Hylonicum

Light and its residues, by Nicola Polloni

Records

Berlin LOCKDOWN

I was living in Berlin when the city closed in 2020. These photographs come from the walks that were still allowed – the streets, bridges, stations, and monuments all in place, but the social body that gives them rhythm withdrawn. Architecture became almost too legible, a city reduced to its skeleton. What the sequence records is suspended function: spaces still shaped for movement, work, and memory, waiting – as we all were – without knowing what form of life would return.

Empty pedestrian bridge in Berlin during lockdown, with railings, clouds, and distant buildings.
Wide view of the Spree in Berlin with modern buildings, bridge, railings, and heavy clouds.
Almost empty Berlin square in front of a classical museum building, with a few distant figures.
Empty Berlin street lined with modern buildings and a bridge in the distance.
Berlin cultural buildings and open square seen across an empty road during lockdown.
Wide Berlin street with the dome of the Französischer Dom and mostly empty pavements.
Empty urban passage between a high wall and a long building, with a bicycle rack in the distance.
Berlin rail tracks and station platforms seen from above, almost empty during lockdown.
Riverside walkway leading towards the Bode Museum, with water, railings, cobblestones, and few pedestrians.
Empty cobbled Berlin street lined with large historic buildings beneath a clouded sky.
Empty Unter den Linden in Berlin during the Covid lockdown.
Long colonnaded passage on Museum Island, with repeated columns and a bright opening at the far end.
Berlin statue wearing a face mask during lockdown, seated among bare trees.
Empty riverside scene in Berlin with benches, bridge, museum building, and broad paved spaces.
Reichstag building seen across a wide empty lawn under dramatic clouds.
Berlin church and surrounding square with few pedestrians and geometric paving.
Large modern building on an empty Berlin square, with glass façade and open paving.
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin seen from a low angle, with an almost empty square beneath it.

Places and dates
Berlin, 2020.