My Secret Life
These are the 13 winners of the My Secret Life photo contest – Mark Alker, Jochen Arentzen, Maurice Baker, Axel Boronczyk, Max Colson, Miguel Hahn & Jan-Christoph Hartung, Heinrich Holtgreve, Sara-Lena Maierhofer, Holger Stöhrmann, Marlene Sattler, Corinna Sauer, Marc Volk and Franca Wohlt will present their photographic series from 7 December 2013 until 2 February 2014 at C/O Berlin.
Whether a secret affair, a double life as an agent, political intrigues, medical confidentiality or everyday secretiveness – mysteries, secrets and the inscrutable always hold a strong fascination. In particular nowadays, when knowledge is free and always readily accessible. Yet what is so special about secrets? Why is there an increase of interest when something hidden becomes public? “A society completely dominated by secrets is not capable of development because it lacks the space required for communication. Yet a society without secrets is just as stagnant because it does not have the fertile ground needed to develop its potential.“ As the analysis of the philosopher Georg Simmel has shown, it is not total disclosure and transparency that counts but obscurity, the things that are not shown or divulged. Hence everyone is an expert in concealment and balances daily along the thin, sometimes very pleasurable line between complete control over a secret and the fear of it being discovered. With this exhibition, C/O Berlin will invite photographers and artists to visually disclose their own secrets and provide an insight into strategies of concealment.
The starting point for this theme is C/O Berlin’s own current secret. Due to renovation work, Amerika Haus, the new location at Bahnhof Zoo, has been hidden behind a white tarpaulin for two months. What exactly is going on behind the veiled façade will not be visible until 2014 when C/O Berlin reopens the building. Until then, C/O Berlin will show open-air photography exhibitions in front of Amerika Haus. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, accessible free of charge for everyone.