Berlin Stories 1: Ama Split & Riky Kiwy: Hundekopf. Die Berliner Ringbahn

Show me your pictures, and I’ll tell you where you were! The new series Berlin Stories presents visual essays about and from Berlin—the city of art, fashion, parties, and many nations. You’ll find all genres of photography here, from classic street photography to personal sketches to staged portrait series. In a handy pocket-sized format, we’re building a whole library of images of the capital, taken by the most prominent photographers working in the city today.

It begins with a journey on the dog’s head-shaped railway encircling central Berlin. The French-Italian pair of photographers, Ama Split and Riky Kiwy, spent a good six weeks riding the S-Bahn clockwise from east to west to east. They stopped at all of the twenty-seven stations, where both would shoot a thirty-six exposure roll of film until the standard automated announcement recited “Zurückbleiben, bitte!” The idea was to find key aspects of the environment around each station—intuitive, playful, and poetic—whether it was the Treptower Park snack bar along the Spree, the idyllic community gardens next to the platforms near Heidelberger Platz, or a cheerful group of seniors drinking beer at the Halensee. Again and again, the yellow-red cars of the S-Bahn loom into view, finally assuming their own icon status.