Behind the Scenes at C/O Berlin
by James Glazebrook
Recently, C/O Berlin invited us to a private blogger tour of their current exhibition, Timeless beauty: 100 years of fashion photography from Man Ray to Mario Testino. We saw stunning work by Helmut Newton, David Bailey and even Diane Arbus, got the chance to reconnect with Chasing Heartbeats, The Field Office (see their post here), Grateful Grapefruit, Berlin Reified and meet for the first time the guys behind Finding Berlin (their post here) and Jenni Fuchs (see her review of the exhibition here and her behind the scenes photos here).
But the highlight of the tour was the rare opportunity of seeing behind the scenes of the photographic centre, as we were led by a curator up some back stairs to the top of the former Postfuhramt. Told to stick together, because some of the floor might be unsafe (!), we were shown the space between the domed roof and the cupola that formed the ceiling of the post office, and evidence that some conscientious soul had attempted to document the building’s original appearance (with small notecards placed in each space). While we won’t get the chance to see that again, we’ll definitely be back to enjoy C/O Berlin’s programme of “visual dialogue” – so big thanks to Hie-suk and the team!