These photos of Berlin in the 1990s show a vanished city

After the dissolution of the Berlin Wall on the 9^th of November 1989, Berlin underwent a deep political and cultural transition that had long-lasting impacts on its identity and development. Throughout a tumultuous era of reunification marked by optimism and fear, the city became a hub for subcultures and temporary initiatives which left a permanent mark on its history and image.

This decade of transition and complex societal changes that accompanied Berlin’s emergence as Germany’s new capital has been captured by the photographers of OSTKREUZ photo agency, a collective founded in 1990 in Eastern Germany and whose work is now on view in the exhibition Dream On—Berlin, the 90s at C/O Berlin until January 2025.

Comprising over 200 photographs, the show features works from nine OSTKREUZ photographers, like co-founders Sibylle Bergemann, Harald Hauswald, Ute Mahler, Werner Mahler, alongside Annette Hauschild, Thomas Meyer, Jordis Antonia Schlösser, Anne Schönharting and Maurice Weiss, including many previously unpublished images from the OSTKREUZ archives, viewed today with renewed relevance. 

Dream On—Berlin, the 90s, which also celebrates the long-standing and close cooperation between C/O Berlin and OSTKREUZ, underscores the vital role these photographers have played in documenting this unique phase of Berlin’s rebirth, conveying the ambivalent, euphoric mood of the era, from the fall of the Wall to the rise of Berlin's iconic techno scene. The exhibited works, providing “insights into the mechanisms and effects of societal transformation”, thus offer intimate nuanced insights into Berlin’s transformation, highlighting from an unusual perspective the relationship that affects urban space and individuals alike in times of radical changes.