Charity

All funds collected during the “Berlin 2579” exhibition will be donated to a charitable cause: life-saving treatment for 28-year-old Darin Kolev. He suffers from progressive systemic sclerosis and needs financial support to travel to South Korea for further therapy.

Prints Info

Streets of Berlin # 1- 10

60х90

Fine Art Paper

310 г/m²

100% cotton

Framed

ICC #1-7

120х80

Silk Matt

Premium Photo Paper

255 г/m²

PVC material

*All photographs are available in limited editions of 10 prints.

For the project and the exhibition

The Concept

In 1979, when Berlin’s International Congress Center (ICC) opened its doors, a gray concrete wall still divided not only the city but the whole world into the two camps of the Cold War. The building’s architecture was a promise of a different future—one in which technology, devoted to the ultimate goal of elevating the human spirit, would let us reach our full potential. The ICC is a colossal machine, organized like a living organism with its own systems for air circulation, lighting, and a spherical “core.” People called this sphere “the brain,” a perfect form intended to supply vital energy to the entire structure.

“Berlin 2579” is a conversation between the ICC’s technological optimism and today’s Berlin, where freedom of spirit is a way of life. The building has become a monument to a past vision of the future that never became reality.

In the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city became a symbol of tolerance, freedom, and artistic expression. Buildings and monuments no longer define the character of the city—communities and people do. Berlin’s present and future are fluid, no longer controlled by an all-powerful core.

The street images of Berlin in 2025, the people caught walking relaxed and off guard, are more than documentary snapshots. They are fragments of the complex mosaic of a society with noise and pauses, the even rhythm of footsteps and spontaneous laughter, music and absolute silence. When the street is a stage and the protagonists have no names, what we seek are the invisible connections in the city’s vast social web. The grand promises of concrete, iron, and glass have fulfilled their purpose of uniting people around a vision and now serve merely as a backdrop absorbed into Berlin’s ever-changing experience.

Designing the future isn’t just about grand visions—it is also a continuous rehearsal in the present that lets us glimpse what lies ahead.

Shooting Technique

The shooting technique aligns with the project’s concept. Three approaches were used to create a smooth transition from analog to digital photography—that is, from past to present

- 35mm film

- Digital camera body with vintage lens

- Digital camera body with latest generation lens

The playful twist is that the past—specifically the ICC, Berlin—was photographed in color using fully digital technology, whereas the present was rendered in black-and-white through analog and hybrid methods (a digital body paired with a vintage lens).