There is a most popular site in Berlin that became an international attraction as a huge outdoor playground: it is the Tempelhof Field, once the Tempelhof Airport. It is a place that is all contradictory in its use, its emotional approach and its historical drama.

Long time a symbol of the struggle of political systems in the post-war order – it is 70 years now, that the airport was the venue of the historical Berlin Airlift – it was successively withdrawn from its original function in recent years and were made available to the public.

Although steeped in history, today there is hardly anything to be felt about it’s past. The original function of the area - as airport and cemeteries - is converted to accommodate various public functions: park, recreational areas for BBQs, dog training, urban gardening and projects like the art festival 48 hours Neukölln). Still, some historical relics are left (runway, landing fire, foundations of the forced labour camp of the Protestant Church ...), they are kept, fenced in and maintained.

I have been exploring the relationship of the visitors with this naturalised urban area and I have created a visual essay that records the interaction of human needs, cultural conditions and natural attributions.

Since I moved to this site, it also became part of my life, just as my home was part of the history – it can be seen in the well-known “Raisin bomber photograph” made by then New York Times photojournalist Henry Ries. Even if only as a backdrop of the airplane.

My work captures these multiple aspects of the site, it condenses them and grasps the complexity of the place. In doing so, it not only gathers the various particles of present and past use, but also points out, that each picture is only one particle of the whole image.