C/O Berlin
(Amerika Haus)
Workshop #2

In total 13 students, aged 16 to 17, attended the workshop. They were accompanied by their art teacher, Steffen Lasch from Hannah-Arendt-Gymnasium in Neukölln-Rudow.

The workshop was conducted by Max Ernst Stockburger, a documentary photographer, and his assistant, Nils Heck, a photography student from HS Hannover. Stockburger grew up directly next to a U.S. military installation in southern Germany, which has deeply shaped his own photographic work. For more than a decade Stockburger has been working on photography projects dealing themes connected to U.S. society and politics.

Nikon supported this workshop by loaning 10 Nikon Z50 cameras that were handed out for the practical part of the workshop after the visit to the museum.

The aim of the workshop was to give the students an introduction to the visual landscape and culture of the United States through the work of the renowned American photographer Lee Friedlander. In addition to that, the students were empowered to create their own photographs inspired by Friedlander’s photographic practice and thereby challenge their own view and perspectives on their hometown of Berlin.

After introducing himself and briefly giving an overview of the day’s workshop, Stockburger encouraged the students to write down five words that came to their minds when thinking about the United States. Amongst others, the results included “McDonald's”, “Donald Trump” “War on Terror”, “Freedom” and “Christians”.Interestingly, the most common result was “High School”. In addition, the students were asked to explain their list of words and why they chose them.

Stockburger then continued to explain that images play a critical role in our understanding and knowledge of the United States and the world in general. He used the “High School” example to make the students aware of how their perception of the U.S. is deeply shaped by media. He invited them to actively think about whether the images of the exhibition are reinforcing or challenging their idea of America.

The group then moved over to the main building of C/O Berlin and was welcomed by one of C/O Berlin’s professional guides. After being equipped with headphones, the group collectively entered the exhibition. The guide explained that this was not the first exhibition of Lee Friedlander in this building. He had already shown his works 35 years before when the building was still run as a cultural exchange center by the U.S. government.

The exhibition was set up as a chronological retrospective of Friedlander’s work. The exhibit started with his very early portraits of African American musicians, which were the only color photographs being displayed in the exhibition. Then followed Friedlander’s famous body of work, “Little Screens,” and a selection of his early street photographs of the U.S., Germany, and Spain. The second part of the exhibition then focused on Friedlander’s self-portraits and family photos.

While leading through the exhibition the guide continuously engaged with the students by asking them to describe what they can see in the images. She vividly explained how Friedlander initially got started with photography and how his work substantially differed from the mainstream photography of those days. Through a detailed visual analysis of specific images, she was able to explain how Friedlander used his camera and composed images. Throughout the exhibition, she was able to keep up the interest of all students and challenge their ideas of what a good photograph should look like. After the 45 minutes-long tour, the students were allowed to move freely through the exhibition. Before heading back to the workshop space, Stockburger, the workshop leader, asked the students to take a snapshot of their favorite photos.

After a lunch break, the group discussed what they saw in the exhibition. Each student was asked to show the photo she picked and explain why they picked it. The selected images varied widely, with the majority coming from Friedlander’s early works and family portraits. Interestingly, the images the students showed were only from the U.S. and they were rather complex compositions. When asked why they chose them, most students said, that initially they didn’t like the photos too much, but through the explanation of the guide they got a new perspective on them, which made them understand that they are not just “snapshots,” but purposely taken like this. Stockburger then asked why no one chose a photo from Spain or Germany, whereas one student replied “Those photos were just too boring, they have no charm. In America, everything just seems to be more beautiful.” The group collectively agreed. Stockburger then returned the question and asked if they are able to explain this more precisely. One student directly answered, “Things here are just too boring, we see them every day so they’re not special anymore.” Another student said, “When I see photos from America, I always have to think about all the movies from Hollywood”. Stockburger used these comments to formulate the actual task for the workshop. For the next one and a half hours, the students were paired up in teams of two and asked to walk around the area near Zoo Station and take photos of everyday life on the streets and use the camera to gain a new perspective on their familiar environment. He encouraged them to use Friedlander’s techniques, like reflections, shadows, and screens to create multilayered images that even help to alienate the familiar.

The workshop finished with a short debriefing asking the students about their experiences while making photos. The students told the workshop coordinator that they were amazed by the difference between making photos with a smartphone and a real camera. They told him, that the viewfinder helped them to frame things in a different way and that they enjoyed imitating Friedlander’s photographic style. One student said: “It’s really cool to see how different things look when you change the angle or the composition. Usually, all photos of Kurfürstendamm look the same, you only see all those big shops, but actually, so much more is happening here. I wish I could just keep the camera."

A selection of the photographs made by the students was displayed at the final joint exhibition with Duke University.