Florian Reischauer – Pieces of Berlin, ’19–23

Review by Gerhard Clausing •

Berlin is most certainly a very complex and dynamic European city. The population includes people from all kinds of countries with all kinds of backgrounds, and at the same time the city shows a great deal of tolerance regarding behavioral idiosyncrasies and various belief systems when you compare it to other cities and to the countryside. Formerly (pre-1989) the city was divided in two, each portion part of a different German state; it is now the capital of a combined Germany and certainly gets a lot of attention. Florian Reischauer is the photographer and researcher who has published several photobooks that give us glimpses of the inhabitants of Berlin, and this is his latest volume, covering the years 2019 to 2023.

This photobook includes numerous views of the city’s streets, photographs that show transitional moments of construction, as well as some images of a few neighborhoods. We also see graffiti sprawled on city walls, including sentiments such as “show the courage to devote yourself to in-between things” or “black lives matter.” The photographs make a light and airy impression, not heavily saturated at all. Thus, the study of the pages is a joyful experience, as we read various opinions and mini-histories, constituting the bulk of the double pages. Each set, of which you see several below, contains a photograph and a short autobiographical quote by the individual depicted, both of which give us important insights and cover a range of ages and ethnicities represented in the city.

These short exposés of and by Berlin inhabitants are printed in the original German and in very idiomatically translated English as well. They provide us with a range of accounts and personal histories. They also show us short glimpses of the struggles that Covid and other changes in recent years have caused in people’s lives. We get an overall picture of the concerns of various age groups, genders, and backgrounds represented in the city of Berlin.

The individual named Khan on pages 60-61 (image 7 below) is an excellent example. He totally feels like an integrated Berliner, even though his background is from another country and conditions have caused him to adopt a variety of ways of earning his living. He is aware of occasional friction between natives and foreigners in Berlin as well, but as a Moslem he feels that there is greater tolerance of the range of belief systems in his new home, Berlin, than in his original country of origin, Bangladesh. Other segments, equally fascinating, deal with many other issues, such as women’s concerns, the rise of ultra-conservatism and populism, and much more. We get a sense of a certain feeling of positivity, despite things being difficult, and this indeed gives us some hope for the future.

This portrayal of a city is recommended for the many personal insights and for the unique environmental portraits. It is a cross-section of people’s everyday experiences in a lively context with ever-changing conditions and opportunities, and it is dynamically presented. The spirit of the Berliners can be felt throughout, and we know that each of the people shown as well as their fellow Berliners and their neighbors feel a commitment to do their darndest, no matter what the future may hold.

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The PhotoBook Journal previously featured Florian Reischauer’s Pieces of Berlin 2014-2018.

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Gerhard Clausing, Editor of the PhotoBook Journal, is an author and artist from Southern California.

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Florian Reischauer – Pieces of Berlin, ‘19-23

Photographer: Florian Reischauer (born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, and lives in Berlin and in Austria)

Editors: Ulrike Reischauer, Chris Reed

Texts: Florian Reischauer; foreword by Christian Baron

Language: German and English

Design: Stefan Bauernberger

Hardcover with open binding and illustrated wrapper that unfolds into a mini-poster; 200 pages, paginated; 7 x 9 inches (17.7 x 22.5 cm); printed in Riga, Latvia, by Livonia Print; Edition of 1000; ISBN 978-3-00-076373-1

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Articles and photographs published in the PhotoBook Journal may not be reproduced without the permission of the PhotoBook Journal staff and the photographer(s). All images, texts, and designs are under copyright by the authors and publishers.