A look back at 2023

Now as I’ve already seen count­less looks back to 2023 on social media, I’d like to get involved too.

Jan­u­ary

In Jan­u­ary two of my exhi­bi­tions that start­ed already in 2022 still were on the walls: „Punch” in the city hall of Gerns­bach (thanks a lot to Julian Christ the may­or for hav­ing me as a guest in Gerns­bach and to every­one who helped orga­niz­ing the exhi­bi­tion) and „Man­hat­tan Trans­fer” at Galerie für Junge Kün­stler- und Designer­in­nen in Berlin-Schöneberg, togeth­er with Jörg Rub­bert – thanks Jörg and thanks to Brigitte Stamm, the galerist.

Feb­ru­ary

Feb­ru­ary 11^th I’ve had the fan­tas­tic book launch event of „PUNCH – A VISUAL STORY” by Chum­bo at a great place, Cin­e­mate­ca Por­tugue­sa in Lis­bon, Por­tu­gal, in part­ner­ship with Livraria Lin­ha da Som­bra. Thanks a lot to the won­der­ful Yuri Lopes Pereira, who pub­lished the book and who orga­nized this fan­tas­tic event.

Feb­ru­ary is also the month of Berli­nale, that I nev­er miss to attend. I’ve seen lots of great movies this year, and only a few that were not so great. To name a few of the good ones: SUZUME, SUR L’ADAMANT (the win­ner of the Gold­en Bear), ROTER HIMMEL, 20000 SPECIES OF BEES – and E.T. (which has once been the first film I’ve seen in cin­e­ma, and that I’ve now seen at the Berli­nale togeth­er with my son Julius).

March

In March I’ve cel­e­brat­ed the release of „PUNCH – A VISUAL STORY” in Berlin-Neukölln at Luisa Catuc­ci Gallery – lots of thanks to Luisa Catuc­ci for this oppor­tu­ni­ty.
I also opened the exhi­bi­tion „INTERACTION” togeth­er with painter Hans Peter Friedrich in my old home­town Freiburg at depot.K gallery. Thanks to every­one of depot.K for orga­niz­ing this and thanks to all the friends who attend­ed the open­ing!

April

Nine years after my last vis­it to New York City I came back, togeth­er with my fam­i­ly and lots of friends. I showed the city to my son who loved the Empire State Build­ing and hat­ed the taste of chlo­rine in tap water. I’ve had exten­sive walks through Brook­lyn and Queens, attend­ed a horse race at Aque­duct Race­track, the East­er Parade at Fifth Avenue, and I’ve met the won­der­ful artist Juliana Laz­zaro again.
Maybe the most beau­ti­ful pho­tog­ra­phy event of the year was the book release event of my book „PUNCH” in Freiburg at BSV box­ing gym. Lots of friends and fam­i­ly were there, some fight­ers – I had lots of fun. Thanks a lot to Jens Galler, Peter Disch and to every­one at the box­ing gym for mak­ing this a great event!

May

Thanks to Izole Team from Budapest my pho­to­book „PUNCH” took part at Border_less Book Days in Istan­bul on May 4 to 7. A pity I could­n’t be there.

June

In June „Punch” was part of the Fanzineist Vien­na Art Book & Zine Fair.
Also in June I’ve seen lots of great movies at the Jew­ish Film­fes­ti­val Berlin Bran­den­burg.

July

Thanks to my friend Sascha Niko­la­jew­icz my exhi­bi­tion „Urban Fever” opened in Gaiberg, near Hei­del­berg, with the mot­to „Wir holen die Welt nach Gaiberg”. Won­der­ful author and jour­nal­ist Kristi­na Hort­en­bach held a great speech, and there was great music as well.

August

In August my new book „Livin’ in the hood – New York Street Life” that I made togeth­er with my friend Jörg Rub­bert, was released at Ket­tler Ver­lag!
On August 26^th my exhi­bi­tion „Punch” had its open­ing at Galerie Fototreppe in Hanau. Thanks a lot to Jochen Stenger for a won­der­ful time in Hanau.

Sep­tem­ber

In Sep­tem­ber I was back in Berlin for a group exhi­bi­tion, „Streets of New York 1979–2023” togeth­er with Andreas Weigelt, Jörg Rub­bert and Ingrid Henke. The exhi­bi­tion took place at Art Stalk­er in Char­lot­ten­burg and was sup­port­ed by Amer­i­can Ger­man Busi­ness Club. I showed some of my new New York pho­tos from April this year.
The same month „Punch – A visu­al sto­ry” received an „Hon­or­able Men­tion” at the Inter­na­tion­al Pho­tog­ra­phy Awards. Thanks to Yuri Lopes Pereira for always believ­ing in this book and thanks to Mar­i­ana Veloso for the fan­tas­tic book design.

Octo­ber

In Octo­ber I trav­elled to Dres­den to open the exhi­bi­tion „No more Fight!” togeth­er with box­ing paint­ings by Siegfried Winder­lich – who had passed away only a few weeks before the open­ing. Small but won­der­ful gallery kun­st­ge­häuse in Dres­den-Neustadt host­ed the exhi­bi­tion, orga­nized by two won­der­ful guys – Mario Pitz and Ulrich Hüb­n­er.

Novem­ber

Ger­man week­ly news­pa­per DIE ZEIT cov­ered my book „PUNCH” and called it „grip­ping intense”. What an hon­our.
On Novem­ber 10^th Dort­mund based alter­na­tive rock band PORTER released their new sin­gle „Tax free hol­lows” with my pho­to as the cov­er pho­to. The new album GENOSHA, also with one of my pho­tos on the cov­er will be released in 2024. Thanks a lot to Markus Sänger from Porter.

Decem­ber

Anoth­er small but won­der­ful event took place in the begin­ning of Decem­ber at Stu­dio Koschmieder in Berlin-Kreuzberg: A group pop-up exhi­bi­tion in com­bi­na­tion with an artist talk togeth­er with Jörg Rub­bert about our new book „Livin’ in the hood”. Thanks a lot to Annette Koschmieder!