Neues Museum

“It is not about scars, but about remembrance and history. It is like a painting: if it was left unfinished and you complete it, then you no longer have the original.” David Chipperfield\nBerlin-based photographer Friederike von Rauch uses an analog camera to produce her images of landscapes and buildings. The poetic, lucid photographs in her latest project document the restoration the Neues Museum, centerpiece of the Museum Island in Berlin, which was badly damaged during World War II.\nThe British architect David Chipperfield was commissioned to transform the ruin back into a functional museum. His plans were controversial, but the spectacular results show that he was right. Starting from a conservational approach, Chipperfield preserved the Neoclassical lines while at the same time creating modern spaces of amazing elegance. Friederike von Rauch accompanies the exciting final stage of the renovation work, capturing David Chipperfield’s determination to reveal historical breaches while reconciling them with the demands of a contemporary museum.