Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the photographs of Imola-based photographer Massimo Golfieri are presented to the public for the first time: a true journey through time retracing one of the most significant historical moments of the twentieth century.

The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of an era, opening the way to hopes for a future shaped by peace and solidarity. The Wall had long stood as a symbol of division — not only of Berlin and Germany, but of an entire continent — embodying the Iron Curtain that separated Western and Soviet spheres during the Cold War.

For 28 years, from 13 August 1961 to 9 November 1989, Berlin and Europe remained divided. On the day the East German government reopened the borders, crowds from both East and West rushed towards the Wall — euphoric, overwhelmed, embracing, crying, celebrating. The event remains one of the defining symbols of the twentieth century.

Golfieri captured the atmosphere of those days in November and December 1989, both in East and West Berlin. His work offers a powerful historical and artistic document. In the faces of Berliners, one reads not only joy and hope, but also fear and uncertainty about the future: what would follow the collapse of the communist regime? What consequences would emerge, socially and economically?

As Franco Minganti writes in one of the exhibition texts:

“In most of the shots, we are literally with our backs against the Wall: it is the Wall that sees us, becoming a point of view the photographer deeply internalises. Faces are what the Wall sees, from both sides, almost indifferently […] The camera’s gaze investigates and captures that surrounding reality which, thirty years later, gains depth against the now consolidated imagery of the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

All the photographs in the exhibition are analogue black-and-white prints on baryta silver gelatin paper, often hand-coloured using the pictorialist technique of albumen pigments. Each coloured print is unique.

In addition to the photographs, visitors are immersed in the atmosphere of Berlin in 1989 through a looped photo-video created by the artist.

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Elledecor.com – 26 ottobre 2019

Massimo Golfieri
BERLIN, Brandenburger Tor 1989
Curated by Jacopo Cenacchi
Texts by Andrea Angelini, Franco Minganti, Massimo Golfieri, Jacopo Cenacchi

31 October > 28 November 2019
special opening: Friday 1 November 3:30–7:00 pm

GALLERIA STUDIO CENACCHI
Via Santo Stefano 63
40125 Bologna

OPENING HOURS
Tuesday–Saturday: 4:30–7:30 pm
Monday: by appointment
Sunday: closed