--- title: "Berlin Contrasts (2004–2015)" date: 2023-05-14 last_modified: 2023-09-05T10:32:25+02:00 generated_at: 2026-05-18T06:58:46Z url: "https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/exhibition/berlin-contrasts-2004-2015" description: "Berlin ist eine Stadt der Kontraste, auf die es viele Perspektiven gibt. Zwei davon zeigen wir in einer Ausstellung von Bildern der Fotografen Frank Silberbach und Nikolas von Safft." image: "https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/berliner-kontraste-web-4-3.jpg" language: "en-US" --- # Berlin Contrasts (2004–2015) ### ****Photographs by Frank Silberbach and Nikolas von Safft**** ![]() ![Straßenszene unter den Linden mit Bettler und wohlhabend wirkender Vorbeigehender](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/frank-silberbach-foto-14-unter-den-linden.jpg) Frank Silberbach (born 1958): Unter den Linden, from the series „Berlin 140°“, 2009 ![](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Nikolas-von-Safft-6.jpg) Nikolas von Safft (born 1941), from the series "Rundgang" ("Tour"), 2004-2008. ![](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SM-2016-1984191-Silberbach.jpg) Frank Silberbach (born 1958): Friedrichstraße, from the series „Berlin 140°“, 2008 ![](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Nikolas-von-Safft-5.jpg) Nikolas von Safft (born 1941): from the series "Rundgang“" ("Tour"), 2004-2008. - In Berlin, heart meets hardness, jet set meets local patriotism and history meets the future. There are many perspectives on this city of contrasts. We are showing two of them in a special exhibition. **Location** Museum Ephraim-Palais Poststraße 16 10178 Berlin **Opening Hours** Tue – Sun | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mon | closed **Sonderöffnungs-/Schließzeiten** unter Info & Service **Entry** 7 / 4 Euro (reduced) Free admission under 18 years Tickets are also valid for the special exhibition "[Motherland - Ukrainian Artists Questioning 'Homeland](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/exhibition/motherland)'" at the Museum Ephraim-Palais. **Combi-Ticket** 10 Euro / 6 Euro (reduced) Valid for two consecutive days for the Museum Ephraim-Palais and the Museum Nikolaikirche. ![](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SM-2022-03118171-Silberbach.jpg) The photographers Frank Silberbach and Nikolas von Safft created their Berlin images in very different ways. While one immersed himself in the bustle of the streets and squares, the other explored the outskirts of the city. Both used analogue black-and-white photography to compose their visual worlds. The dialogue between the two perspectives encourages one to trace the essence, history and challenges of the city, but also one's own attitude to life in Berlin. ![Blick auf das Tor eines Freigeländes, geschmückt mit Pferdesilhuetten und Wagenrädern](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/nikolas-von-safft-foto-1-300x202.jpg) Nikolas von Safft (born 1941): from the series "Rundgang“" ("Tour"), 2004-2008. © Nikolas von Safft ## About the photographers ### Frank Silberbach: Berlin 140° (2004-2015) Poetically and humorously, Frank Silberbach (born 1958) depicts the atmosphere of everyday life in Berlin in his street photographs. His snapshots capture complex big-city scenes. Silberbach's situational approach to the panorama format, which in the history of photography has mostly been used for cityscape shots, is unique. He has been composing 35mm photographs into panoramas since the 1990s. From 2004, he perfected panorama photography with an analogue swing-lens camera for his picture column in the Berliner Zeitung. And in 2013 he published his illustrated book "Berlin 140°". Frank Silberbach began his career as a photo reporter in the GDR. In West Berlin since 1984, he worked for various journals and magazines. At the same time, he pursued his own projects and undertook extensive photo journeys in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. *Acquired in 2016 from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe with funds from the Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin, from the Ilse Augustin Foundation for the Promotion of Visual Artists and from budget funds from the Stadtmuseum Berlin.* ### Nikolas von Safft: Rundgang ("Tour", 2004-2008) Due to the division of Germany, the (West) Berlin photographer Nikolas von Safft (born 1941) was separated from the eastern part and the surrounding area of his hometown for decades. