the film and my understanding of the regime, but Wiesler turns out to be a saviour and protector when Dreyman is investigated by the Stasi.  A part of me then wanted the film to be based on a true story, however, a Guardian article from 2007 by Anna Funder, advises this could never have happened:

"The thoroughness of the regime was horrifying: it accumulated, in the 40 years of its existence, more written records than in all of German history since the Middle Ages. East Germany was run on fear and betrayal: at least one in 50 people - by CIA estimates, one in seven - were informing on their relatives, friends, neighbours and colleagues. People were horrified to discover what had happened, again, in their country; what human beings were capable of."

I am interested in finding out more about the time just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and just afterwards, how it affected peoples' lives and how artists portrayed these events.  This will be the focus of some of my future research for this module.

Image from IMP Awards, 2007

The Great Wide Open

Following on from my personal photography project last year, Looking Into The Depths, that explored the impacts humankind are having on the environment, particularly the oceans, I have found that other issue-based photography or films capture my attention much more than they previously may have done.  I pay particular attention to the visual narratives being created, comparing their techniques with those I aimed to portray in my project to caution my audience of the effects of our actions.

My objective was to create beautiful images that confused the viewer so that they took a second look at the photograph and questioned what wasn't quite right about it.

As I was scrolling through the National Geographic Instagram feed the other day, I came across a post of Jared Leto's Great Wide Open videos made last year to celebrate America's National Parks and the incredible adventurers who explore its beauty.  Leto is described as an actor, musician, entrepreneur and environmentalist, and so I had to take a look at the videos to see if there was any link to preserving the National Parks.  However, rather than focusing on the environmental aspect, these videos tell the stories of the people who choose to push themselves to the limit through extreme rock climbing.  Rather than focusing on destruction and ruin, the Great Wide Open emphasises the stunning expanses and wilderness to be found in the National Parks, and the experiences felt by the people who visit them.

The fourth video in the series, The Wolfman, has to be my favourite.  It tells us about the wild animals found in Yosemite National Park and features interviews with more normal people than the fearsome rock climbers, showing that it appeals to all people from all walks of life, and the haven that it offers them, and the wildlife.

They are beautiful videos telling stories of how the parks have had an influence on the lives of the central characters and the sense of wanderlust to be found in this wilderness.  I like to think that seeing the beauty and benefits the parks bring to these people will influence others to take more care of the environments they encounter.

Portfolio Image Critique

The next stage of my final photography project is to write a critical evaluation of the development of the project, the success of your objectives, an awareness of an audience, appropriate decision making for the exhibition and presentation of the work.  This post will review three of the 12 images that were submitted for the portfolio looking at technical and artistic elements.

Image 1

This is my favourite image from the collection; there is an ethereal glow to the light dancing on the sand and the reflection of the cooling towers on the sand looks like it could have been there in real life, seamlessly blending the two images from completely different locations.  As a single image the cooling towers create an imposing feeling in the viewer from their monolithic size and thoughts that are conjured in the viewer's mind through association with the vapors and gasses emitted into the air.  When viewed in conjunction with the beach scene it reminds the viewer of the very real things this pollution could impact upon; therefore communicating the intended message of raising awareness of the damage humans are causing to the environment.

The image uses a wide depth of field so that all elements in the frame are in focus.  There is some lens distortion to the top of the cooling tower on the left which can be distracting as it is the most prominent tower.  This will require further work in post-production before the image is printed for the exhibition.

The eye is drawn up the image, with the seagulls landing and taking off first capturing the gaze, then drifting up to the unexpectedness of the cooling towers.  Initially the image may be classed as a broad landscape photograph, however, on closer inspection the individual details of the scenery are revealed from the hedgerows and fencing trying to contain the towers, to the Another Place figures identifying the beach as Crosby Beach.

Image 2

Image 2 is an example of one of the macro perspective images from the collection.  It uses purple tones to merge an image of saltwater mussels and shells found on beach-combing trips throughout the UK with the graffitied word "FEAr..." found on the side of the sea wall in Margate, Kent.  This image is one of a pair, combined with another close-up of the shells found in rock pools, that was merged with a coating of petrol floating on water.  As a pair the colours work well to link them and strengthen the message, however, as a stand alone image, this does not work so well.  As part of the collection the word seeks to reinforce the message of the sometimes unknown damage that is being done to our environment with human hands.  As an independent image this could be interpreted as fear of the sea and what can be found in it, rather than the intended message of the project.

The mussel in the bottom left-hand corner is out of focus, however, this is hidden by the filmy sheen of the wall the graffiti was sprayed on.  Also the translucency of the wording makes it difficult to clearly read the writing.  If I was to make this image again I would like to experiment with a more staged approach to the arrangement of the shells, using their shape to help spell out the wording and support the message.  None of the images from this project were artificial scenes, and so this approach may not fit with the 'found' and natural elements of the project, but would be worth exploring to see if it produced a more aesthetically pleasing image.

