In 2026 I started the Berlinage Collection (thank you for the suggestion, Carlos!)

By donating works the participating artists have laid the foundations for what will hopefully grow into a documentation of Berlinage throughout the years and an insight in contemporary collage.

Here are the works commented by the artists. Find more information about the artists here https://berlinage.berlin/artists-art

„Built on a photolithography printed on Japanese paper, this collage sets the dense crowding of human figures against rocks at rest in their setting. The two presences pull against each other: the congestion of the crowd and the slow, organic stillness of the landscape“.

„A photolithograph meets a digital print here, two images separated by years and distances: stones photographed in Washington State and a flower found in Berlin during my residency. Stone and flower anchor the composition, while the surrounding fragments are left open, inviting viewers to draw their own connections“.

„I like to work with papers and prints that I make myself. Here, thin Mulberry paper, with its translucency and distinctive fibers, sets the terms of this piece. I layered it with a Japanese print and handmade paper which I toned in with watercolor and pencil to deepen the color and draw out the grain. The result is a dialogue between the raw materials and what they become. „

„The work grew out of a pulp painting  I made with cotton pulp. The tones and surface of the handmade paper guided my choice of every image that joined it, lending the collage a quietly nostalgic mood.“

„A sheet of gray handmade paper and a lithographic print form the ground. I first placed the image of a man leaning on a table, and every element that followed supports, answers, or comments on him. A fold along the right edge splits the work into two territories, one photographic, the other given to the tactile qualities of paper and print.“

 

„The spark was a strand of handmade paper thread I found in Berlin. Around it, I brought together a Japanese print on kozo, a lithograph on flax paper, and handmade cotton paper, letting the texture, transparency, and weight of each sheet shape the composition“.

„Café am Kurfürstendamm came about thanks to a single image that has nothing to do with a café! I first found the centre image, which looks like melting fluorescent lighting, in a book. I had also bought some lovely thick photostock paper in a variety of colours at Modulor the day before and was excited to play with it. When I think of Berlin and fluorescent signage, I automatically think of Kurfürstendamm, a street where I’ve spent much time drinking coffee. It felt natural to pair my melting lights and vintage images of couples drinking coffee in a homage to one of my favourite Berlin activities. I chose the brown paper as it went well with the yellow book page, plus whenever I think of this period in Berlin’s history, the pictures in my head are always in browns and sepia. After all the above, it was simple to place the images and shapes together in a pleasing composition.“

„This piece began with a 2024 etching I made of Berlin’s Neue Synagoge, reflecting on the layers of history embedded in a site around which the modern city has grown. A ghostly print of the synagogue on a sheer antique handkerchief is suspended on glass, overlaid with the same etching on paper, torn along the iconic golden domes which were destroyed in the war, and the postwar Plattenbau buildings that came to reshape Berlin’s architectural landscape. These layers are pierced by the silhouette of an absent figure, creating a void through which the backmost layer, the Mourner’s Kaddish, can be glimpsed. Through this physical layering of architecture, absence, and prayer, the work considers how history and loss persist within the fabric of the contemporary city.”

‚I spent weeks researching Berlin and deciding on what buildings I wanted to go and photograph to in turn make collages with. I had a 4 hour walking route planned to cover 5 or 6 locations……30 mins into my walk on day one I came across a very odd ’structure‘ – it looked like a huge blob of black jelly, and the light was reflecting off it in a magical way –  what a happy accident that turned out to be. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect – I’ve no idea where that was and in my excitement didn’t map it – I just got my camera out and took loads of shots from different angles. Will be making an effort to find it again as would love to photograph it at night‘ 

„I had two thoughts when creating this collage self portrait. The first was, that as a full-figured woman, I will never fit into the current expectation for beauty, to be skinny. The second was that fashion designers would often seek a model slim enough that the clothing would still look like it did hanging on a hanger.“