Provisional Atlas of Berlin

Sergio Belinchón

2020 – 2024 — Berlin

About this series

This PROVISIONAL ATLAS OF BERLIN is the result of 4 years of exhaustive work, with daily departures and repeated visits to the city. Berlin is undergoing rapid changes in its identity; tourism, gentrification, the boom in housing prices, etc., are all factors that are transforming the city from poor but sexy to rich but boring. The phenomenon is nothing new, but here it is happening in a leaps and bounds and serves me to address a global problem. 
The city of war wounds, the city of the wall, which made Berlin unique, is almost unrecognizable. What separates people now is mainly access to housing. Old buildings are demolished and replaced with modern luxury apartments and offices. Building is taking place on every free square centimeter of the city, and social landscapes are undergoing dramatic changes. 

Photographer: Sergio Belinchon
Nationality: Spanish
Based in: Berlin, Germany
Website: www.sergiobelinchon.com
Instagram: @sergio.belinchon

Sergio Belinchón uses photography and video in his work to deal with themes such as the representation of space, the city as a stage for the life of its inhabitants, the transformation of the territory, tourism and spaces where reality and artificiality merge. Many of his projects address the relationship between man and his environment through his absence, as in Ephemeral Cities (2001), a critique of Spanish coastal buildings. In Natural History (2006) he addresses the artificiality of new buildings in Dubai. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (2010) continues to explore space and its representation in relation to cinematic representation, as in Adiós Amigo! (2011) or the use of landscape as a metaphor for biographical representation (Venus Grotto 2018). Also notable is his use of found material, as in the Super 8 films Paraíso (2006), or the manipulated photographs in Álbum (2019).
He has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout Europe, USA, Japan and Latin America, including the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, (Madrid), Künstlerhaus Bethanien, (Berlin), Centre Pompidou, (Paris), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), MOT (Tokyo) or Fischer Gallery (Los Angeles).
He has received numerous grants, such as the Spanish Academy in Rome, Colegio de España in Paris, Künstlerhaus Bethanien or Taipei Artist Village.
His work can be found in many private and public collections and he has published numerous monographs with his work in Spanish and German publishers.