Karl-Ludwig Lange. The Photographer in His Time. Berlin Years 1973–2004

The 100 Views of the TV Tower

Karl-Ludwig Lange

The series The Gate Is Open depicts people at various different locations in East Berlin. The motif of the TV Tower can be found in the background of each photograph. Karl-Ludwig Lange photographed the city after the fall of the Berlin Wall: people whose faces seem either hopeful or sceptical, storefront window displays that look as though German Reunification had never taken place, and the beginnings of the construction boom. Lange created images of symbolic power during the nearly anarchistic time of transition.
Another theme of the exhibition is Potsdamer Platz, which he photographed over a quarter of a century. Suspended in a decades-long deep sleep following the end of the war, Potsdamer Platz became a place in the no-man’s land between East and West. After the Wall came down, investors developed an architecture here that was spectacular for Berlin.

Over the course of five decades, Karl-Ludwig Lange independently created an artistic body of work. Visitors are advised to see all exhibitions of the ten-part project The Photographer in His Time to fully understand his world of imagery.