Evolution within Dissolution

For a few years now, Berlin photographer Mathias Bertram has been seeking out and photographing surreal-like images and structures. He discovers romantic landscapes on weather-beaten houses, strange mythical creatures in worn-out road markings, and maps of unknown continents on the sides of rusty building containers.

At a first glance, many of his pictures look like they could be graphic images or paintings, yet time alone – that eats away at everything – is responsible for creating all these motifs and structures.

Water, wind and air age them, corrosion and collisions destroy them; yet, as things break down, they give birth to something new, so that the ageing process gains both dignity and beauty – an evolution within dissolution that is captured in the photographs of this exhibition.

In addition to pieces that have already appeared in Bertram's book Galerie der Straße, the exhibition presents numerous new images that have been taken in more recent years.

Further information at: Mathias Bertram, Staatsgalerie Prenzlauer Berg