Berlin Contrasts (2004–2015)

Photographs by Frank Silberbach and Nikolas von Safft

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Museum Ephraim-Palais

In Berlin, heart meets hardness, jet set meets local patriotism and history meets the future. There are many perspectives on this city of contrasts. We are showing two of them in a special exhibition.

Location
Museum Ephraim-Palais
Poststraße 16
10178 Berlin

Opening Hours
Tue – Sun | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Mon | closed

Sonderöffnungs-/Schließzeiten
unter Info & Service

Entry
7 / 4 Euro (reduced)
Free admission under 18 years

Tickets are also valid for the special exhibition “Motherland – Ukrainian Artists Questioning ‘Homeland‘” at the Museum Ephraim-Palais.

Combi-Ticket
10 Euro / 6 Euro (reduced)

Valid for two consecutive days for the Museum Ephraim-Palais and the Museum Nikolaikirche.

Frank Silberbach (born 1958): Badstraße, from the series „Berlin 140°“, 2009

The photographers Frank Silberbach and Nikolas von Safft created their Berlin images in very different ways. While one immersed himself in the bustle of the streets and squares, the other explored the outskirts of the city. Both used analogue black-and-white photography to compose their visual worlds.

The dialogue between the two perspectives encourages one to trace the essence, history and challenges of the city, but also one’s own attitude to life in Berlin.

Nikolas von Safft (born 1941): from the series “Rundgang“” (“Tour”), 2004-2008.

About the photographers

Poetically and humorously, Frank Silberbach (born 1958) depicts the atmosphere of everyday life in Berlin in his street photographs. His snapshots capture complex big-city scenes.

Silberbach’s situational approach to the panorama format, which in the history of photography has mostly been used for cityscape shots, is unique. He has been composing 35mm photographs into panoramas since the 1990s. From 2004, he perfected panorama photography with an analogue swing-lens camera for his picture column in the Berliner Zeitung. And in 2013 he published his illustrated book “Berlin 140°”.

Frank Silberbach began his career as a photo reporter in the GDR. In West Berlin since 1984, he worked for various journals and magazines. At the same time, he pursued his own projects and undertook extensive photo journeys in Europe, Asia, Africa and America.

Acquired in 2016 from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe with funds from the Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin, from the Ilse Augustin Foundation for the Promotion of Visual Artists and from budget funds from the Stadtmuseum Berlin.

Due to the division of Germany, the (West) Berlin photographer Nikolas von Safft (born 1941) was separated from the eastern part and the surrounding area of his hometown for decades. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he became interested in how the reunited Berlin would develop and expand into Brandenburg.

In 2004, he began documenting the changes in the border region between Berlin and Brandenburg. During his tour, he covered a total of 320 kilometres. Von Safft increasingly saw the urban in the rural. His work is a powerful pictorial cut through space and time, a subtle archive of social change.

Nikolas von Safft’s field of activity was advertising for thirty years. At first he managed the photo studio of a large advertising agency, from 1970 he worked independently. From the 1980s, he taught photography at the art academies in West Berlin and Braunschweig and from 1989 to 2006 in Leipzig.

Program

Your pictures of Berlin

Fotografien von Frank Silberbach und Nikolas von Safft im Museum Ephraim-Palais

For the photo appael “Berlin Jetzt!” we were looking for your pictures of Berlin. Thank you very much for more than 1500 submissions! We present your photos here on our website. A selection of the submissions is also part of the special exhibition “Berlin Contrasts (2004-2015) – Photographs by Frank Silberbach and Nikolas von Safft

Discover

Info & Service

Opening Hours

Directions

Poststraße 16
10178 Berlin

Google Maps

Bus & Train

Contact

Infoline
+49 30 24 002-162
Mo – Fri | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
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Accessibility

The Ephraim-Palais is accessible without steps. All exhibition areas are accessible via an elevator. There are barrier-free toilets in the building.

Tickets

Admission

Combi-Ticket
15 euros
Valid for our three museums in the Nikolaiviertel (Museum Nikolaikirche, Museum Ephraim-Palais, Museum Knoblauchhaus) on two consecutive days (please note opening hours)

Single Ticket
7 euros
Day ticket for the Museum Ephraim-Palais

Free admission
With proof of reduction
For children & young people under 18, students, trainees, FSJ/FÖJ/BFD volunteers, Berlin-Ticket-S holders, severely disabled persons (with mark B) & accompanying person, refugees (with valid work or residence permit /eAT and Ukrainian passport or valid residence permit from Ukraine), recipients of residence permit /eAT and Ukrainian passport or valid residence permit from Ukraine), recipients of transfer benefits (citizen’s allowance, ALG I), holders of the Berlin-Brandenburg volunteer card, holders of the Super Holiday Pass / Berlin Family Pass, ICOM members, members of the German Museums Association, members of the Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Stadtmuseums Berlin e. V., KulturPass holders, media representatives with a valid press card

Ticketshop

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