The Berlin-based photographer Christine Fenzl portrayed young people from the Berlin districts of Hellersdorf, Marzahn, Lichtenberg and Hohenschönhausen who were born during and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. For their parents, the Wall was a matter of course, but in their own world it is hardly imaginable anymore. Her series takes a look at the generation of the “Wendekinder”.

In sensitive shots, Fenzl traces the stories and expectations of the protagonists, always maintaining the perspective of undivided interest in their motifs. She shows the people close up and undisguised, in the right light and in a familiar moment. The changing places, in which the prefabricated concrete slab architecture in particular allows us to draw conclusions about the past, also reflect youth as a state of transition.

Christine Fenzl has personally experienced the profound changes that Berlin underwent after the fall of the Wall. She moved there in 1992 and became Nan Goldin’s assistant. Initially she lived in the western part of the city, then in the former eastern part of Mitte, where renewal and upheaval, but also challenges, were felt daily. Especially in the places where renewal and development have already taken place, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember the exact course of the border.

I am afraid that the images of this time will disappear. Driven by the continuing change, but still noticeable former division of the city, it is important to me to give the ‘Wendekinder’ generation a face. I want to capture the young men and women in pictures that were born into this special time and are thus part of the history of the city,” summarizes Christine Fenzl.

The exhibition is supported by the exhibition fund Kommunale Galerien Berlin of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe. Schloss Biesdorf is an establishment of the Department of Culture of Marzahn-Hellersdorf.

June 14 — Aug 14, 2020

Schloss Biesdorf (Biesdorf Palace)

Alt-Biesdorf 55, 12683 Berlin
[Biesdorf | Marzahn-Hellersdorf]

Opening hours: Daily 10 am – 6 pm, Fri 12 – 9 pm, closed on Tuesdays

Admission free