Geografically, Berlin is in the East of Germany. Many visitors and inhabitants have the feeling, however, that Berlin is in the middle of the Republic. Most people think Berlin shares the same longitude as Hannover or Magdeburg. Only when they take a trip to the Oder river, they realize how far east the city actually is. There – not more than an hours drive away – you are suddenly on the frontier of Eastern Europe. For many, the great unknown begins here. A foreign language and a foreign culture stop the travelers from crossing this border. Far-off places are so close. The great Eastern European plains veined by wide rivers, the great forests populated by elks, bears and wolves and the broad horizon with its wistfully drifting clouds, all these are just outside the Berlin city limits.
The Oder is a quiet river. It doesn’t like being in the centre of attention. Through a wide plain it flows north and now forms the border between two nations joined by a thousand years of common history. These two nations often didn’t coexist very easily. In the last seventy years, the border was mostly closed, there were only a few bridges and ferries. Only for the past few years have the inhabitants on both sides been able to get to know each other. This is happening very slowly. One reason is, perhaps, that the heritage f the Oder seems submerged. Songs or poems about the Oder are hard to find. Other rivers have been made the subject of music and literature. The Oder has always remained diffident. The Oder is a quiet river.
Through the photographic work, Thilo Seibt aims to draw attention to the nearby border (Granica in Polish). There is little public awareness of the fact that the Republic of Poland is only 80 km from Berlin. The border traffic across the Oder is practically negligible. There is little in the way of Polish life in Berlin. The second largest group of immigrants in Berlin comes from Poland, but few people know this. With his photographs of the Oder, Thilo Seibt wants to address this and to appeal for more exchange between the two nations.
exhibitions:
Fotoatelier am Schönen Berg (Berlin)
19.10. – 10.11.2013 – “Granica” solo exhibition
Mauerpark (Berlin)
08.08.2013 – “OpenAirGallery 2013#01”
Fotoatelier am Schönen Berg (Berlin)
26.10. – 16.11.2012 – “zwischen uns”
Mauerpark (Berlin)
09.09.2012 – “OpenAirGallery 2012#01”
time and place:
2012 – 2013
u.a. Eisenhüttenstadt, Frankfurt(O), Gozdowice, Krajnik Dolny, Schwedt, Slubice
exhibition dates :
25 prints 30×40 auf MDF
required length of wall: 10-20 metres