MALTE BRANDENBURG

Malte Brandenburg’s series STACKED focuses on post-war housing estates in Berlin, capturing them in images characterized by a minimalist, symmetrical aesthetics.

Usually indistinguishable from the urban landscape which they are part of, these tower blocks are rarely accentuated for their architectural qualities, but have rather come to be associated with economic and social burdens, in spite of initially being built to provide modern and affordable housing for middle class families.

By isolating the buildings from their surroundings and presenting them from a frontal perspective, Brandenburg shifts emphasis from their social to their formal aspects and individuality. The resulting images, with their linear focus and interplay of colour and surface are reminiscent of the modern, formalist painting of the mid 20th Century.

The name of the series refers to the particular mode of living offered by the tower block, in which people live ”stacked” above and below one another. At first sight the flat, uniform facades of these buildings do not betray much about the lives unfolding within. However, upon closer scrutiny irregularities of the surfaces emerge in the form of satellite dishes, flower boxes and differently coloured blinds, carrying small fragments of information about the inhabitants.