Berliner Zimmer
Long-term project: Video interviews with Berliners
A project for the next hundred years: Sonya Schönberger’s interview series “Berliner Zimmer” is a resource for future generations.
In the artist’s videos, Berliners talk about their lives in the city, their memories of historical events and their experiences as political activists and artists. In collaboration with the Stadtmuseum Berlin, Schönberger has been creating a digital archive of the present video by video since 2018: Berliner Zimmer.
The thing that ties all the interviewees together is the city they live in: Berlin.
While there is no predetermined schedule for the videos, Sonya Schönberger’s interviews always work the same way: interviewees take the artist to a place in Berlin that has special significance for them. Then cameraman Cavo Kernich sets up his camera and they begin filming.
The interviews usually begin with a few basic questions: Who are you, where are you from, what is your story? Then Schönberger takes a step back and lets her subjects take it from there. They talk about their lives and what currently moves them. Depending on the situation or topic, the interviews can vary in length from 15 to 45 minutes.