Image 3

The third image is one of three images intended to be displayed together that feature the white chalky cliffs of Kent.  I love the drama of this image, with the majestic cliffs seemingly dwarfing The Shard, the tallest building in Europe.  The repeated triangle shapes of the building and arch in the cliff strengthen the viewer's enjoyment of the image, bouncing the gaze along from left to right, ending in an awe-inspiring blue expanse of sky.

As with the Image 1, this uses a wide depth of field so that all elements of the photographs are in focus, the viewer could even read the bus stop location of St Georges Circus if they so wished.  However, the bus stop and construction boards do provide some clutter to the image; taking them out, or recomposing the scene, may improve the image and more effectively concentrate the gaze on the buildings.

As a sample of the Looking into the Depths project, these three images show the different macro and micro perspectives that were explored.  I will extend this critique process to the remaining nine images and use this, alongside Assignment 2: Critical Reflection to inform my choice of final images to be displayed at the exhibition in June.

Portfolio Submission

It is very nearly assignment deadline time.  Since the beginning of October I have been working on a personal photography project for my final year at university.  This assignment required me to demonstrate my research and exploration of an in-depth photographic project.  We were given free rein on the choice of topic and I chose to focus on the damaging affects we are having on our coastal areas.

My research has given me an insight into how other photographers and creatives portray this subject and the many different ways of getting this message across to an audience.  In this blog I have discussed why I decided to focus on this theme; the research undertaken; experiments I carried out with cyanotypes; the history of photography exhibitions and their audiences; the charities and organisations working on these issues; and other artists who have exhibited their work.

Working on this project has been thoroughly satisfying, not because I am heartened by the news stories I have come across, far from it, but because I had the opportunity to work on something I feel very passionate about.  If only one person who sees my images has a rethink about changing their recycling habits, or conserving water, or turning off a light when they are not that room, I feel I will have achieved what I set out to do at the start of this project.

Here are my final 12 images that will be submitted for my assignment.

Final images produced for "Looking into the Depths" project

Curation and Exhibition Research for Looking Into the Depths

With a final few tweaks to go and some paperwork to finish off, my personal photography project portfolio is nearly finished.  I now need to start researching in further depth how I will exhibit this collection of images in May.

We have a gallery space on campus for around 10 of us to display our work and this will be divided between us, but as yet we are unaware as to who will have what space, and how much of it.  I will start my in-depth research based on this space and adapt my idea once I have more details on how the space can be used.

In keeping with the environmental theme of my project I would like the viewer to feel as if they are at the coast when they come to my section of the exhibition.  I want to create an impression of bringing the natural world inside and make this an experience for the viewer.  I need to fully consider the logistics for how I can achieve this however, I would like to combine my images with unpleasant smells from the pollution depicted, such as drains, stagnant water, smoke.

Here are a couple of examples of environmental exhibitions:

In February 2015 Nemo 33 hosted an underwater photography exhibition of the work of Fred Buyle.  14 large format prints could be seen through windows, or by free diving or scuba diving into a swimming pool in Brussels.  Buyle is a free diver who captures unique moments of marine life who also works with marine biologists to assist them with their field work.

Image courtesy of Fred Buyle

Judith and Richard Lang unceasingly comb the beaches of California clearing them of plastic and then use that marine litter to produce works of art that are sold for hundreds of dollars and exhibited in galleries and museums from Singapore to San Francisco.  Half of their net profits go towards Ocean Recovery Alliance, a Californian charity that co-ordinates projects to help improve our ocean environment.

Image courtesy of Judith and Richard Lang

The Tate Sensorium use advanced technology to replicate the five senses and bring a whole new dimension to experiencing art at the Tate Britain.  The BBC World Service broadcast full details the Tate's IK Prize 2015 winner created by Tom Pursey and Peter Law of Flying Objects.

Image courtesy of BBC World Service

I will continue my research into how I can use these exhibitions, and others, as inspiration for my own exhibition.

Looking Into The Depth Project Update

I have been working on this photography project for four months now and it is now starting to feel like the end point is in sight.  I have seven blended images that I will use in my final portfolio and five more to work on so that they are a cohesive body of work.

The images that have made the cut so far are expansive landscape vistas and the blending is not jarring in any way or does not look too harsh.  The images I am struggling with are those that are closer to the subject of the image, so scale is sometimes an issue.

As in this image, the seagulls and cigarettes don't look quite right as the cigarettes are a lot larger than the seagulls, which is not the case in real life.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be experimenting with other images in post-production to get the blending as smooth as possible and so that the final photograph does not shock the viewer.  I want the portfolio as a whole to generate a reaction in the viewer, not one or two images that feel they do not fit in the project and so take the emphasis away from the key theme of raising awareness of the impact humans are having on our coastal areas.

In Other News...

An advert on Channel 4 had caught my eye recently, Drones in Forbidden Zones, as the cooling towers looked very similar to those I had photographed at Willington.  Low and behold, it was one and the same location.  The video is less than three minutes and well worth a watch.  It includes stories from people who worked there, it is so much more damaging to the environment than I realised.  It makes you think when you see the farmers' fields so close to somewhere that handled radiation, would any of that seeped into the crops that end up in our food chain?  Just as the plastic in our oceans ends up in the fish that gets served up on dinner plates.  Food for thought.