City TV (Berlin) #118/16 Possibly 1997 - 2009

Frank Thiel made this image, City TV (Berlin) #118/16, using photography to capture a kind of urban gaze. The image is centered around this oval shape, like a distorted lens, reflecting a fragment of Berlin back at itself. I can imagine Thiel, setting up his camera, choosing this specific angle to capture the city's reflection, like finding the right word for a poem. What was he thinking when he framed this shot? What aspects of the city did he want to highlight or conceal? The dark, almost brooding background makes the reflected scene feel almost otherworldly, like a memory fading at the edges. It reminds me of Andreas Gursky, in how it captures the scale and complexity of urban environments. There's a certain beauty in how Thiel abstracts reality, offering us a new way to see and experience the city. He’s inviting us to contemplate the ever-evolving nature of urban landscapes.