EINSTUERZENDE ALTBAUTEN: Collapsing Old Buildings

West Berlin in the 80’s

Photography by Silvia Kuhn

 This exhibition is a selection of photographs taken in West Berlin in the eighties in an era when the Berlin wall surrounded the city, creating the feeling of an ‘island’.

Because Berliners were exempt from compulsory military service, many young men moved there from around Germany. There was a shortage of housing for all of these new immigrants, and many of the old, unrepaired buildings that had been damaged or deserted in WWII, were squatted. Punks, queers, artists, and musicians flooded the city and created a vibrant and exciting new culture. During this period Silvia took many photographs, capturing the essence of the time in a personal and perceptive way. Depicting squat houses, poverty, performers including Nick Cave, Nina Hagen, and Divine, and the fall of the wall in 1989, representing the end of the era.

These photographs have never before been exhibited. They give an opportunity for the viewer to look back in time at a unique period in Berlin’s history.

Silvia Kuhn was born in southern Germany, and moved to Berlin as a teenager in 1981. She became involved in the punk and squatting movements.

In the mid eighties she co-owned the infamous Risiko bar that was frequented by the likes of Nick Cave, Nina Hagen, The Gun Club, and Blixa Bargeld of Einstuerzende Neubauten, who also worked behind the bar.

Throughout this period, Silvia had an interest in photography, experimenting with different styles, and developing her own prints. Her work encompasses both documentary and fine art photography.

Since then she has worked as a DJ, a sound engineer, and in 2001 she produced and directed a documentary, “Strangers in Paradise”, about expat westerners living in Asia. She moved to New Zealand in 2003, where she currently resides.

All photographs are available as limited edition reprints

Images from Julien Dyne's exhibition Bricbrac at The High Seas

Julien Dyne is an Auckland based musician and artist, his paintings and sculptures deal with themes of the everyday and the fantastic, the suburban and the psychedelic.
He recieved a BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts in 2002 and was a founding member of Special gallery Auckland.

The exhibition runs from the 5th-18th of March.