SILENT BERLIN

We, Thomas Koy and Marc Winkel-Blackmore, aka Koy + Winkel, work together as architectural photographers.
Like many other people, we were occupied during the first week of the standstill with rearranging our daily lives, trying to get hold of information and helping our kids get to grips with online schooling.

Meanwhile, of course, several jobs were being postponed or simply canceled.
But after the initial shock, and a lot of time at home, a new day-to-day life began to take hold. With everyone taken care of, and it growing tough to while away the time at home, the inevitability of the situation sank in.
And after that first week, we realized how we should be tackling it - we ought to be taking photographs!

In places that are otherwise busy, and on streets and squares, there’s now a void. The mood - an almost contemplative one, if only it weren’t for the shuttered restaurants and shops serving as a reminder that all is not well.
But for us, the city offers us its eloquence and grace, allowing us at last to photograph places like Checkpoint Charlie and Tegel Airport empty. Without any cars, structure is pared back, and places become recognizable as themselves once again.