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he became interested in how the reunited Berlin would develop and expand into Brandenburg. In 2004, he began documenting the changes in the border region between Berlin and Brandenburg. During his tour, he covered a total of 320 kilometres. Von Safft increasingly saw the urban in the rural. His work is a powerful pictorial cut through space and time, a subtle archive of social change. Nikolas von Safft's field of activity was advertising for thirty years. At first he managed the photo studio of a large advertising agency, from 1970 he worked independently. From the 1980s, he taught photography at the art academies in West Berlin and Braunschweig and from 1989 to 2006 in Leipzig. ## Program ## Your pictures of Berlin ![Eine Frau hält kleine Fotokarten in die Höhe, auf denen Berlin zu sehen ist](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Berliner-Kontraste_PHD_3598_web-300x200.jpg) Fotografien von Frank Silberbach und Nikolas von Safft im Museum Ephraim-Palais © Stadtmuseum Berlin | Foto: Phil Dera For the photo appael "Berlin Jetzt!" we were looking for your pictures of Berlin. **Thank you very much for more than 1500 submissions!** We present your photos here on our website. A selection of the submissions is also part of the special exhibition "Berlin Contrasts (2004-2015) - Photographs by Frank Silberbach and Nikolas von Safft [ Discover](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/en/berlin-jetzt/berlin-contrasts) ## Info & Service ##### Opening Hours Tue – Sun | 10 am – 6 pm (also on public holidays) Mon closed **Differing opening hours:** Wed | 20.05. | 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. (Staff meeting) Mon | 25.05. | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (Whit Monday) Sun | 21.06. | 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. (Museum Festival / Fête de la Musique) Sat | 29.08. | 10 a.m. – 2 a.m. (Long Night of Museums) Thu | 24.12. | Closed (Christmas Eve) Fri & Sat | 25. + 26.12. | 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. (First & Second Christmas Day) Thu | 31.12. | Closed (New Year’s Eve) Fri | 01.01. 2027 | 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. (New Year’s Day) The [visitor rules](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/besuchsordnung-stadtmuseum-berln.pdf) of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin apply. ##### Directions Poststraße 16 10178 Berlin [ Google Maps](https://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=Ephraim-Palais%2C%20Poststra%C3%9Fe%2C%20Berlin&aq=0&oq=Ephraim&sll=52.520399%2C13.774109&sspn=0.482148%2C1.065674&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=Ephraim-Palais%2C&hnear=Poststra%C3%9Fe%2C%2010178%20Berlin&ll=52.515855%2C13.408406&spn=0.008031%2C0.018797&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A&cid=18287331903694586850) [ Bus & Train](https://www.bvg.de/en/connections/connection-search) ##### Contact Infoline +49 30 24 002-162 Mo – Fri | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. [Write E-Mail](mailto:info@stadtmuseum.de) ##### Accessibility The Ephraim-Palais is accessible without steps. All exhibition areas are accessible via an elevator. There are barrier-free toilets in the building. ![Helle Schrift ](https://www.stadtmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/guru_top_tipp.svg) ## Tickets ##### Admission **Combi-Ticket** 15 euros Valid for our three museums in the Nikolaiviertel (Museum Nikolaikirche, Museum Ephraim-Palais, Museum Knoblauchhaus) on two consecutive days (please note opening hours) **Single Ticket** 7 euros Day ticket for the Museum Ephraim-Palais **Free admission With proof of reduction** for children and adolescents under 18 years of age, students, trainees, FSJ/FÖJ/BFD volunteers, Berlin Ticket S holders, severely disabled persons (at least 50% GdB) and their Personal Assistant, refugees (with a valid work or residence permit/eAT and a Ukrainian passport or valid residence permit from Ukraine), recipients of transfer payments (Bürgergeld, ALG I), holders of the Berlin-Brandenburg Ehrenamtskarte, holders of the Super-Ferienpass / Berliner Familienpass, ICOM members, members of Deutscher Museumsbund, Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Stadtmuseums Berlin e. V. (except for the Museumsdorf Düppel), Förderverein Museumsdorf Düppel e. V., and Förderkreis Museum Knoblauchhaus e. V., media representatives with a valid press card. [ Ticketshop ](https://tickets.stadtmuseum.de/#/tickets/time?museum_id=2&group=day) ### Ласкаво просимо! Всі, хто має український паспорт, візу для України або дійсне студентське посвідчення українського університету та візу на проживання в Німеччині, можуть безкоштовно відвідувати всі наші локації; це також стосується всіх, хто має дозвіл на проживання в електронному вигляді (eAT). Ми з нетерпінням чекаємо на Вас!