Exhibitions in Schöneberg

At night, when the bombers came

The Haus am Kleistpark is showing photographer, Mike Chick’s, new work as well as a group exhibition of the Marianne-Werefkin Prize. By Frederik Hanssen.

Mike Chick has gone on his father’s trail, and found traces of devastation. As a pilot in the Second World War, the British serviceman bombed Nazi Germany. Exactly where the destructive cargo was dropped, the officer noted in his Royal Air Force log book, which then served his son as a route map. He visited 26 cities in Germany and Italy, in occupied France and in Poland, which had been invaded by the Wehrmacht. The series of square black-and-white photographs was made at night, during the bombers’ combat hours and can now be seen in the Project Room of the Haus am Kleistpark.

Peaceful images, empty streets

The atmosphere in these pictures is peaceful, the streets are deserted. The photographer, who studied in Oxford and London, has often chosen locations by the water, along canals and in harbours, where the few light sources are multiplied as reflections. The war seems far away, and yet it is present, for almost everywhere the urban landscape is dominated by buildings that were clearly constructed after 1945. Mike Chick, who has a German mother and lives in Berlin, often places his private family history in the context of historical events in his works. On the 75th anniversary of the end of the war, he has succeeded in creating with "Log Book", a project that illustrates in a way that is as quiet as it is touching, the wounds inflicted on the continent of Europe three quarters of a century ago.

Der Tagesspiegel, 23.05.2020.

Translation by Mike Chick.

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