Whenever I’m around Sophie-Charlotte-Platz, I always make time to visit Kicken. The gallery is home to museum-standard exhibitions courtesy of owner Annette Kicken and her friendly team, who are leading experts in the field of photography. But it’s not just the top-class programme that makes the place worth visiting: the gallery itself is a must-see too. The neo-Renaissance building was constructed in 1908 and houses spacious flats that reveal a past world of servants’ quarters and salons. Complete with a wood-paneled staircase and stained-glass windows, it transports you right back to imperial Berlin. Currently on show are works by Sibylle Bergemann as part of an exhibition co-hosted by Loock Galerie.
At the moment Bergemann can also be seen at the Berlinische Galerie, which is showing a large retrospective of the photographer and Berlin chronicler’s work. Kicken has chosen to highlight particular episodes, like Bergemann’s sensitive shots of Clärchens Ballhaus that capture everyday life in the 1970s, from the bar to the dance floor. You’ll also find street scenes from 1980s New York which, as a GDR citizen, Bergemann was only allowed to visit with special permission. Head into the library, and you’ll find a portrait of the actress Katharina Thalbach looking seriously into the distance. Particularly memorable is a series of black-and-white photographs showing various women at work after the fall of the Wall. As with her fashion series, Bergemann presents femininity directly and honestly. The portraits are not just a means to depict a subject; they reveal what it is like to live as a woman in a particular time.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: © Estate of Sibylle Bergemann; Ostkreuz / Courtesy Kicken Berlin, Copyright for the exhibition images: © Ludger Paffrath
Kicken, Kaiserdamm 118, 14057 Berlin–Charlottenburg; map
Sheroes of Photography: Part IV – Sibylle Bergemann, until 07.10.2022
Tue–Fri 14–18h and by appointment
@kickenberlin
