A new coffee-table book by Andreas Gehrke gathers photographic images of Berlin-Tegel Airport and presents an impressive homage to the iconic building.
Fig. above: All images © Andreas Gehrke
On 8 November 2020, the last commercial aircraft took off from Berlin-Tegel Airport. Emptiness remains behind. But what remains behind is also a utopian space that ties itself to the idea of this place, its architecture and history. In this respect, the former airport is not like the large international hubs in Shanghai, Denver, London or Frankfurt am Main, which hardly differ from each other in their make-up of endless waiting halls, check-in counters, barrier belts, escalators and shopping facilities.
Berlin-Tegel is not just one of many transit spaces of a globalised present, but a visionary place that is deeply connected to Berlin and the time of German division, and with its spectacular architecture stands for the technical overcoming of all borders.
Andreas Gehrke was there in 2020/2021 to photograph the once crowded main hall terminal, the decommissioned airfield and the abandoned secondary buildings. His pictures show a decisive moment in the history of the area, in which standstill and vision are openly revealed.
Without air traffic, Berlin-Tegel is a listed building ensemble, legitimised by its significance in terms of transport, architecture and social history, deprived of its actual function and released for conversion. An airport that is not an airport.
Andreas Gehrke – Flughafen Berlin-Tegel
Publisher: Drittel Books
Graphic design: Studio Marek Polewski
With an essay by Maxie Fischer
Hardcover
German, English
144 pages / 68 illustrations
21 × 26 cm
Edition 600
55 EUR