Berlinale 2011, Day 2: Jim Rakete, Der Stand der Dinge, Koidl Gallery, Berlin

To commemorate its forthcoming re-opening following a two-year face-lift, the German Film-Museum in Frankfurt commissioned 100 photos of the most celebrated film artists active in Germany today, photographed by cult photographer Jim Rakete. Jim Rakete is one of Germany's most important contemporary photographers, on a par with Peter Lindbergh, Juergen Teller, or Ellen von Unwerth, however, unlike the latter three, Rakete lives and works in Berlin. Among the subjects Rakete's been portraying in a career that spans well over forty years, are Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

Prior to being shown in the Frank Film Museum this summer, the Berlin-based Kunsthalle Koidl shows all 100 photos in a preview which opened simultaneously with the Berlin Film Festival. Jim Rakete calls his series of photos Stand der Dinge (Status Quo), a title borrowed from Wim Wenders' film from 1980. The gimmick, if you want to call it that, in Stand der Dinge is, that Rakete photographed his models with an object from the film they consider to be their best or the one they're most associated with.

A few examples:


Mario Adorf, wearing the hat from the Oscar-nominated Nachts wenn der Teufel kam (1958)


Moritz Bleibtreu carrying the gun from Oezguer Yildrim's film Chiko (2009)


Hannah Herzsprung sitting by the piano in the film that put her on the map, Four Minutes (2007)


Michael Ballhaus, long-time collaborator of R.W. Fassbinder and Martin Scorsese, carrying a lens


Director Volker Schloendorff with the original tin-drum from his highly acclaimed masterpiece The Tin-Drum (1980)

Jim Rakete, Der Stand der Dinge, 10th February - 11th March 2011,Kunsthalle Koidl, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Gervinusstrasse 36, 10629 Berlin